3 lose appeal to get leave for khat calligraphy judicial review

 

No order on costs was given by the Court of Appeal as the case was of public interest. (Reuters pic)

PUTRAJAYA: Three individuals lost their appeal to get leave to commence judicial review in their bid to challenge the decision of a previous government to introduce khat calligraphy within the Bahasa Melayu subject for students in national-type Chinese and Tamil schools.

The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision, dismissed their appeals.

The three are former Chinese School Students Association president Tan Kim Sen @ Tan Boon Tak, Persatuan Hindu Agamam Ani Malaysia chairman D Ravi and R Visa Letchumy.

The three-member panel consisted of judges P Ravinthran, S Nantha Balan and Nordin Hassan.

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Nordin, who delivered the decision online, said the High Court was correct in dismissing the trio’s leave application for judicial review as it was filed out of time. In addition, they did not give a good reason to extend the time period to file their application.

He said it was unnecessary for the appellate court to interfere with the judge’s discretion.

Nordin said the law provided that an application for leave to commence judicial review should be filed within 30 days when the decision which an applicant sought to challenge was first communicated to him or her, adding that the court might extend the period for filing the leave application if a good reason was given by the applicant.

He said the decision to implement the teaching of khat in schools was on Aug 14, 2019 and the appellants filed their leave for judicial review on May 20, 2020, which was a delay of nine months.

Nordin said the High Court had found that the contention of the appellants that the movement control order and conditional movement order were enforced during Covid-19 on March 18, 2020 and May 4, 2020 respectively, could not be considered reasons to delay filing the leave application.

No order, however, was given on costs as he said the case was of public interest.

The trio filed the application in May 2020 against the education minister and the government of Malaysia, claiming that the previous government’s decision to introduce khat calligraphy to Year Four students of national-type Chinese and Tamil schools was against the Federal Constitution.

Lawyers T Gunaseelan and Keshvinjeet Singh represented the trio while senior federal counsel Nik Isfahanie Tasnim Wan Ab Rahman and federal counsel Ng Wee Li appeared for the education minister and the government. - FMT