June 21 hearing of PM, govt's bid to strike out Pulau Batu Puteh suit

KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court today set June 21 to hear the application by the Malaysian Prime Minister and the government to strike out a suit filed by an individual in connection with the withdrawal of a review application over the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision on the Pulau Batu Puteh claim.

Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, representing the Prime Minister and the government, told reporters the date when contacted after the online case management today.

At the case management today, which was held before Assistant Registrar Haslinda A.Raof, the court also both parties to file their submission on April 25 and the reply on May 9, he added.

In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad withdrew an application to overturn ICJ’s ruling awarding legal jurisdiction of Pulau 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 Sanuri, 46, filed the suit on his behalf and on behalf of the more than 32 million Malaysians 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statement of claim, Mohd Hatta sought an order for the defendants to provide a written explanation as to why they had withdrawn from the review of the ICJ's decision on June 1, 2018, when a review application with a review application with strong evidence had been initiated and filed since Feb 3, 2017.

He also sought a declaration for the two 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, amounting to at least RM10 million each.

An order was also sought for both 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. - BERNAMA