A three-member bench, chaired by Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, said Hatta Sanuri did not have the legal standing to file the action against the prime minister and government, named as respondents.
“The suit is an abuse of the court process and the respondents have met the threshold of Order 18, Rule 19 of the Rules of Court 2012 that the subject matter of Hatta’s claim is non-justiciable,” she said in an online proceeding.
Hatta was ordered to pay RM10,000 in costs.
Hadhariah, who sat with Justices See Mee Chun and Zaini Mazlan, also dismissed Hatta’s appeal against a High Court decision on Jan 30 last year to allow the application by the respondents for a protection order for classified documents.
“We agree with the respondents that the documents are sensitive and involve diplomatic and bilateral relationships between the governments of Singapore and Malaysia,” she said.
Hatta was also ordered to pay another RM5,000 in costs to the respondents.
Lawyer Mohaji Selamat appeared for Hatta while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, Liew Horng Bin, Nurliana Ismail and Ermawani Ahmad Keflee appeared for the respondents.
On July 1 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed applications by the prime minister and the government to annul Hatta’s suit.
Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz ruled that Hatta had no legal standing to file the action and that all matters related to Batu Puteh could not be argued in court.
Hatta filed the suit in 2021, claiming he was affected by the former Pakatan Harapan government’s decision in 2019 to withdraw the application to review the ICJ award of sovereignty over Batu Puteh to Singapore.
He said the government had not provided any explanation for withdrawing the review application in light of new evidence that he said favoured Malaysia’s bid to overturn the ICJ decision.
He had sought a court declaration for the government to pay RM10 million in compensation to Malaysians over the decision.
In 2008, the ICJ decided that Batu Puteh belonged to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia, and South Ledge to the state in the territorial waters in which it is located.