00:00The High Court has denied Dr Mahathir Mohamad the right to be present, either personally
00:06or through his lawyers, at the Batu Putih Royal Commission of Inquiry hearing.
00:11Justice Amarjeet Singh gave no reason for his ruling, but said he would give his grounds
00:15of judgement in due course.
00:17Last year, Zainul Zakaria submitted that the inquiry violated Section 18 of the RCI Act
00:231950, which provides that any person whose conduct is the subject of inquiry or is in
00:28any way implicated or concerned in the matter under inquiry shall be entitled to representation
00:33by an advocate at the whole of the inquiry.
00:35However, Senior Federal Counsel Shamsulbul Hassan submitted that Mahathir's application
00:40was academic, as the RCI's report had already been submitted to the King, declassified and
00:45released on the Parliament's website, although several of its recommendations were redacted.
00:51The RCI was inquiring into Mahathir's decision to withdraw an application to review a decision
00:56by the International Court of Justice made in 2009 awarding sovereignty over Batu Putih
01:01to Singapore.
01:02The review, along with an application to interpret the ICJ's judgement to address certain ambiguities
01:07and implications, particularly regarding the status of Southledge, was filed by the government
01:12in 2017.
01:13The RCI's report found that Mahathir had likely deliberately acted to influence the
01:18Cabinet to discontinue both applications, despite the views of international consultants
01:23who said they had a reasonable likelihood of success.
01:26Natasha Biest, FMT News.
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