Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020, said he was ready to be tried in court over claims that he had betrayed the country by discontinuing a review application in 2018.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by former minister Idris Jala and his son Leon, Mahathir said the country had little to gain from the ownership of Batu Puteh, which is about the size of a football field.
Mahathir, 99, disputed claims he had caused the country to lose valuable land, pointing out that he had actually increased the country’s territory by developing Pulau Layang Layang in Sabah and reclaiming land to create islands off Langkawi.
“How do you compare this with Batu Puteh? It’s just a rock,” he said.
“On top of that, we’ve got the other island (Middle Rocks) and also the ledge (South Ledge). Those are ours and they can be developed better than Batu Puteh.
“I thought of this and I informed the Cabinet that we should accept the court’s (ICJ) decision, and also develop Middle Rocks.
“We have developed Pulau Layang Layang, which was just a rock in the middle of the sea but now has a landing strip and a hotel. We built something out of nothing in the middle of the sea. We can do that.
“So why do we want to talk about a lighthouse? Let Singapore operate it.”
Batu Puteh, situated about 14km south of Johor and 44km east of Singapore, is made up of granite rocks. Middle Rocks and South Ledge are located 1.1km and 4km from Batu Puteh, respectively.
In 2008, the ICJ awarded Batu Puteh to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia. The ownership of South Ledge was left for determination based on the delimitation of territorial waters.
In 2017, Putrajaya applied for the ICJ to review its decision on Batu Puteh and sought an interpretation over certain ambiguities and implications arising from its decision, particularly as regards the status of South Ledge.
However, following its victory at the 14th general election in May 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government led by Mahathir withdrew both applications before they came up for hearing in June that year.
In February last year, a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) was established to look into matters related to the sovereignty of Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
The commission found that Mahathir had likely acted deliberately to influence the Cabinet to discontinue the applications despite the views of international consultants who said the applications had a reasonable likelihood of success.
The RCI recommended that a police report be lodged against Mahathir, saying a criminal investigation could be initiated under Section 415(b) of the Penal Code for cheating.
Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the PH government which Mahathir led should have fought for every inch of Malaysia’s territory, stating that any misconduct related to the matter could be considered a “major treachery”.
“They say that I’m a traitor and a criminal, and they want to investigate me … But what did I do?
“I can defend myself in a court of law,” said Mahathir when asked to comment on Anwar’s remarks.
“In the first place, what I stopped (the review of the ICJ’s decision) wouldn’t have caused us to gain or lose anything.”