KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad may boycott the government’s Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the sovereignty of Batu Puteh and several other islets, if former chief justice Tun Md Raus Sharif remains as the commission's chairman, said the former prime minister's lawyer.
Lawyer Rafique Rashid, in a statement on Friday, claimed that the appointment of Raus as the chairman of the RCI is in gross violation of natural justice as, according to him, the former judge is an "interested party".
Rafique referred to a judicial review filed by Mahathir in the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2017 to challenge the legality of the appointment of Raus as an additional judge of the Federal Court because Raus had reached the age of 66 years and six months, which is the age limit set by the Federal Constitution for the position of chief justice.
The Malaysian Bar at the time also deemed Raus' appointment as an additional judge in the Federal Court as unconstitutional. However, Mahathir's applications were dismissed at the High Court and subsequently at the Court of Appeal.
Rafique, in his statement, said: "The RCI should be seen as clean and impartial so that the public will not question the credibility of the same. As such, the appointment of Tun Md Raus Sharif as chairman of RCI Batu Puteh has created a real danger of bias in which truth and justice will not prevail. That will erode public confidence and will affect the credibility of its findings."
Rafique said the government should replace the chairman of the RCI with someone who is not conflicted, or Raus should recuse himself from the position.
"Failing which, we would be inclined to advise our client Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to decline participating in the RCI," the lawyer added.
On Wednesday, the King of Malaysia, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, consented to the setting up of an RCI to review with immediate effect matters related to the cases involving the sovereignty of Batu Puteh (Pedra Branca), Batuan Tengah (Middle Rocks) and Tubir Selatan (South Ledge).
The ruler also consented to the appointment of seven RCI members, including Raus as the chairman, and former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali as the deputy chairman.
The five other RCI members are legal practitioner Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, former dean of Universiti Malaya's Faculty of Law Prof Dr Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, constitutional law and administrative law expert Prof Datin Dr Faridah Jalil, Johor state financial officer Datuk Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir, and the Marine Department's southern region director Dickson Dollah.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has previously called for a review of a 2018 decision by the government — under the administration of Mahathir as the then-prime minister — to drop its application to revise an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Singapore had sovereignty over Batu Puteh.
The ICJ awarded the Middle Rocks formation to Malaysia while nearby Batu Puteh was given to Singapore. Malaysia in 2017 sought to have the Batu Puteh part of the ruling overturned, but dropped its claim a year later after Mahathir became prime minister.