KUALA LUMPUR: Transport Minister Anthony Loke has revealed that he and other cabinet members in the Pakatan Harapan government simply followed the decision made by then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad regarding Batu Puteh.
Loke, who is also DAP secretary-general, said that as new ministers, they went along with Dr Mahathir's decision to drop two legal applications related to Batu Puteh during their first cabinet meeting.
"Looking back at the Royal Commission of Inquiry's (RCI) report, the process should have been more thorough.
"At that time, none of us were briefed. We were new, and thought the decision had already been made, so we endorsed it," he said after the Malaysia-China Summit 2024 today.
Loke said that they had no understanding of the proper cabinet process, such as Cabinet Memoranda or Cabinet Papers, which are used to obtain feedback from ministries and agencies before making decisions.
He said that the RCI report highlighted a lack of proper documentation and consultation in the decision-making process.
In a statement last week, Loke, former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and former Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said that they had no chance to express their views on Batu Puteh during the cabinet meeting, as Dr Mahathir had already made a written decision and no further discussion was allowed.
Dr Mahathir has since denied their claims, saying that the minutes of the cabinet meeting would prove them wrong.
The RCI, which reviewed the handling of the Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge sovereignty case, recommended a criminal investigation into Dr Mahathir for withdrawing the application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) without consulting the cabinet in 2018.
The investigation also revealed that Singapore was informed of Malaysia's decision before the cabinet meeting that week.