Dr. Mahathir gives testimony at Batu Puteh RCI

PUTRAJAYA: Regarding the matters concerning the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad gave a testimony today at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).

The former prime minister was spotted departing the Prime Minister’s Department over two hours after arriving at the Legal Affairs Division at 10.46 a.m.

In an address to the media, Dr. Mahathir announced that a news conference would take place at his Perdana Leadership Foundation headquarters today. 

“We will be holding this meeting in private. I therefore cannot reveal anything.

However, I’ll meet with the media to share my ideas, which are not private. It is secret what transpired here,” he declared.

Prior to this, Dr. Mahathir has acknowledged that he had been summoned to testify before the RCI on matters of sovereignty. 

He said that because they were parties to the issues the RCI had discussed, he and his solicitors had expected to be called to the hearings.

Dr. Mahathir’s request for a judicial review, which sought to begin proceedings for the RCI on the handling of the sovereignty issues pertaining to Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge, was denied by the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier today. 

Additionally, his request to disallow Datuk Dr. Baljit Singh Sidhu and Datuk Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir from serving as RCI members as well as to forbid Tun Md. Raus Sharif from serving as the chairman of the RCI was denied by Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh.

Additionally, the court rejected Dr. Mahathir’s request to halt the RCI proceedings until the judicial review application was finally resolved. – BERNAMA