Agong consents to Batu Puteh RCI

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar consented to the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to review with immediate effect matters related to the cases involving the sovereignty of Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge.

The Prime Minister’s Department’s Legal Affairs Division, in a statement today, said the establishment of the RCI is in line with the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950 (Act 119).

It said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said, along with the division’s director-general Zamri Misman, were granted an audience and informed Sultan Ibrahim about the government’s proposal for the establishment of the RCI.

“His Majesty also consented to the appointment of seven RCI members, including former chief justice Md Raus Sharif as the chairperson and former Federal Court judge Zainun Ali as the deputy chairperson,” the statement read.

The five other RCI members are legal practitioner Baljit Singh Sidhu, former dean of the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya Prof Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, constitutional law and administrative law expert Prof Faridah Jalil, Johor State Financial Officer Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir and Marine Department Southern Region director Dickson Dollah.

Sultan Ibrahim also consented to Zamri serving as the secretary of the RCI, while the division will act as the secretariat.

In October last year, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the issue of Batu Puteh could be resolved with the direct involvement of the attorney-generals of Malaysia and Singapore.

Anwar also urged then-attorney-general Idrus Harun, in December, to hold talks with the Singapore government on the controversy concerning the claims over Batu Puteh.

The directive called for Idrus to review and reexamine the issues surrounding Batu Puteh that had been awarded to Singapore by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) before this.

On May 23, 2008, the ICJ ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Batu Puteh while Malaysia had sovereignty over Middle Rocks.

In addition, the ICJ ruled that ownership of South Ledge, located about four kilometres from Batu Puteh, would be determined based on the maritime boundaries of the country that controls it.

- Bernama