Azalina said the Cabinet made this decision following the presentation of the report by RCI chairman Raus Sharif at yesterday’s meeting.

“The Cabinet is deeply concerned about national sovereignty issues and has decided that the RCI report should be tabled in Parliament, with its recommendations in the report to be debated,” she said in a statement today.

On Aug 12, the RCI submitted its classified final report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, at Istana Negara.

FMT previously quoted a source as saying the RCI will leave it to the government to decide whether to make the report public.

On Feb 3, 2017, Putrajaya filed an application to review the International Court of Justice’s decision, handed down nine years earlier, to award Singapore sovereignty over Batu Puteh.

The ICJ awarded Middle Rocks to Malaysia, while the ownership of South Ledge, situated about 4km from Batu Puteh, was left to be determined based on the delimitation of territorial waters.

However, upon wresting control of Putrajaya in the general election in May 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government, with Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the prime minister, withdrew the application before it came up for hearing on June 11, 2018.

On Feb 14 this year, Sultan Ibrahim consented to Raus leading an RCI to inquire into why Malaysia dropped its territorial claim to Batu Puteh.

On June 12, Mahathir testified during the RCI proceedings, which were conducted behind closed doors.