KUALA LUMPUR – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been accused of making excuses to decline participation in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Malaysia’s handling of the Pulau Batu Puteh issue.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi took a swipe at the former prime minister under whose watch Malaysia stopped its pursuit of sovereignty claims over the islet, saying his objections to the RCI should not be entertained.
“Tun M (Dr Mahathir) is looking for excuses to avoid the RCI. He knows the sin of losing one’s territory is grave and unforgivable for generations to come.
“Tun M’s objection should not be entertained. The people want to know why he withdrew two review applications against the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) rulings that Singapore had sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh.
“This is very mysterious. Why was the decision not discussed in the cabinet? Why was the decision rushed, and the then-attorney general put on forced leave?” Puad said in a Facebook post today.
He was responding to Dr Mahathir’s lawyer, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, who said the nonagenarian will be advised to skip participating in the RCI on the sovereignty of several islets near Johor and Singapore, if former chief justice Tun Md Raus Sharif remains the RCI chairman.
Rafique claimed that the federal government’s February 14 appointment of Raus as chairman of the RCI was a “violation of natural justice” as he is allegedly an “interested party”.
This stems from incidents in the past involving Dr Mahathir and Raus, including a judicial review the former had filed in 2017 to challenge Raus’ appointment as an additional judge to the Federal Court due to the latter’s age.
Puad also questioned Dr Mahathir’s credibility to talk about conflicts of interest, claiming that the latter was supposedly involved in such matters during his time in power.
“He appointed (Datuk) Datuk Seri Shukri Abdull, who was already retired, as the MACC chief commissioner. Later, Latheefa Koya (a politician) replaced Shukri.
“The appointment of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the chief justice to replace former chief justice Tun Md Raus Sharif was also controversial. In fact, appointing Abdul Hamid Bador as the inspector general of police on a contract basis was also questionable,” the speaker of the Johor state assembly said.
Batu Puteh, also known as Pedra Branca, is a granite island, while Batuan Tengah, or Middle Rocks, are some rocks that are permanently above water, and Tubir Selatan, or South Ledge, is a low-tide elevation.
Malaysia and Singapore were previously locked in a territorial dispute at the ICJ over these three maritime features.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ, which is the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, delivered its decision by finding that Batu Puteh’s sovereignty belongs to Singapore and that sovereignty over Middle Rocks belongs to Malaysia.
The ICJ also decided that sovereignty over South Ledge belongs to the country in the territorial waters of which it is located instead of awarding it to either Malaysia or Singapore.
On February 2, 2017, Malaysia submitted an application to revise the ICJ’s 2008 judgement on sovereignty over Batu Puteh, citing the discovery of three documents that allegedly establish a new fact. This submission occurred within the 10-year deadline from the date of the 2008 judgement.
Subsequently, on June 30, 2017, Malaysia filed a separate application requesting the ICJ to interpret its 2008 judgement. The aim was to have the ICJ declare that the waters surrounding Batu Puteh remain within Malaysia’s territorial waters and to assert Malaysia’s sovereignty over South Ledge.
Leading up to the ICJ’s June 2018 hearing on Malaysia’s June 2017 application, Malaysia informed the ICJ on May 28, 2018, that both countries had mutually agreed to discontinue proceedings in this case. – February 21, 2024