Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
ڤروڤاڬندا باتو ڤوته – سياڤا انور نق سالهكن محضير؟ كناڤكه استري انور، تڤي عيم كتيك ايت، سڽڤ؟
UNTUK BERITA TERKINI, SERTAI TELEGRAM TTF DI SINI
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that he regrets Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision to disregard the Batu Puteh issue reeks of ignorance and seems to be a deliberate effort to misguide the public.
According to Anwar, because Mahathir disregarded the issue, the latter failed as prime minister.
“We have taken a very strong position expressing our regret for the failure of the then prime minister Dr Mahathir to not appeal when we lost the case at the ICJ,” he said.
But where was Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Aziz when all this happened?
Tell me, why was Anwar’s own wife, the then Deputy Prime Minister, quiet, and wasn’t Mahathir’s cabinet a Pakatan Harapan cabinet that included ministers from PKR, DAP and AMANAH?
Wasn’t the chief legal advisor to government Tommy Thomas, and wasn’t it the DAP that wanted Thomas to be made Attorney-General?
Is Anwar not aware that the DAP-PKR-AMANAH dominated cabinet approved Mahathir’s decision by not questioning it?
Mahathir has stated, in no uncertain terms, that respecting the ICJ’s decision was the primary basis for the decision of the government he ran in 2018.
Mahathir explained that the decision was made after extensive consideration of the advice and opinion of Dr Brendan Plant and two local lawyers.
“The said lawyers were the same lawyers appointed by Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to his team in 2016. Legal advice was also taken from the then solicitor general in the absence of the AG at that time,” he said. According to the AGC’s website, Datuk Engku Nor Faizah Engku Atek held the position of solicitor general between 2016 to 2020.
Mahathir pointed out that he had, at the very outset, firmly stated that Apandi, who leads the special task force to review the Pulau Batu Puteh case, was biased and in a clear position of conflict of interest as it was his initiative to recommend the review of the ICJ decision in the first place.
“Surely this government, which believes in justice and reform, would want to revisit the issue of bias and conflict of interest of the Special Task Force,” the seasoned politician said, claiming it is key in extracting the truth of the matter.
“It is quite baffling that the Pulau Batu Puteh saga is still being relentlessly pursued despite the myriad of explanations, evidence and justifications that have been repeatedly made,” he said.
Nonetheless, Mahathir said he was, and still is, ever willing to assist in any investigation, so long as issues of conflict, bias or breach of natural justice are resolved.
