The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Batu Puteh, Batuan Tengah, and Tubir Selatan has recommended that a criminal investigation be launched against former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In its report – which was declassified in Parliament today – the RCI accused Mahathir of deceiving the cabinet in 2018 into withdrawing Malaysia’s review of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision to award sovereignty over Batu Puteh to Singapore.
The RCI said Mahathir had already made a unilateral decision to drop the review without the cabinet and had merely briefed cabinet members on why he had done so.
The RCI opined that Malaysia has a fighting chance to overturn the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Singapore has sovereignty over Batu Puteh.
This, the commission said, caused the government to suffer a wrongful loss.
It hence recommended the probe under Section 415(b) of the Penal Code which covers cheating by intentionally inducing the person so deceived to do something that can cause damage or harm to any person in body, mind, reputation, or property.
It also recommended that the RCI secretary lodge a police report to initiate the probe.
Mahathir, in previously denying wrongdoing, claimed that he decided to withdraw Malaysia’s review application after extensive consultation.
One of those he said he had consulted was international negotiator Brendan Plant.
However, the RCI included testimony from Plant who said that Malaysia had a “plausible case” to make before the ICJ.
“We thought that there was a decent chance that the court (ICJ) might be persuaded to clarify what they had previously meant in the interpretation basis.
“Again, it’s novel, this doesn’t happen often, it’s never been successful before or since but we thought in these particular circumstances, there was a credible argument to be made and there were certainly meritorious claims and a chance of success,” Plant was recorded as telling the commission.
He added that it was not his view that withdrawing the application was a “far better option”.