Dewan Rakyat adjourns with Batu Puteh RCI motion still pending

 

PARLIAMENT | Despite fiery speeches from both sides of the Parliament divide, no decision was reached regarding the government’s motion to back the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge.

Instead, at the end of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said’s winding up speech, she moved for the Dewan Rakyat sitting to be adjourned.

“Taking into account everything I have heard, as the responsible minister, in accordance with Standing Order 12(1) regardless of the previous motion, I propose that the meeting today be adjourned now,” she said.

Today’s Dewan Rakyat sitting the last one for the current session, with the next one scheduled to begin on Feb 26 next year. However, no date has been set for the motion to be raised again.

The government motion, among other things, calls on the Dewan Rakyat to “urge all parties to work together and support the government so that the findings and recommendations of the commission in the report can be affirmed and approved, and allow comprehensive action to be taken by the parties involved to tackle the weakness that has been identified and ensure national sovereignty continues to be protected”.

Ten lawmakers participated in the debates about the report after Azalina tabled the motion.

In the declassified report presented to Parliament on Dec 5, the RCI accused Mahathir of deceiving the cabinet in 2018 by withdrawing Malaysia’s appeal of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that awarded sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.

The RCI found that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made the unilateral decision to halt the appeal without cabinet approval and only briefed them afterwards on his reasons.

[More to follow] - Mkini