Batu Puteh issue: Dr M acted on his own, say three members of 2018 Cabinet

The Star

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad acted unilaterally on the Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge sovereignty issue, according to three former ministers who were in the Cabinet in 2018.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3srf5jrk  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad acted unilaterally on the Batu Puteh, Middle

00:08Rocks and South Ledge sovereignty issue, according to three former ministers who were in the

00:13cabinet in 2018.

00:16In a joint statement on Thursday, former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Aziza, Wan

00:23Ismail, former Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu and then Transport Minister

00:30Anthony Locke said Dr Mahathir decided on May 21, 2018 not to pursue the claim for Batu

00:37Puteh in a written statement to the Solicitor General without referring to the cabinet.

00:43They added that the matter was also conveyed to Singapore before the first cabinet meeting

00:48on May 23, 2018.

00:51They also said the cabinet was only informed two days after the decision was made and stressed

00:56that it was not a discussion to make a decision.

00:59As such, they said the issue of supporting or rejecting the matter does not arise as

01:04the window of opportunity was lost when Dr Mahathir issued a written statement.

01:10The trio said they are of the opinion that Dr Mahathir should take full responsibility

01:14for the decision rather than place it on the shoulders of people who were not involved.

01:20They added that they are confident the other cabinet ministers at the meeting on May 23

01:25can attest to this.

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