KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — The High Court here has set November 18 to deliver its decision on the application for leave to initiate a judicial review filed by Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and three others.

The application seeks to challenge the government’s alleged termination of RM730,300 in welfare funds allocated for the Muar constituency.

Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh set the date after hearing oral submissions today from Syed Saddiq’s lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, and senior Federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan and Federal counsel Ng Wee Li from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

On April 23, Syed Saddiq and three Muar voters, Najib Abu Nawar, Mohd Bakirudin Abdullah, and Muhamad Fadzly Bisri, filed the application through Messrs Lim Wei Jiet.

They named the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Malaysian government as the first and second respondents, respectively.

The applicants are seeking a court order to quash the decision to withhold RM500,000 from a total of RM1.7 million that was supposed to be directly channelled to the bank account of the Muar Parliamentary Service Centre for welfare, community well-being, and disaster relief programmes.

Additionally, they are requesting the court to reinstate Syed Saddiq’s access to the myKHAS system, which manages the RM2 million development fund for the constituency, and overturn the decision to cancel several projects worth RM230,300, that were approved through the system.

The applicants are also challenging the respondents’ refusal to approve or allocate any funds to Syed Saddiq, as the MP for Muar, for programmes under the "Projek Mesra Rakyat” or similar initiatives for the year 2024.

The application contends that the respondents violated Syed Saddiq’s right to equality as an MP for Muar, as well as the rights of the three other applicants as voters in the constituency, as enshrined under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution. — Bernama