Kuala Lumpur: No legal action was taken against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over his role in the Batu Puteh issue due to his age, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said today.
A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) last year found that Mahathir had likely acted deliberately to influence the Cabinet to discontinue review applications regarding Batu Puteh’s sovereignty in 2018, despite the views of international consultants who said the applications had a reasonable likelihood of success.
The RCI recommended that a police report be lodged against Mahathir, saying a criminal investigation could be initiated under Section 415(b) of the Penal Code for cheating.
“Was he not wrong? He was wrong,” Anwar said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“Should we take action? The Cabinet agreed not to. We made a decision because it involved a former prime minister who is 100 years old.”
Batu Puteh, situated about 14km south of Johor and 44km east of Singapore, is made up of granite rocks. Middle Rocks and South Ledge are located 1.1km and 4km from Batu Puteh, respectively.
In 2008, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded Batu Puteh to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia. The ownership of South Ledge was left for determination based on the delimitation of territorial waters.
In 2017, Putrajaya applied for the ICJ to review its decision on Batu Puteh and sought an interpretation of certain ambiguities and implications arising from its decision, particularly regarding the status of South Ledge.
However, following its victory at the 14th general election in May 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government led by Mahathir withdrew both applications before they came up for hearing the following month.
Speaking today, Anwar said talks between Malaysia and Indonesia to jointly develop the disputed oil-rich Ambalat area off the east coast of Borneo would involve Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor.
He said the talks in Jakarta on July 29 would include Hajiji as the state’s maritime borders would be raised during the discussions, and his views would be needed before any potential resolution of the matter could be reached.
“The process must include approval from the Sabah government. Whenever there are discussions about national boundary delimitation, Sabah’s agreement is needed,” he said.
Malaysia and Indonesia have overlapping territorial claims on the 15,000 sq km Ambalat sea block, which is said to possess the world’s largest crude oil reserves.
Last month, Anwar said Malaysia and Indonesia should proceed to jointly develop the area without waiting to resolve legal and regulatory obstacles.
Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto also called for accelerated efforts to resolve technical border issues and begin joint economic projects in areas like Ambalat through a joint development authority.
