A Srimurugan said no unauthorised parties could have access to classified documents except to be produced in a court proceeding.
“Anyone who breaches the court order could be held in contempt of court,” the lawyer said.
Srimurugan said this in response to a High Court order which granted the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) a protection order to prevent public access to documents in a suit over the sovereignty of the island.
The AGC also wants the High Court to have the trial or any interlocutory proceedings heard in camera.
Srimurugan said government officials could appear before the task force but could not hand over copies of documents or divulge any classified information.
“The task force should suspend its work and instead wait for the outcome of the suit,” he told FMT.
On Jan 31, judge Rozana Ali Yusoff granted the application after hearing submissions from senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan as well as lawyer Mohaji Selamat, representing Hatta Sanuri, who claimed he represents 32 million other Malaysians.
The AGC wanted the court documents to be sealed off from public access on the grounds that they are classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Hatta filed the suit last year, claiming he was affected by the government’s decision during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure to withdraw an application to review the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) award of sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore, which calls the island Pedra Branca.
He alleged that all Malaysians were affected by the government’s withdrawal of the review application, without having brought the matter to the Dewan Rakyat.
Hatta further said that the government had not provided an explanation for withdrawing the review application, in light of new evidence that favour Malaysia’s fresh bid.
He sought a court declaration for the government to pay RM10 million compensation to Malaysians over the withdrawal.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ decided that Pulau Batu Puteh belonged to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia, and South Ledge to the state in the territorial waters of which it is located.
In June 2017, Malaysia applied to the ICJ to request for an interpretation of the judgment.
Last year, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, had agreed to form a special task force to review the actions and legal issues regarding the three islands.
The task force is led by former attorney-general Apandi Ali. The other members are lawyers Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, Abu Bakar As-Sidek Mohd Sidek and representatives from Wisma Putra, the AGC, the department of survey and mapping, and the Johor state government.
It has up to June to submit its findings and recommendations to the Cabinet.
FMT previously reported Srimurugan as saying that the efforts by the task force was a futile exercise as Malaysia will be time barred to file for a review at the ICJ.
He said Article 61(5) of the Statute of the ICJ states that an application for revision may not be made after the lapse of 10 years from the date of the judgment.