Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Loke Siew Fook, and Mohamad Sabu said they were only informed of Mahathir’s decision not to proceed with the applications to review and interpret the 2008 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the rocky island.
Wan Azizah, Loke, and Mohamad were the deputy prime minister, transport minister, and defence minister at the time.
In a joint statement, they said the Cabinet was merely informed of the decision when it came to discussing “other matters” during the meeting.
“Therefore, the issue of whether anyone objected or supported (the decision) did not arise, because there was no room for any decision-making when Mahathir had already done so in writing.
“We believe and we are confident that the other Cabinet members who were in attendance can confirm this.”
On Tuesday, Mahathir again denied making a unilateral decision not to proceed with the applications to review and interpret the ICJ’s decision on Batu Puteh.
Mahathir said the likes of Wan Azizah, then finance minister Lim Guan Eng, and then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin, had been present among others during the Cabinet meeting where the issue was raised.
“If they were against the idea (not to proceed), they could have spoken up, but no one said anything, so we have to assume they accepted it,” he said.
In their statement today, Wan Azizah, Loke, and Mohamad said that as a statesman Mahathir should take responsibility for his actions instead of trying to shift the blame.
Loke and Mohamad are currently the transport and agriculture ministers in the unity government.
The royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge previously revealed that Mahathir had written to the solicitor-general on May 21, 2018, stating that the ICJ applications “need not be continued”.
The solicitor-general then informed Singapore that Malaysia would be dropping both legal applications, the commission said in its declassified report.
The RCI said Singapore was informed of this at 9am on May 23, 2018. The Cabinet only met at 9.30am that day and discussed the issue later in the meeting under “other matters”.