Govt agrees to restore RM730,300 in allocations to Muar, court told

PUTRAJAYA: The government and Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman have agreed in principle to settle amicably a dispute over the withdrawal of allocations to the constituency, the Federal Court was told today.

Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, representing Syed Saddiq and three Muar parliamentary constituents, said both parties had reached an agreement in principle on the matter.

He said the agreement included the reinstatement of RM500,000 in constituency allocations for 2023, which had previously been withdrawn.

An allocation of RM230,300 for specific projects involving schools, surau and villages under the MyKhas system would also be restored.

"The applicants and respondents reached an agreement yesterday to resolve this dispute.

"Among the matters agreed upon is the government's reinstatement of the RM500,000 allocation for 2023, as well as RM230,300 for specific projects under MyKhas," he said.

Lim said both parties were now examining the most appropriate and detailed mechanism to formally record the terms of the settlement in court.

He said the applicants had requested a case management date for the court to record a consent judgment once the details of the mechanism had been finalised.

Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, representing the respondents, also confirmed the development.

The panel, chaired by Sabah and Sarawak Chief Judge Datuk Seri Azizah Nawawi, subsequently fixed Dec 7 for case management, for both parties to update the court on the mechanism for channelling the allocations.

Also sitting on the panel were Federal Court judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

On April 23, 2024, Syed Saddiq and three Muar constituents — Najib Abu Nawar, Mohd Bakirudin Abdullah and Muhamad Fadzly Bisri — filed the application, naming the prime minister and the Malaysian government as the first and second respondents.

They sought a court order to quash the decision to stop the disbursement of RM500,000 from a total allocation of RM1.7 million, which was supposed to be deposited directly into the Muar Parliamentary Service Centre's bank account for community welfare programmes, aid and disaster relief.

They also sought the reinstatement of Syed Saddiq's access to the MyKHAS system, which manages RM2 million in development funds for the constituency, as well as the reversal of the decision to cancel several projects worth RM230,300 that had been approved through the system.

The applicants further sought to quash the respondents' decision to refuse to approve or provide any allocations to Syed Saddiq, as the Muar MP, for programmes under the Projek Mesra Rakyat initiative or similar schemes for 2024.

The application was filed, among other grounds, on the basis that the respondents had violated Syed Saddiq's right to equality as the Muar MP, as well as the rights of the three other applicants as constituents affected by the decision, under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.

On Dec 24, 2024, the High Court dismissed the application by Syed Saddiq and the three constituents, while the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal on Oct 27 last year.

However, on March 10 this year, the Federal Court allowed Syed Saddiq and the three constituents to proceed with their appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision dismissing their application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings over the government's decision to discontinue allocations to the constituency.