PUTRAJAYA (June 12): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has hit out at Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and former attorney general Tan Sri Apandi Ali for criticisms they levelled at him over Malaysia's withdrawal of a review in the Batu Puteh case.

At a press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here on Wednesday, Mahathir said that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina’s comments that he had handled the Batu Puteh case in secret without consulting the cabinet was “nonsense”.

“Azalina said in parliament I made this decision alone. That’s nonsense. I was seeking interpretations and findings of the International Court of Justice and going through them,” he said.

“What Azalina said it’s absolute nonsense. I read letters by Queen's Counsel’s and everything. And even then I didn’t make decision until I put it before [the] cabinet. Azalina knows nothing. She’s talking without knowledge,” he said.

He said that he did not make the decision to withdraw an application to review the International Court of Justice (ICJ) award of Batu Puteh's sovereignty to Singapore.

He said that at that time in 2018, he did not make the decision himself but said that it was the cabinet which had decided to withdraw after he had presented it to them.

“I didn’t make a decision. I merely expressed my opinion. I brought it to [the] cabinet, the cabinet did not oppose or reject the idea that we should not go ahead with our move.

“They didn’t oppose it but they agreed and it was minuted that they agreed not to go ahead with the review,” he said.

Mahathir said that shortly after the formation of the new government following the 14th general election (GE14) where he was elected prime minister, this matter was brought to him for instructions.

Mahathir said that upon his reading of the ICJ case and advice from Queen’s Council’s and international lawyers including Dr Brendan Plant, representing the international consultants on the matter, they opined that the case was weak from a Malaysian standpoint.

“I took time and I read all the papers and they [lawyers and consultants] said our case is weak. I didn’t make the decision myself,” he said.

“Before I was given a briefing, Brendan Plant came to see me and explained the standing and he said the case is weak. There’s no silver bullet to ensure victory,” he said.

He further said that he had the briefing with AG staff, local lawyers, representatives from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Brendan Plant.

“We discussed these facts and findings, but at no point did anybody contradict that the case was weak and that we shouldn’t go ahead,” he said adding that this briefing was done before he had presented it to the cabinet.