Again, Dr M denies acting unilaterally in Batu Puteh affair

PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has once again denied making a unilateral decision against proceeding with the applications to review and interpret the 2008 decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Batu Puteh.

Mahathir said the likes of former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, and former home minister Muhyiddin Yassin, had been present among others during the Cabinet meeting where the issue was raised.

“If they were against the idea (not to proceed), they could have spoken up, but no one said anything, so we have to assume they accepted it.

“Some of them should be called as witnesses,” he said at a press conference here today.

He was responding to the findings of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) which said he had made a unilateral decision on the matter.

The RCI said the then prime minister had written to the solicitor-general on May 21, 2018, stating that “to my view, this effort need not be continued” – a reference to the ICJ applications.

The solicitor-general then informed Singapore that Malaysia would be dropping both legal applications, the commission said in its declassified report.

The RCI said Singapore was informed of this at 9am on May 23, 2018. The Cabinet only met at 9.30am that day and discussed the issue later in the meeting under “other matters”.

In June, Mahathir denied acting unilaterally when making the decision not to proceed with an application to the ICJ for a review of its decision awarding sovereignty over Batu Puteh to Singapore.

He said he had consulted several experts, including five senior lawyers from the UK, who took the view that Malaysia had a weak case.

Mahathir said international legal expert Brendan Plant, who was appointed as a consultant by Putrajaya, had told him that Malaysia lacked the “silver bullet” needed to secure victory in the case.