It has taken less than two weeks for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to issue conflicting statements on federal power over state land, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said, chiding the prime minister.

He said this comparing Mahathir’s statements yesterday on the Johor national park, Pulau Kukup, and the latter's Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang, Selangor, on Nov 29.

“On Nov 29, the prime minister said land matters are under the jurisdiction of the states and the federal government has no right to interfere, but on Pulau Kukup, he said the federal government is not an ‘outsider’ and is responsible for all states.

“Why does the federal government want to intervene in land matters in Johor, but does not want to do the same in the temple issue in Selangor?

“In just 12 days, the prime minister has given two contradictory statements on federal power over land matters in different states,” Tunku Ismail (photo) said in a Facebook post last night.

Earlier yesterday, Mahathir said the federal government is not “an outsider” and wants to preserve Pulau Kukup as a mangrove forest reserve.

Tunku Ismail had also taken to Facebook on Sunday to criticise Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar for insisting that Pulau Kukup remains a national park.

Environmentalists and Johor government backbenchers have criticised the previous administration's decision to degazette Pulau Kukup, one of the few internationally-recognised wetlands in Southeast Asia.

The island hosts an untouched mangrove forest and many endangered animals. It was gazetted as a national part in 1997 and was degazetted on Oct 25 this year.

Tunku Ismail has clarified that this was done in order to reclassify Pulau Kukup as "sultanate land". He argued that the island would continue to serve as a national park.

The Johor palace also owns Pulau Rawa, an island within the Sultan Iskandar Marine Park.