KUALA LUMPUR (July 9): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is appealing against the High Court decision to dismiss his legal challenge to have the closed-door proceedings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Pulau Batu Puteh open to public.
The appeal was filed on Tuesday by the former prime minister's solicitors from the Law Practice of Rafique, according to court documents seen by The Edge.
In his legal challenge, Mahathir also sought to remove the RCI's chairman Tun Md Raus Sharif and two other panel members — lawyer Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu and Johor financial officer Datuk Muhammed Ridha Abd Karim — from the commission.
Baljit and Muhammed Ridha were members of the special task force headed by former attorney general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali which looked into the Cabinet’s decision in 2018 to withdraw a review of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision on Batu Puteh.
The RCI, led by Md Raus, has been tasked with looking at the findings of the special task force.
On June 12, the High Court dismissed Mahathir's application for leave to initiate a judicial review on the grounds that the matter was not amenable to a judicial review.
Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh also did not allow a stay of the RCI proceedings, resulting in Mahathir testifying before the commission the very same day.
At a press conference later that day, the veteran politician said he did not make the decision in 2018 to withdraw an application to review ICJ's granting of Batu Puteh's sovereignty to Singapore.
He said the decision was made by the Cabinet after he had "expressed his opinion" on the matter to them.