[UPDATED] Cabinet announces RCI for Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, South Ledge case handling

KUALA LUMPUR – A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) will be set up to look into how the Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge cases were handled.

This has been decided by the cabinet today, announced cabinet secretary Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.

“The establishment of an RCI is in line with the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950 (Act 119), whereby members of the commission will be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Suggested RCI members will be selected based on their expertise in the judiciary, legal matters, and public administration. They must be able to carry out their inquiry in a fair and transparent manner as well as avoid any issues of conflict of interest among relevant parties,” he said in a statement today. 

The dispute over the islets with Singapore was presumably over when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on May 23, 2008, that Batu Puteh belongs to Singapore and Malaysia got Middle Rocks (15 votes).

The South Ledge belonged to the state “in the territorial waters of which it is located”.

While ruling that Malaysia was the true original owner of Batu Puteh since it was established in 1512, the ICJ said sovereignty over the territory was passed to Singapore after Malaysia failed to meet the former’s “a titre de souverain” – a concrete manifestation of territorial sovereignty.

At that time, Malaysia and Singapore agreed in writing that the ICJ’s ruling was final and that an appeal would only be made with the introduction of new evidence.

However, in February 2017, then attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said Malaysia had applied to revise the ICJ’s ruling in 2008 after fulfilling Article 61 of the ICJ Statute, citing three documents declassified by the United Kingdom’s National Archives. 

However, in 2018, the government, under the leadership of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, withdrew the application to overturn the ruling. This was before the case was scheduled for a hearing on June 11 of the same year.

The withdrawal meant that Malaysia could no longer challenge Singapore’s sovereignty over Batu Puteh, as applications for revision must be made within 10 years of the judgement.

Following the withdrawal, Umno questioned why the government would not prioritise Batu Puteh, located 23.7km away from Malaysia, and put resources into the dispute for the Spratly Islands.

Dr Mahathir said on June 25, 2019, that the government accepted the ICJ’s ruling, using it as an example of how Asean nations work together with mutual respect.

On July 3, 2019, Apandi said Malaysia’s legal team was actually prepared and ready to argue its case over the Batu Puteh dispute to the ICJ and that Dr Mahathir had withdrawn without consulting him or the cabinet. 

Subsequently, on October 29, 2021, Putrajaya agreed to form a special task force aimed at reviewing the actions and legal issues in the three maritime features’ case.

More recently, on January 23 last year, then attorney-general Tan Sri Idrus Harun said the government’s decision to withdraw the review application was “irregular and inappropriate” after a special task force on the matter presented its findings in a cabinet meeting on January 11.

Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, who was attorney-general under Dr Mahathir’s second stint as prime minister, also received brickbats for not pursuing the review application to revise the ICJ’s ruling.

He alleged that Apandi, who was the task force chairman, had no position to sit in judgement of Dr Mahathir, as it was the former who advised the government to file for a review over Batu Puteh and the two islets.

On October 13, 2022, then prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said there was a possibility of negligence and mistake by Dr Mahathir when Malaysia missed the chance to file a judicial review over the ICJ’s decision over a decade ago. – January 24, 2024