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THE HAGUE: Singapore is pleased to be awarded sovereignty over Pedra Branca island, while Malaysia calls the judgement by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a win-win outcome.
The world court's 16-member bench voted 12-4 to give ownership of Pedra Branca to Singapore, while it voted 15-1 to award Malaysia the sovereignty over Middle Rocks, a maritime feature 0.6 nautical miles from Pedra Branca.
As for the island's other maritime feature, 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."
Delegates from Singapore and Malaysia, who were present at The Hague to hear the ICJ verdict, were on tenterhooks just before the final judgement was announced.
The Singapore team, led by Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, heaved a sigh of relief when the court awarded Pedra Branca to the city-state.
The first thing Prof Jayakumar did was to inform Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about the judgement. Prof Jayakumar said Mr Lee was in a Cabinet meeting and keeping a close watch on the judgement.
Prof Jayakumar added: "Of course, we would have been happier if the court had awarded all the three (maritime) features in Singapore's favour. We've argued before the court that all these other features were part of Pedra Branca, but the court has found otherwise. But we accept the judgement of the court."
Singapore's Ambassador-At-Large, Professor Tommy Koh, said the ratio of 12 to 4 judges voting in favour of Singapore is a good one, adding that he is personally happy with the outcome.
He said: "The first one hour to one-and-a-half hours was a bit of a cliffhanger, because we had argued very strenuously against Malaysia's primary argument of its original title.
"We had a strong argument in favour of the view that in 1847, Pedra Branca and the two related features were terra nullius. The court found against us and that of course was a great disappointment. Fortunately, the rest of the judgement was in our favour."
Both countries agree the judgement brings a closure to the territorial dispute that has dragged on for 28 years, and are keen to move on to implementing its terms.
Prof Jayakumar said: "I think Malaysia and Singapore, by resolving this dispute in an amicable manner by recourse to the ICJ, or third-party dispute settlement, have in fact shown our peoples as well as the region that this is a way of resolving intractable issues, and I think it's a model for resolving other issues."
Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said: "Primarily, Singapore and Malaysia should take this as a point of strength, a point of coordination and a point of deeper understanding..."
A joint technical committee has been set up to implement the terms of the ICJ judgement. Dr Rais said one of the tasks of the committee would be to come up with suggestions on the South Ledge issue.
He said: "Having said (the judgement is) the win-win situation, the only remaining issue to be resolved is apparently the South Ledge. (It) has got to be subject to further determination, although the court said South Ledge belongs to the State for which the territorial waters are under it, meaning that whichever state has the right of territorial waters will also have jurisdiction and sovereignty over South Ledge.
"But that's not clear under the judgement, and since we've established the understanding with Singapore to create a special committee, that committee will first, perhaps, go through the judgement in detail and later on, come up with suggestions."
Now that the international court has decided, both Singapore and Malaysia said they respect the judgement. The next move forward is for the two countries to forge ahead with continued cooperation as good neighbours with long-standing relations.
Separately, former High Commissioner to Malaysia, K Kesavapany, said relations between the two countries have been improving in the last six years, and this bodes well for settling future disputes in a more rational manner. However, he said this does not necessarily mean all such cases should be referred to the International Court of Justice.
"For example, in the case of water, the Water Agreement specifies how the issue can be addressed. In the case of the railway land, we have what's called the Points of Agreement. Now, it's up to both parties to see whether they could sit down and use the Pedra Branca example to move forward."
- CNA/ir
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