King grants audience to members of Batu Puteh RCI

KUALA LUMPUR: His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, today granted an audience to members of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to review the handling of cases involving the sovereignty of Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, at Istana Negara.

According to the post on Sultan Ibrahim's Facebook page, during the audience, His Majesty also presented the members of the RCI with their instruments of appointment.

Also present was the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

On Feb 14, it was reported that Sultan Ibrahim had consented to the setting up of an RCI and the appointment of seven RCI members, including former Chief Justice Tun Md Raus Sharif as the chairman, former Federal Court Judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali as the deputy chairman.

The five other RCI members are legal practitioner Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, former Dean of Universiti Malaya (UM) Faculty of Law Prof Dr Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, Constitutional Law and Administrative Law expert Prof Datin Dr Faridah Jalil, Johor State Financial Officer Datuk Mohammed Ridha Abd Kadir and director of Marine Department Southern Region Dickson Dollah.

Sultan Ibrahim also consented to Prime Minister's Department's Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) director-general Zamri Misman as the secretary of the RCI, while BHEUU JPM will act as the secretariat.

In October last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the issue of Batu Puteh could be resolved with the direct involvement of the Attorneys-General of Malaysia and Singapore.

Anwar also urged then-Attorney General, Tan Sri Idrus Harun, in December to hold talks with the Singapore government on the controversy concerning the claims over Batu Puteh.

The directive called for Idrus to review and reexamine the issues surrounding Batu Puteh that had been awarded to Singapore by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) before this.

On May 23, 2008, the ICJ ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Batu Puteh while Malaysia had sovereignty over Middle Rocks.

In addition, the ICJ ruled that ownership of South Ledge, located about four kilometres from Batu Puteh, would be determined based on the maritime boundaries of the country that controls it.

-- BERNAMA

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