Annuar wants Parliament to correct Marzuki's statement on Batu Puteh
Annuar Musa today claimed that Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya misled the Dewan Rakyat by saying that Putrajaya was still committed to pursuing the Pulau Batu Puteh case at the International Court of Justice.
"During the question-and-answer session at Dewan Rakyat on July 2, the deputy minister said that the government will appeal the judgement in the Pulau Batu Puteh case...
Annuar Musa today claimed that Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya misled the Dewan Rakyat by saying that Putrajaya was still committed to pursuing the Pulau Batu Puteh case at the International Court of Justice.
"During the question-and-answer session at Dewan Rakyat on July 2, the deputy minister said that the government will appeal the judgement in the Pulau Batu Puteh case.
"But he denied making such a statement the following day," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
As such, he said, opposition lawmakers will write to Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof to have the contents of the Hansard expunged.
"We will write in for a ruling, according to Rule 18(2) of the Standing Orders," he said.
"We want him (Marzuki) to retract his statement and we want the (contents of) the Hansard to be expunged."
If the House declines to do so, Annuar said, the opposition will move a motion to refer Marzuki to the Rights and Privileges Committee.
He added, however, that he will not be too harsh on Marzuki, a first-time deputy minister, despite it being "embarrassing" for him to make such a serious mistake.
According to the Hansard, Marzuki said on July 2 that Putrajaya was still committed to pursuing the Pulau Batu Puteh case.
"We are still committed, as I said just now, the government will present a review over the ruling on Batu Puteh, Batuan Tengah and Tubir Selatan to the International Court of Justice and we will continue," he said.
Marzuki was responding to Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian), who asked him to clarify a report that Malaysia had withdrawn from the suit.
Both Malaysia and Singapore have been tussling in the international court over the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh, or Pedra Branca, since 1979.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ awarded sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore, and Pulau Batuan Tengah to Malaysia.
It also concluded that sovereignty over Pulau Tubir Selatan belongs to the state in whose territorial waters it lies.
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