Head of 25 Malays told to prove credibility of island’s photo

Ex-KL CID Chief Mat Zain revives the Pulau Batu Puteh issue.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a resumption of their dispute over claims of corruption in Malaysia’s loss of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore, former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim has asked the former ambassador to the Netherlands to answer questions about the alleged use of a distorted photograph in the 2007 proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague.

In an open letter today, Mat Zain recalled that a news report in December last year quoted the former envoy, Noor Farida Ariffin, as describing his claims as “a load of rubbish”. Mat Zain had implied in a statutory declaration that Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail had deliberately lost Malaysia’s case.

In a statement separate from the statutory declaration, Mat Zain had alleged that Gani submitted a distorted photograph of the island’s location at the ICJ hearing.

In today’s letter, he noted that Noor Farida had lately been in the news as spokesperson for the 25 “eminent Malays” calling for dialogue to hold back the tide of religious extremism in Malaysia.

He said she could prove her credibility by “sincerely and honestly” answering the following questions:

• Is it true or false that the controversial photograph was submitted as evidence as to the proximity of the island to the Johor coast?
• Is it true or false that the photograph was acquired from a blog of dubious reputation and that it was uploaded just one month before the ICJ proceedings commenced?
• Who discovered the photograph and introduced it to the Malaysian legal team?
• Was any investigation or discussion done to determine the authenticity of the photograph before it was submitted as evidence?
• Why was the controversial photograph used, whereas a research team was believed to have taken photographs and videos of Pulau Batu Puteh from various angles as part of preparations for the case, which took a number of years and incurred great public expense?
• Who was the person who made the final decision to allow the use of the photograph as evidence in the case?

Mat Zain drew Noor Farida’s attention to the Sultan of Johor’s directive to the state government last May to set up a panel to file an appeal against the ICJ decision.

He also noted a statement in 2008 by the then Foreign Minister, Rais Yatim, that the deadline for an appeal was May 5, 2018. He added that although Rais and the Johor Menteri Besar had declared that they would take follow-up action, “we know they haven’t done much.”

He said he realised that he had no power to force Noor Farida to answer his questions, but added: “I believe she knows how the public will judge her credibility and honesty if she chooses to be silent or if she gives false or misleading answers.”

Mat Zain ended his letter with a call to the Prime Minister to set up a royal commission to inquire into the reasons why Malaysia lost Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.