KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): While Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dismisses claims that the Johor state government has no knowledge about the ship-to-ship (STS) hub project in Johor, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim has refuted the matter.

In another Facebook posting today, he said the state government, including the Land and Mines office, is not aware of it.

"Whoever who says that Johor is aware is lying," Tunku Ismail said. This came a day after he shared a post by Gerakan Muafakat Johor, which claims to represent the political view of the Johor people, on the social media platform. The group had claimed the project was planned without the knowledge of the Johor government.

He also said neither he nor his father the Johor Sultan, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, is aware of the project. "The Menteri Besar is also not aware based on the attached voice recording," he said, referring to an audio clip he uploaded with the post.

In the clip, Osman was heard telling reporters that he had no knowledge about the STS project. He said he only came to know about the project through a Facebook post. "But, if [the post is] true or not, I'm not sure," he said.

Tunku Ismail went on to say that anything within three nautical miles of the shores of the state, in particular land and water matters, are the sole prerogative of the state. "Is Putrajaya trying to usurp the powers of the state?" he wrote.

Earlier today, Dr Mahathir told reporters that Osman is aware of the project and that they have talked about it yesterday.

"Actually, the Johor MB knows about this project, he asked me about it yesterday," Dr Mahathir told reporters after a signing ceremony of a head of agreement (HoA) between KA Petra Sdn Bhd and Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd to jointly develop the shipping hub, which is touted to be the world's largest STS transfer hub in Malaysia.

"There are a lot of Johoreans who are aware of this project, but he is unaware. I'm puzzled (hairan). He knows many things but this… he doesn’t know," Dr Mahathir added.

To Tunku Ismail, the shipping hub issue shows that Putrajaya has acted unconstitutionally twice.

"The second unconstitutional act is in the ratification of the Rome Statute. The government signed the instrument without getting consent from the Conference of Rulers," the crown prince charged.

Last month, Malaysia signed an instrument to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was set up in 2002 with the objective to end impunity against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.

Wisma Putra said Malaysia's accession to the Rome Statute reflects its commitment to combating international crimes for global peace and security. However, some critics have raised concerns that it could affect the position and immunity of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.