KUALA LUMPUR: Documents in a suit over the withdrawal of a review application on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on Pulau Batu Puteh may not be disclosed to outside parties, the High Court here has ruled.
Judge Datuk Rozana Ali Yusoff allowed the application by the Prime Minister and the government of Malaysia for the protection order filed on Nov 29, Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly told reporters on Monday (Jan 31).
"The court set March 1 for further case management," he said after the online hearing of the application, which was also attended by Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan.
Lawyer Mohaji Selamat, representing Mohd Hatta Sanuri, who was named the plaintiff in the suit, also confirmed the court decision.
Based on the notice of application, the defendants had sought an order that all materials and documents presented as exhibits in any interlocutory application and trial of the suit may only be disclosed to parties in the case, counsel representing the plaintiff and defendants, trial witnesses, as well as parties deemed necessary by the court.
They also sought an order that the parties given access to the confidential documents shall at all times maintain confidentiality and cannot disclose their contents to any party other than those authorised by the court.
Apart from that, printed copies of documents in the case may be ordered to be kept securely by the judge hearing the case.
The defendants also sought an order to ensure the confidential documents are not categorised as public and cannot be opened for inspection or copied in any form, including for online inspection by e-filing.
They also requested that the proceedings and trial be conducted behind closed doors.
The application was made on the grounds that, among others, the documents and information to be disclosed in the suit had the status of classified documents and top secret status under the Official Secrets Act 1972.
"The documents and information must be protected to avoid any misunderstanding and to maintain good relations between the government of Malaysia and the government of Singapore, and the protection order is to prevent the material and information contained in the confidential documents being manipulated and misused by irresponsible parties," the defendants' application stated.
In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government under the leadership of then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad withdrew an application to overturn the ICJ ruling awarding legal jurisdiction of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore before the case was scheduled to be heard on June 11 that year.
On May 28 last year, Mohd Hatta, 45, filed the suit on his behalf and on behalf of the more than 32 million Malaysians affected by the withdrawal of the review application, without discussing and tabling it first in Parliament.
In his statement of claim, Mohd Hatta sought an order for the defendants to provide a written explanation as to why they had withdrawn from the review of the ICJ's decision on June 1, 2018, when a review application with strong evidence had been initiated and filed since Feb 3, 2017.
The plaintiff also sought a declaration that the defendants were negligent, had committed treason, fraud and breach of trust against all Malaysians including the plaintiff when they dropped the review bid.
He also sought a declaration for the defendants to pay compensation to each Malaysian based on the land value of Pulau Batu Puteh and based on the economic losses suffered by all Malaysians including the plaintiff, equally and amounting to at least RM10mil each.
An order was also sought for both defendants to disclose in detail the total cost incurred by the second defendant (the government) for the preparation of the ICJ decision review application on Feb 3, 2017, until the defendants abruptly withdrew the application on June 1, 2018. – Bernama
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