"If you want to get to the truth, then why do you have to black out these pages? What is there to hide? Everything was hidden from the public from day one and until today,” Zainur added.
PUTRAJAYA (Dec 10): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s attorney said on Tuesday that the former prime minister and his lawyers from the outset held no faith in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), as it breached legal principles of natural justice.
Lawyer Zainur Zakaria questioned the integrity of the RCI into Pulau Batu Puteh, flagging various allegedly dubious moves made by the commission.
Zainur questioned why the commission’s hearings were held behind closed doors, while earlier RCI cases on the controversial Datuk VK Lingam video clip in 2002; Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign exchange loss scandal, where it incurred losses amounting to RM31.5 billion between 1991 and 1994; the 2015 Wang Kelian tragedy, where 138 illegal immigrants died; and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s “black eye” incident in 1998 — were open to the public.
Zainur added that Mahathir was also not allowed to cross-examine witnesses testifying during the RCI, noting this was allowed in the previous RCI iterations listed.
Similarly, Zainur said Mahathir and his lawyers were not allowed to be present for the entirety of the RCI proceedings, even though it is his statutory right under Section 18 of the Commission of Enquiry Act — a person whose conduct is subject of enquiry under the Act shall be entitled to be represented by an advocate at the whole of the enquiry.
WATCH: Tun M’s lawyer asks why RCI report was redacted
Zainur was responding to the findings of the RCI’s 271-page report on Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, which recommended a criminal probe be initiated against Mahathir concerning Malaysia’s move to not proceed with both the review and interpretation applications over the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision on Pulau Batu Puteh.
He also highlighted alleged instances of conflict of interest concerning three members of the RCI — namely RCI chair former chief justice Tun Md Raus Sharif, lawyer Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, and Johor state finance officer Datuk Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir.
On Raus, Zainur said Mahathir back in 2017 sought to revoke Raus’ appointment as additional judge and chief justice.
For Baljit and Ridha, Zainur highlighted how they both had sat on the Special Task Force for Pulau Batu Puteh in 2021, which found the act of withdrawing the review application was not in order and improper, but were still allowed to sit on the RCI in 2024.
“These are the issues we raised to the commission, but they just brushed aside all our objections,” Zainur said.
To this, Mahathir underlined that of the five RCI members who were for criminal action against him, three were of “questionable credibility”.
Besides Raus, Baljit and Ridha, the other two who were for the action were former dean of Universiti Malaya’s legal faculty Datuk Dr Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, and southern territory maritime director Dickson Dollah.
The other two members — former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s constitutional and administrative law expert Datin Prof Dr Faridah Jalil — were of the opinion that Mahathir’s action did not constitute a criminal offence, but merely a dereliction of duty.
Forty-seven pages of report redacted
Going beyond how the RCI’s proceedings were held, Zainur also questioned why 47 pages of the commission’s 271-page declassified report were redacted (blacked out) if the RCI’s purpose is to reveal the truth of the matter to the public.
“If you want to get to the truth, then why do you have to black out these pages? What is there to hide? Everything was hidden from the public from day one and until today,” he added.
Mahathir also questioned how the RCI report is supposed to be debated in Parliament on Wednesday (Dec 11), if the aforementioned pages are redacted.
Zainur said that from the outset, Mahathir and his lawyers felt that this RCI was not a “fact-finding inquiry” but instead, a “fault-finding” one.
“And, true enough, it is a fault-finding inquiry, trying to tarnish Mahathir’s reputation and image, and we believe that even the recommendation by the RCI for criminal investigation is intended to intimidate, harass and embarrass Mahathir,” he said.
“We had doubts about the integrity of the RCI from the very beginning, and true enough, when the report came out, this is what you see.
“As far as we are concerned, this report is not worth the paper it is printed on,” Zainur added.
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