PM, govt get to strike out lawsuit over Batu Puteh

Pulau Batu Puteh (file pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court granted the application by the Prime Minister and Government of Malaysia to strike out a suit in connection with the withdrawal of a review application over the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision on the Batu Puteh claim.

Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz ruled that the subject matter was non-justiciable and that the plaintiff, Mohd Hatta Sanuri, had no locus standi to bring the legal action against the defendants.

The court also ordered the plaintiff to pay the cost of RM6,000 within 30 days.

The matter was confirmed by Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan after attending the online proceedings yesterday.

In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad withdrew an application to overturn the ICJ ruling awarding legal jurisdiction of Batu Puteh to Singapore even before the hearing of the case, which was scheduled on June 11, 2018.

On May 28 last year, Mohd Hatta, 46, filed the suit contending that more than 32 million Malaysians were affected by the withdrawal of the review application, which was made 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statement of claim, Mohd Hatta sought an order for the defendants to provide a written explanation as to why they had withdrawn from the review of the ICJ decision on June 1, 2018, when a review application with strong evidence had been initiated and filed since Feb 3, 2017.

He also sought a declaration for both defendants to pay compensation to each Malaysian based on the land value of Batu Puteh and based on the economic losses suffered by all Malaysians including the plaintiff, equally, amounting to at least RM10mil each.

An order was also sought for the defendants to disclose in detail the total cost incurred by the second defendant (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.