Channel NewsAsia 23 May 08;
THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague in the Netherlands has awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca island to Singapore, while the sovereignty of Middle Rocks has been awarded to Malaysia.
The world court delivered the judgement on Friday, after several rounds of written and oral pleadings by disputing countries Singapore and Malaysia. The ICJ last heard arguments from both sides in November 2007.
For Pedra Branca, ICJ's 16-member bench voted 12-4 in favour of Singapore. Ownership of Middle Rocks, a maritime feature 0.6 nautical miles from Pedra Branca, was voted 15-1 to Malaysia.
As for South Ledge, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, the Acting President of International Court of Justice, said: "The Court has not been mandated by the parties to draw the line of delimitation with respect to the territorial waters of Malaysia and Singapore in the area in question. In these circumstances, the court concludes that for the reasons explained above, sovereignty over South Ledge, as a low tide elevation, belongs to the State in the territorial waters of which it is located."
The verdict brings to a close a 28-year row between the two neighbours. The dispute arose in 1980 when Singapore protested against a new Malaysian map of its maritime boundaries, which claimed the islet for itself.
Years of bilateral talks failed to resolve the matter and the parties agreed to seek the intervention of the UN court.
Pedra Branca, which Malaysia calls Pulau Batu Puteh, is located some 24 nautical miles to the east of Singapore and it commands the entire eastern approach to the Singapore Strait, through which almost 900 ships pass daily.
Pedra Branca also houses the Horsburgh Lighthouse, the oldest feature on the island which was built by the British between 1847 and 1851.
Leaders from both Singapore and Malaysia had said they would accept the ICJ's decision and stressed that whichever way it went, it would not affect bilateral ties.
Diplomat and Dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Barry Desker, said the judgement indicates that Southeast Asia is moving to accept the broader norms of international law.
He added that it augurs well for the dispute settlement mechanism of the ASEAN Charter and will set precedence for the way Singapore and Malaysia deal with their other outstanding bilateral issues.
Mr Desker said: "In the past, the tendency in ASEAN was to try and resolve issues purely by mediation or negotiations between two parties. The result was that issues or disputes between parties in the region tended to go on and on without completion, without successful negotiation.
"I think we are now moving in the direction of accepting a turn to international law – a willingness to accept international arbitration and this bodes well for issues in which there are bilateral differences."
Mr Desker also described the verdict as "win-win" for both sides because no party can claim it has won everything.
Moving forward, he said the technical committees of both countries will need to put into action the decision of the International Court of Justice. These include working out the necessary protocols to ensure the navigation safety of fishing vessels and pleasure crafts around Pedra Branca.- CNA
Foreign Ministry says ICJ's judgement on Pedra Branca brings closure
Channel NewsAsia 23 May 08;
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it is pleased with the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which awarded sovereignty of the Pedra Branca island to Singapore on Friday.
But the ministry said the judgement is not totally in Singapore's favour as the court has awarded Middle Rocks to Malaysia and has decided that South Ledge belongs to the country in whose territorial waters it is located.
Even though Singapore had argued that these features are part of Pedra Branca, MFA said it accepts the court's decision.
The Foreign Ministry added that the judgement brings closure to a longstanding territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore.
Both countries will discuss the steps and procedures to implement the court's decision. Officials from both sides had already been in discussion prior to the announcement of the judgement.
Responding to queries on the implications of the ICJ's decision regarding Singapore's entitlement to territorial maritime zones around Pedra Branca, an MFA spokesman said that the court was not asked to determine such questions of maritime space or boundary delimitation.
But Singapore's rights and interests on these matters will be pursued in accordance with international law.
A 1980 press statement from MFA had said that Singapore has an Exclusive Economic Zone and a territorial sea limit that extends up to a maximum of 12 nautical miles. This is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982.
Singapore's Foreign Ministry said the precise coordinates of Singapore's territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone will be announced at an appropriate time.
Should the limits of its territorial sea or Exclusive Economic Zone overlap with claims of neighbouring countries, Singapore will negotiate with those countries with a view to arrive at agreed delimitations, in accordance with international law.- CNA/so
Singapore gets Pedra Branca
Rocky outcrops for Malaysia, ICJ rules
Derrick A Paulo, Today Online 24 May 08;
AS THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered on Friday a near two-hour verdict to end a three-decade dispute over Pedra Branca, it seemed for a time the decision would go to Malaysia.
But just as the ICJ concluded that sovereignty of Pedra Branca had passed to Singapore over time, the judgment presented in The Hague eventually swung the Republic's way.
At the end, 12 judges found in favour of Singapore, while four dissented.
They had heard arguments from both countries based on early 18th-century history to more recent times.
Six months after hearing the case, the ICJ distilled these arguments into an 84-page judgment, which its acting president presented to the two parties.
Malaysia had based its case on the weight of history, and Singapore on acts of sovereignty. Beginning as he did in chronological fashion, Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh revealed that the former had made its case about its original title.
"Malaysia has established to the satisfaction of the Court that ... in 1844, this island was under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Johor," he said.
The argument was enough for Malaysia to get Middle Rocks, one of two nearby rocky outcrops that were also under contention, by a count of 15 to one. But the argument was not strong enough to win the case on Pedra Branca. Sovereignty of the latter hinged on what happened from 1953 onward, according to the ICJ judgment.
Going by correspondence between both countries over Pedra Branca, as well as the actions taken by Singapore on the granite rock and the general lack of response by Malaysia to those actions, the ICJ decided that sovereignty had passed to Singapore.
And Singapore is "pleased" with the judgment, even if it was "not totally in Singapore's favour", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement.
At The Hague, Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar told reporters: "We would have been happier if the Court had awarded all the three features in Singapore's favour, and we have argued before the Court that all these other features were part of Pedra Branca, but the Court has found otherwise and we accept the judgment of the Court."
But Pedra Branca was the key feature in the dispute, noted Prof Jaya and the MFA.
Singapore Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh said that the ratio of
12 to four judges was a good one.
Judges Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela, Bruno Simma of
Germany, Ronny Abraham of France and John Dugard of South Africa, whom Malaysia had nomnated to sit on the panel, dissented.
Prof Koh declined to speculate on what could have swayed the ICJ in favour of Singapore, but he did admit that the "first one to one-and-a-half hours were a bit of a cliffhanger".
He added: "We have made a strong argument in favour of the view that in 1847, Pedra Branca and the two related features were terra nullius (no man's land). The Court found against us. That of course, was a great disappointment."
The ICJ had added to the nerves of the Singapore team - led by Prof Jaya, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and Prof Koh, who was serving as the Agent of Singapore to the ICJ for this case - by revealing that no conclusions about sovereignty could be drawn based on the construction and commissioning in the 19th century of the Horsburgh Lighthouse, which Singapore had used in its case.
"Fortunately, the rest of the judgment was in our favour," said Prof Koh.
In a media statement, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also welcomed the result. "I will be writing to (Malaysian Prime Minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to express my thanks to him that both our countries have been able to work together to resolve this problem, and we can now go on to develop our cooperation in many areas, such as the Iskandar Malaysia project.
"I am glad that this problem is now cleared."
There is one outstanding issue left to resolve, though.
Other than Middle Rocks, the ICJ ruled that South Ledge, an outcrop that is elevated above water only on low tide, belongs to the state whose territorial waters in which it is located. Both the waters of Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks overlap South Ledge.
According to the MFA, "the Court was not asked to determine such questions of maritime space or boundary delimitation. Singapore's rights and interests on these matters will be pursued in accordance with international law".
Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, who was also at The Hague, told reporters that the Joint Technical Committee set up by both countries to implement the ICJ's verdict could "go through the judgment in detail and come up with suggestions".
Law academic Simon Tay said what was important now was for "the two governments need to sit down to ensure how the safety of the ships can be ensured. When that is figured out, the issue of South Ledge will not be so important".
Singapore gets sovereignty over Pedra Branca
Middle Rocks awarded to Malaysia in long awaited ICJ decision
Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times 24 May 08;
(SINGAPORE) A longstanding dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over Pedra Branca and its maritime outcrops has reached a final resolution.
In a judgment in The Hague yesterday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded sovereignty over Pedra Branca to Singapore and judged that the outcrops called Middle Rocks belong to Malaysia. As for a third maritime feature called South Ledge, the court held that it belongs to the country in whose territorial waters it is located.
In a statement last night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore fully accepts the judgment and added that he was glad Malaysia 'has also consistently said that it will accept the judgment'.
'This is a good way for us to resolve disagreements or problems while maintaining good relations with each other,' Mr Lee said. 'I will be writing to (Malaysian) PM Abdullah to express my thanks to him that both our countries have been able to work together to resolve this problem, and we can now go on to develop our cooperation in many areas, such as the Iskandar Malaysia project.'
Both Singapore and Malaysia's leaders had previously said that they would accept the ICJ's decision and stressed that whichever way it went, it would not affect bilateral ties.
Yesterday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim told reporters at The Hague that the judgment 'is a win-win situation which both countries are happy about'.
After several rounds of written and oral pleadings by Singapore and Malaysia, with the last arguments from both sides made in November 2007, ICJ's 16-member bench voted 12-4 for Singapore to have sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
On Pedra Branca's two rocky outcrops, ICJ voted 15-1 in Malaysia's favour on the ownership of Middle Rocks which is 0.6 nautical miles from Pedra Branca.
As for South Ledge, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, the ICJ's Acting President, said that the Court had not been mandated by the parties to draw the line of delimitation with respect to the territorial waters of Malaysia and Singapore in the area in question.
Under these circumstances, the Court concluded that the sovereignty over South Ledge, as a low-tide elevation, belongs to the state in the territorial waters of which it is located.
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar told reporters after the judgment in the Netherlands yesterday: 'We are pleased with the judgment because the Court has awarded sovereignty over Pedra Branca, which is the main feature in the dispute, to Singapore.'
'Of course, we would have been happier if the Court had awarded all the three features in Singapore's favour,' said Prof Jayakumar who was, until recently, also Singapore's Law Minister.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement last night that Singapore will discuss with Malaysia the steps and procedures to implement the court's decision. It noted that officials on both sides had already started talking before the ICJ judgment.
Responding to media queries on the implications of the judgment on issues regarding Singapore's entitlement to territorial sea or maritime zones around Pedra Branca, an MFA spokesman said: 'The Court was not asked to determine such questions of maritime space or boundary delimitation. Singapore's rights and interest on these matters will be pursued in accordance with international law.'
Pedra Branca, which Malaysia calls Pulau Batu Puteh, is located some 24 nautical miles to the east of Singapore and it commands the eastern approach to the Singapore Strait, through which many ships pass daily. Yesterday's verdict brings to closure a sovereignty dispute of some 30 years between the two neighbours.
Pedra Branca also hosts the Horsburgh Lighthouse, the oldest feature on the island which was built by the British between 1847 and 1851.
Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore
World court ends 28-year dispute, declaring main island is Singapore's; Malaysia gets Middle Rocks
Lydia Lim, Straits Times 24 May 08;
AT THE HAGUE - A LONGSTANDING tussle for sovereignty over Pedra Branca and its outcrops came to an end yesterday when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the main island to Singapore, and two smaller outcrops nearby to Malaysia.
The court did not make a definitive ruling on the third rock of contention, South Ledge, which is visible only at low tide. It belongs to whoever owns the territorial waters it sits in, said the court.
The judgment was telecast live in both countries, and when Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh concluded his two-hour statement at 6pm, Singaporeans and Malaysians alike applauded the decision.
Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar told reporters at The Hague: 'We are pleased with the judgment because the court has awarded sovereignty over Pedra Branca, which is the main feature in dispute, to Singapore.'
Malaysia's Foreign Minister Rais Yatim described it as a 'win-win' judgment and said that both countries would 'forge ahead' in their bilateral relationship.
In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong declared that he was pleased with the result, saying that resorting to the ICJ was 'a good way for (the two countries) to resolve disagreements or problems while maintaining good relations with each other'.
In Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak called it a 'balanced decision', with Malaysia 'partly successful' in its territorial claims.
The two hours at the ICJ were suspense-filled and had the Singapore delegation, led by Professor Jayakumar, on the edge of their seats for much of the time.
For the first hour, it actually seemed as if the court would find in Malaysia's favour.
Reasoning from various historical writings, treaties and letters relevant to the case, the court decided that these showed that the Sultanate of Johor possessed original title to the island, dating back to the 16th century.
This meant that the court rejected Singapore's argument that Pedra Branca was terra nullius, that is, belonged to no one, in 1847 when the British took ownership of it and built Horsburgh Lighthouse there.
But things started looking up in the second hour, when the focus shifted to the various activities that Singapore had carried out on the island in the latter half of the 20th century.
These included its investigation into marine accidents in the waters around Pedra Branca, control of visits to the island, plans to reclaim it and installation of military communications equipment there.
The court found that all these activities were carried out a titre de souverain, that is, in a manner that conferred title on the state responsible.
It also noted Malaysia's failure to protest against these acts, all of which - except for the installation of military equipment - it had noticed.
The court also highlighted as of 'major significance' a 1953 letter from the Johor Acting State Secretary informing the colonial authorities in Singapore that Johor did not claim ownership over Pedra Branca.
The reply made clear that in 1953, Johor understood that it did not have sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
That reply would also have left the authorities in Singapore with no reason to doubt that Britain had sovereignty over the island, the court concluded.
The court thus judged that although Johor had possessed an original title to Pedra Branca, that title subsequently passed to Singapore.
The dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over sovereignty of the island arose in February 1980, when Singapore protested against a 1979 Malaysian map that placed Pedra Branca within its territorial waters.
The court ruled that by that critical date, sovereignty over the island had already passed to Singapore.
'The court concludes that sovereignty over Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore.' As Judge Al-Khasawneh pronounced these words, smiles broke out on the Singapore side of the Peace Palace's Great Hall.
The 16 judges of the ICJ voted 12 to four in Singapore's favour.
On the issue of Middle Rocks, the court said that Malaysia's claim of original title still held, as there had been no activities on Singapore's side which made it pass to Singapore.
While the ICJ ruling has settled sovereignty issues, other issues remain.
For one thing, Singapore and Malaysia have to discuss how to delimit the territorial waters in the Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks area.
There will have to be 'sensitive management' of navigational rights, said Mr S. Kesavapany, a former Singapore high commissioner to Malaysia.
'For instance, both our navies will go through the waters, so you need clear understanding of the circumstances under which this can be done,' he said.
A joint technical committee is already in place to discuss these and related issues.
