court case result impact on lyc, page-3

Despite what people might say the Malaysian judiciary is independent of the executive governmnet and the Courts will decide the matter in accordance with the law. An example of when the Courts went against the Government is when they supported residents against the Bakun dam in Sarawak. In June 1997 James Foong, then of the High Court, ruled in favour of three residents affected by the Bakun dam, ordered the project developer Ekran Bhd to suspend work on the dam in Sarawak state until it complied with Malaysia's Environmental Quality Act 1974. He ruled as invalid an order by Malaysia's Minister for Science, Technology and Environment Law Hieng Ding that delegated powers to Sarawak state authorities to approve the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The order had deprived the residents of their right to give their views before the EIA was approved, he said.

My personal view of the current LAMP case, having looked at the legal situation fairly closely is that the AELB is standing on fairly solid legal grounds. Nonetheless, investors need to appreciate that the Malaysian Courts are independent and the Judge will make a decision based on the legal arguments presented.