Malaysia's new challenge to ICJ ruling on Pedra Branca without merit: MFA

SINGAPORE - Malaysia has filed a fresh application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to challenge its 2008 ruling awarding Pedra Branca to Singapore, a move which the Republic has described as puzzling and groundless.

“In our view, the ICJ judgement is clear and unambiguous. Malaysia’s request for the ICJ to interpret the judgement is puzzling,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Saturday (July 1)   

“Singapore will therefore oppose Malaysia’s application for interpretation, which we consider to be both unnecessary and without merit.”

The ICJ said in a statement that Putrajaya filed the application on Friday, asking the court to award waters around Pedra Branca and a maritime feature south of it called South Ledge to Malaysia.

In its judgment in May 2008, the ICJ ruled that sovereignty over Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore, sovereignty over the Middle Rocks belongs to Malaysia and that sovereignty over the South Ledge belongs to the state in the territorial waters of which it is located.

MFA added that the ICJ’s judgment is final and without appeal and that both countries had agreed to honour and abide by it and had established a Malaysia-Singapore Joint Technical Committee (MSJTC) to implement the court’s judgment. 

Malaysia’s application came almost five months after it filed an application to revise the ICJ judgement following what it claimed was the discovery of new facts from three documents recently discovered in the United Kingdom’s national archive, which it said would have resulted in a “different conclusion” by the court. Singapore had on May 24 filed its rebuttal to Malaysia's first application to the ICJ. 

ICJ said that in its latest application, Malaysia had cited the MSJTC, which among other things, was tasked to address the delimitation of the maritime boundaries between the territorial waters of both countries.

“According to Malaysia, the MSJTC reached an impasse in November 2013,” said the ICJ in its statement, adding that Malaysia asserts that one reason for the impasse is that both countries have been unable to agree over the meaning and scope of the 2008 judgment on Pedra Branda and South Ledge.

“The Applicant goes on to argue that “[t]he ongoing uncertainty” as to which State is sovereign over the disputed areas ‘continues to complicate the task of ensuring orderly and peaceful relations’.  It (Malaysia) affirms that ‘the need to achieve a viable solution to this dispute is pressing’, considering the ‘high volume of aerial and maritime traffic in the area’,” said the ICJ.

In its filing, Malaysia had invoked Article 60 of ICJ’s Statute of the Court, which provides that “in the event of a dispute as to the meaning or scope of the judgment, the Court shall construe it upon the request of any party”.

Malaysia added that the application “is separate and autonomous” from its first challenge, “even if the two proceedings are necessarily closely related”.

MFA said Singapore will file its written observations on Malaysia’s second application in due course.

“Just as we are confident of our case on the revision application, we are also confident that we are on strong grounds to oppose this latest application by Malaysia for interpretation,” it said.

“Singapore is committed to resolving these issues in accordance with international law.”

The row over the ownership of Pedra Branca dates back to 1979, when Malaysia published a map indicating the island to be within the country’s territorial waters.

Singapore lodged a formal protest with Malaysia in early 1980.

It took more than 20 years for the dispute to be brought before the ICJ in July 2003.

In May 2008, after several rounds of written pleadings and public hearings, the court ruled Pedra Branca to be Singapore territory.

In a statement in May after Singapore filed its rebuttal to Malaysia's first application to the ICJ, MFA had said that the Republic was confident of its case and its legal team. 

“The next step is for the parties to present their oral arguments after the ICJ has fixed the schedule for the oral proceedings,” it added then.