Nobody contested, no one argued.
A former minister in the 2018 Pakatan Harapan administration has confirmed that the decision to withdraw Malaysia’s application to review the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on Pulau Batu Puteh was presented in a Cabinet meeting that year.
Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, who served as the housing and local government minister at the time, said the issue was brought up by then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the meeting.
“I only know that he presented it, explaining the situation. Nobody contested, no one argued, so we took it as agreed,” she was quoted as saying.
Zuraida added, “We didn’t say anything because at that time we had just joined the Cabinet, and we were still settling in.”
However, she could not confirm whether the matter was discussed before or after the High Commission of Singapore was informed of Dr Mahathir’s intentions at 9am, as detailed in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge report released last Thursday.