It’s not hard to see that this is nothing more than politics, a grand charade to nail an adversary, an abuse of power.
Seizing upon the findings of the RCI on Pulau Batu Puteh, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is now accusing Tun Dr Mahathir of treason, one of the most heinous crimes anyone can commit against the nation. In a statement, he said that “treachery was committed because we should have fought till the end for every inch of land.”
First, some background. Having failed to resolve the question of ownership of Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to refer the matter to the ICJ in 2003. In 2008, the ICJ ruled that Batu Puteh belonged to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia and South Ledge to the state in the territorial waters in which it is located.
Nine years later, Malaysia applied to review the Batu Puteh decision claiming that it had uncovered new facts. The review was set for June 2018. Within days of coming to office in May 2018, however, Mahathir – apparently convinced that the appeal was unlikely to succeed – decided to discontinue it. He subsequently informed the cabinet of his decision. From what we know from media reports, the Cabinet simply took note of the decision.
In January this year, the cabinet under prime minister Anwar Ibrahim decided to reopen the issue by setting up an RCI. The report of the RCI which was released a few days ago appeared to lay the blame for the loss of Batu Puteh at Mahathir’s feet. It found that he acted on his own, that he only informed the cabinet after the fact and that as a result of his actions, Malaysia lost whatever chance it had of regaining Batu Puteh. The RCI went on to recommend that criminal charges be filed against Mahathir.
In hindsight, perhaps the decision to discontinue the appeal may have been an error of judgement but to accuse Mahathir of treachery is absolutely ludicrous. Remember, we are talking about a man who remains the ultimate Malay nationalist, a man who spent almost his entire career butting heads with Singapore. It is highly unlikely that he would have taken such a decision lightly.
In any case, what law did Mahathir actually break when he made the decision to discontinue the appeal? Errors of judgment, acting hastily or not consulting his cabinet colleagues are not crimes in themselves; if they were, even the current prime minister could face criminal charges. The very fact that the best they could come up with was to recommend charging him for “cheating” under the Penal Code suggests that they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for charges. Mahathir must surely be relishing the opportunity to face them in court.
If Mahathir is guilty of treason, then his cabinet too stands condemned along with him. Why did they not fight “till the end for every inch of land” to quote PMX? Why didn’t they demand that he retract his instructions to drop the appeal or even express their disapproval? Were they all too scared of Mahathir? Didn’t they care enough to speak out? If Mahathir is to be charged, his whole cabinet should be charged with cowardice and dereliction of duty as well.
It’s also rich that the RCI against Mahathir was pushed by a cabinet that comprises not a few of those who ignored, covered up or excused one of the greatest frauds in history – the 1MDB scandal. If anything, there should have been an RCI to examine the role played by many in cabinet and the government for being complicit in one of the biggest financial losses the country has ever experienced. And if you are looking for treachery, look no further than how many of those charged with criminal offences are now being favoured with DNAAs.
It would have been nice, of course, if we had won (as we did in the 2002 case involving Sipidan and Ligitan) but it’s not the kind of unmitigated national catastrophe it is now being made out to be. Rais Yatim, who was foreign minister at the time of the 2008 ICJ ruling, described the award as a “win-win” outcome for both countries. Today, Mahathir is accused of treacherously surrendering part of our sovereign territory to Singapore.
It’s not hard to see that this is nothing more than politics, a grand charade to nail an adversary, an abuse of power. Mahathir may be guilty of many things, but this is not one of them. – Dennis Ignatius