JUDGMENT

Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad J:

[1] This judgment concerns an application by the plaintiff seeking declaratory and injunctive reliefs to prevent the defendant from commencing a new arbitration under a certain agreement between them. The central issue is whether the defendant should be allowed to start fresh arbitration proceedings after a previous arbitration between the parties was set aside by the courts on jurisdictional grounds, without deciding the substantive merits of the dispute.

[2] The plaintiff argues that the court's decision affirming the setting aside of the prior arbitral award has brought finality to the entire dispute, thereby barring the defendant from initiating a new arbitration. The defendant, on the other hand, contends that it is not precluded from commencing fresh arbitration under the agreement, as the courts had only invalidated the previous arbitration award due to jurisdictional defects, without adjudicating the actual merits of the parties' underlying substantive claims and dispute.

[3] The case arises in the context of a development project governed by the agreement between the parties. While the underlying facts pertain to that specific project, th