Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad questioned how the government is planning to debate the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge report when 47 pages of the publication have been redacted.
He also asked why his court request for the RCI to conduct open proceedings had been rejected.
“The RCI report had been declassified. Previously, it was classified but now (it’s) no longer the case. Who made the decision?
“Why were my requests in court to conduct the RCI proceedings openly rejected?
“Now, they want to debate the report but how are we to do so when 47 out of 217 pages (of the report) got redacted,” the nonagenarian asked during a press conference in Putrajaya today.
In the report declassified on Dec 5, the RCI panel recommended a criminal investigation be launched against Mahathir for allegedly making a unilateral decision in withdrawing Malaysia's review of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision to award sovereignty over Batu Puteh to Singapore.
They also accused Mahathir of deceiving the cabinet in 2018 into making the decision, saying that the former had merely briefed cabinet members on why he had done so.
On Dec 6, Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the Dewan Rakyat is set to debate the RCI report, with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said set to table a motion to enable it.
‘What about Wan Azizah?’
Earlier, Mahathir hurled brickbats at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for calling the decision a treachery, stressing the decision to withdraw the appeal was made by the cabinet - which included then deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar’s wife.
“The PM recently described this matter as an issue of treachery.
“If so, why didn’t Wan Azizah say anything about this ‘treachery’ between May 2018 and Feb 2020?
“Wasn’t Wan Azizah my deputy prime minister then, and also the wife of the current PM?” Mahathir asked.
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