Whenever relations between Singapore and Malaysia are mentioned, many will think of Pedra Branca.
The tiny island has been a source of dispute between the two countries for more than 40 years, and the issue has arisen yet again.
Malaysia has said they’ll again pursue legal action over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca.
Source: Vivian Balakrishnan on Facebook
In response, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has said that we’ll “robustly defend our sovereignty over Pedra Branca”.
In a statement on Thursday (13 Oct), Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a special task force had made certain recommendations to his Cabinet, reported The Star.
Source: Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Facebook
One of them was that the Malaysian government “proceed with legal action” at the International Court Of Justice (ICJ) over Pedra Branca, as well as Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
The task force also suggested that “appropriate action” be taken to protect the sovereignty of Malaysia.
For the uninitiated, Pedra Branca is an island located about 44km (24 nautical miles) east of Singapore’s main island, at the eastern entrance of the Straits of Singapore, according to the MFA.
On it sits Horsburgh Lighthouse, built by the British between 1847 and 1851, and a military rebroadcast station, helipad, desalination plant and communications tower.
Source: Google Maps
To the south are Middle Rocks and South Ledge. Middle Rocks is situated 1.1km (0.6 nautical miles) south of Pedra Branca and comprises two clusters of rocks about 320m apart.
Malaysia has built a maritime base there, with a jetty linking the two outcrops, a lighthouse and a helipad.
South Ledge is farther south of Pedra Branca at 3.9km (2.1 nautical miles) away. It’s submerged in the sea during high tide.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Malaysia knows Pedra Branca as Pulau Batu Puteh. Middle Rocks is also known as Batuan Tengah, while South Ledge is called Tubir Selatan.
In response to media queries over Mr Ismail Sabri’s statement, Singapore’s MFA issued a press statement on Friday (14 Oct) night.
They said Singapore has noted Malaysia’s press release on their intention to continue legal action in the ICJ over Pedra Branca.
However, Singapore is “unable to comment on Malaysia’s latest intentions” because no details on these have been shared.
MFA maintained, though, that Singapore will deal with whatever legal action Malaysia may pursue, adding,
Singapore stands ready to robustly defend our sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
The MFA noted that 13 years ago in 2008, the ICJ had already awarded sovereignty over Pedra Branca to Singapore.
They awarded Middle Rocks to Malaysia while concluding that South Ledge “belongs to the State in whose territorial waters it lies”. Check out the details of the case here.
MFA also pointed out that both Singapore and Malaysia publicly announced that they would accept and abide by the ICJ decision.
However, some nine years later in 2017, Malaysia applied for a revision of the ICJ decision — more than a year before their 2018 General Election (GE).
After Dr Mahathir Mohamad won the GE and became PM, Malaysia withdrew this application.
At the same time, the time limit of ten years from the date of the judgement expired in May 2018, meaning no further applications for revisions could be made.
Many might have thought then that the issue was resolved for good.
But in June this year, media reports quoted Dr Mahathir as saying that Malaysia should reclaim Pedra Branca, as well as mainland Singapore and Indonesia’s Riau Islands because they’re tanah melayu, or Malay land.
He then issued a statement claiming that his remarks were taken “out of context”, adding that “losing Pulau Batu Puteh is no big deal”.
It seems that the special task force didn’t agree that Pedra Branca is no big deal, though.
In Mr Ismail Sabri’s statement on 13 Oct, he also said the task force pointed the finger at Dr Mahathir for the situation.
There was “possible negligence and mistakes” by Dr Mahathir’s government when they withdrew the application for revision of the ICJ decision in 2018, it said.
Pedra Branca is an issue that Singaporeans, at least, would have thought was dead and buried in 2018.
Turns out that’s not the case, after all, and our neighbours still have something to say about it.
It’s worth noting that Malaysia dissolved their Parliament on 10 Oct, meaning they have to announce a date for the next GE in the next few weeks.
Why they are digging up the Pedra Branca issue yet again at this point is anybody’s guess.
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Featured image adapted from Vivian Balakrishnan on Facebook.
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