KUALA LUMPUR – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been advised by his lawyer not to participate in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Malaysia’s handling of the Pulau Batu Puteh issue, if the commission’s chairman Tun Md Raus Sharif does not recuse himself from the post or if he is not replaced.
The former prime minister’s lawyer, Rafique Rashid, said this was because Raus, who was formerly chief justice, had a conflict of interest due to past issues that involved Dr Mahathir.
Among them was a judicial review Dr Mahathir had filed in 2017 to challenge Raus’ appointment as an additional judge of the Federal Court due to the latter’s age. Dr Mahathir had also been prime minister when Raus resigned as chief justice in 2018.
And it was Dr Mahathir’s administration that decided to withdraw review applications on the International Court of Justice’s decision to award Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore, Rafique noted.
Given that the RCI on Batu Puteh is in relation to the federal government’s decision when Tun Dr Mahathir was prime minister, Raus’ involvement “is clearly in gross violation of natural justice since he is an interested party”, Rafique said.
“In the upshot, in the name of fairness and justice for our client, we would humbly request that the government replace the chairman of the RCI with someone who is not conflicted, or that Tun Md Raus Sharif, in this pursuit of truth… (recuses) himself from the position.
“Failing which, we would be inclined to advise our client Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad to decline participating in the RCI,” Rafique said in a statement today.
“The RCI should be seen as clean and impartial so that the public will not question the credibility of the same.
“As such, the appointment of Tun Md Raus as chairman of the RCI on Batu Puteh has created a real danger of bias in which truth and justice will not prevail. That will erode public confidence and will affect the credibility of its findings,” Rafique added.
The RCI on Pulau Batu Puteh was announced last month, and its chairman and members on February 14.
Its purpose is to review the government’s handling of matters related to Malaysia’s sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, three islets located south of Johor.
Malaysia and Singapore took their contesting claims to the ICJ, which ruled on May 23, 2008, that Pulau Batu Puteh was Singapore’s and Middle Rock was Malaysia’s.
The ICJ did not make a definitive ruling on South Ledge.
Dr Mahathir’s administration in May 2018 withdrew two review applications submitted a year before revising the ICJ’s ruling, two weeks before the applications were to be heard at the world court.
With this, Malaysia can no longer challenge Singapore’s sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh, as application for revisions must be made within 10 years of the judgement.
The issue has since been turned into political fodder, with claims made against Dr Mahathir for surrounding Malaysia’s sovereignty over the islet, leading to the push to form an RCI into the matter. – February 16, 2024