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SINGAPORE : Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said he is pleased with the judgement made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Pedra Branca.
He said Singapore fully accepts the ruling and he is glad that Malaysia has also consistently said that it will accept ICJ's judgement. Mr Lee said this is a good way to resolve disagreements or problems while maintaining good relations with each other.
He added that Pedra Branca has been a longstanding issue between Malaysia and Singapore.
Former Prime Ministers Mahathir Mohamad and Goh Chok Tong had agreed to send the dispute for adjudication at the ICJ in September 1994 and to abide by the ICJ's ruling.
PM Lee remembered that when he visited Malaysia in 1995 and spoke at INTAN, Malaysia's Institute of Public Administration, Abdullah Badawi - who was then Foreign Minister - chaired the talk.
Mr Lee recounted, "I was asked whether if the ICJ awarded Pedra Branca to Malaysia, Singapore would accept the judgement. I replied immediately 'yes of course', and PM Abdullah chipped in to assure the audience that naturally Malaysia would also do so if the judgement went the other way."
PM Lee is glad that this problem is now cleared. He will be writing to Prime Minister Abdullah to express his thanks to him - that both 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".
He said he would especially like to thank the Singapore team at The Hague. PM Lee said, "They did a magnificent job in preparing and presenting Singapore's case before the ICJ.
"Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, Ambassador Tommy Koh, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, our foreign counsel, and many officials from our ministries and agencies have worked very hard on this case for a long time - in Professor Jayakumar's case, for 29 years. On behalf of Singaporeans, I thank all of them for their contributions and efforts." - CNA/ms
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