Court rejects Syed Saddiq’s bid for judicial review of allocations for Muar

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today dismissed an application by Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman for leave to challenge the government’s decision to withdraw allocation intended for his constituency.

Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh who made the ruling, said that the application was made out of time, and he has no jurisdiction to determine the matter.

“The application was not filed within the stipulated three-month period as required by the law. Matters of allocation are an executive matter which falls outside the court’s purview,” said the judge who is now a Court of Appeal judge.

He also pointed out that there were no provisions within the constitution which bound government agencies to allocate such funds to any MPs, regardless of their support for the government.

“The application for leave is therefore denied…in view of the public interest in a case, with no order to cost,” said the judge.

When met by reporters after the proceedings, Syed Saddiq said he would appeal against today’s verdict at the Court of Appeal.

Syed Saddiq and three Muar voters – Najib Abu Nawar, Mohd Bakirudin Abdullah, and Muhamad Fadzly Bisri – filed the application last April 23. They named the Prime Minister and the Malaysian government as the first and second respondents, respectively.

The applicants are seeking a court order to quash the government’s decision to withhold RM500,000 from a total of RM1.7 million that was supposed to be directly channelled to the bank account of the Muar Parliamentary Service Centre for welfare, community well-being, and disaster relief programmes.

Additionally, they are requesting the court to reinstate Syed Saddiq’s access to the myKHAS system, which manages the RM2 million development fund for the constituency, and overturn the decision to cancel several projects worth RM230,300 that were approved through the system.

The applicants are also challenging the respondents’ refusal to approve or allocate any funds to Syed Saddiq, as the MP for Muar, for programmes under the ‘Projek Mesra Rakyat’ or similar initiatives for the year 2024.

They contend that the respondents violated Syed Saddiq’s right to equality as an MP for Muar, as well as the rights of the three other applicants as voters in the constituency, as enshrined under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.