UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has taken Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to task for linking Malaysia’s next general election to its request for a review of an international court’s decision to award Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.

Khairy said Lee’s comment, made at the PAP Awards and Convention yesterday, was an irresponsible allegation and could hurt ties between the countries.

“It is easy to gain political support by making allegations about other countries, as Lee did during the PAP convention, but unlike him, Malaysia takes the issue of sovereignty seriously,” Khairy said in a statement today, which was posted on the Umno Youth and his personal Twitter accounts.

Lee had questioned Malaysia’s motive in requesting the International Court of Justice revise its 2008 judgement to award the disputed island, also called Pedra Blanca, and the South Ledge to Singapore.

Lee had reportedly said Malaysia’s recent request “may have something to do” with the 14th general election, which must be held by August next year.

Malaysia filed the request in February after the discovery of new facts in three documents from the UK National Archives in August last year.

A second application for an interpretation of the ICJ’s ruling was filed earlier this year on June 30.

Khairy said it was Malaysia’s right to do so. 

“(Both these applications) were not made without basis,” said Khairy, who is also youth and sports minister.

“For Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s information, Malaysia’s general election had not been announced when the discovery of facts were made last year. As a reminder, the Malaysian Parliament has not been dissolved till today, more than a year since the discovery of new facts was made,” he said. – November 20, 2017.