High Court bins Syed Saddiq’s bid to challenge govt’s funding cut for Muar constituency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — The High Court today rejected an application for a judicial review by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who sought to challenge the government’s decision to stop funding allocations for his constituency.

Utusan Malaysia reported that Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, now an Appeal Court judge, ruled that the application was filed beyond the time limit set by law.

“It is well-established that any application filed after the prescribed time is considered frivolous and vexatious,” the judge said.

“Even if I were to overlook the timing issue, the allocation is a matter of government policy, which cannot be challenged through judicial review.”

On April 23, Syed Saddiq, along with three voters from Muar — Najib Abu Nawar, Mohd. Bakirudin Abdullah, and Muhamad Fadzly Bisri — filed the application, naming the Malaysian prime minister and the Malaysian government as the first and second respondents.

In their application, they claimed the government had halted a RM730,300 allocation for welfare projects in the Muar constituency and sought to annul the decision to stop or cancel the remaining RM500,000 from a total of RM1.7 million, which was intended for welfare and disaster programmes in the area.

The applicants also sought to overturn the decision to revoke Syed Saddiq’s access to the myKHAS system, which manages applications for a RM2 million development fund, and the cancellation of several approved projects worth RM230,300.

Additionally, they requested the court to annul the decision to withhold any funding from Syed Saddiq as Muar MP for programmes under the ‘Projek Mesra Rakyat’ or similar initiatives for 2024.

The application was filed on the grounds that the respondents had violated the constitutional equality rights of Syed Saddiq and the other applicants, as outlined in Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.