PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 — A Malaysian citizen has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal to reinstate a lawsuit which was filed against the government and four others over the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project.
Lawyer Mohaji Selamat, representing Mohd Hatta Sanuri, when contacted by Bernama, said the notice of appeal was filed on January 12 this year.
Moha Hatta filed the suit two years ago (December 30, 2022) on his behalf and on behalf of the more than 32 million Malaysians allegedly affected by the cancellation of the project.
Besides the government, former prime ministers Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, he also named former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and former transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong as defendants.
In his statement of claim, Mohd Hatta had sought a court order to declare the cancellation of the project null and void, as well as for all the defendants to pay RM1 million compensation to him and all Malaysians for wrongfully and negligently cancelling the HSR project.
However, the suit was struck out by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur last year (December 15, 2023).
Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain struck out the suit on the ground Mohd Hatta had no locus standi to commence the suit and it was an abuse of the court process.
She also ordered Mohd Hatta to pay costs of RM10,000.
On January 1, 2021, Malaysia and Singapore announced the termination of the 350-kilometre HSR project as the two countries failed to reach an agreement on changes proposed by Malaysia before the project agreement expired on December 31, 2020.
Accordingly, Malaysia paid S$102.8 million (RM320.27 million) in compensation to Singapore for costs incurred for the development of the HSR project and related to the extension of its suspension.
The project was expected to provide three main services, which were direct travel between Malaysia and Singapore within 90 minutes, domestic service in Malaysia and shuttle service from Iskandar Puteri (Johor) to Singapore. — Bernama
