SINGAPORE, May 31 — A week after the world court's judgment that Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore, the strategising over competing maritime claims in the area has shifted gear.
With the issue of ownership settled, the issue that now seems in contention is the meaning of the terms island and rock.
Malaysia's Foreign Ministry apparently wants a subtle name change.
It has asked the media on its side of the Causeway to drop the word “Pulau” and stick to “Batu Puteh” or “Pedra Branca” — white rock in Malay and Portuguese respectively.
Alternative news website The Malaysian Insider reported on Monday that checks with two national dailies confirmed such a request.
Singapore, on its part, maintains that Pedra Branca is an island.
Why make a mountain out of what seems a molehill?
One possible reason: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) says that islands generate exclusive economic zones but rocks do not.
And right now, both sides are gearing up for talks to delimit their maritime boundary in the Singapore Strait.
So, did last Friday's judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) bring closure to the issue of sovereignty over Pedra Branca, only to set the stage for a fresh tussle over maritime boundaries?
Did the judgment clarify matters or complicate them?
And what lessons can be drawn from this episode about turning to international courts to settle bilateral disputes?
Sorting out the basics
Set high on a cliff on the border between Cambodia and northeastern Thailand is the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear, which both countries once claimed.
In 1962, the ICJ ruled that Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia.
The Thais, whose ancestors had worshipped for centuries at the temple they call Khao Phra Viharn, accepted the decision with a heavy heart.
Yet, today, the two governments continue to squabble over the land around the temple, most recently over a 4.6km area that Cambodia had included in its proposal to Unesco to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site.
That issue is not likely to be resolved until the Joint Boundary Commission finishes demarcating the entire 640km-long border between the two countries, a task that is expected to take another decade.
The ICJ judgment on Preah Vihear dates back to before Singapore became an independent nation.
That gives a sense of how long it can take to sort out boundary issues even after an international court rules on what's most contentious.
Closer to home are the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan — the subject of a former territorial dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia.
In December 2002, the ICJ awarded the islands to Malaysia.
Six years have passed but Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta have yet to settle their maritime boundary in that part of the Sulawesi Sea, east of Borneo island.
The stakes are high because oil and gas reserves have been found in the Ambalat area, just south of Sipadan and Ligitan.
There were some tense moments last year when Indonesia accused Malaysian planes and warships of encroaching into its territory in the disputed zone.
Following last week's ICJ judgment on Pedra Branca, are Singapore and Malaysia's discussions on their maritime boundary likely to be as long-drawn-out and convoluted?
It is hard to say.
The key point to note, says Dr Robert Beckman, associate professor of law at the National University of Singapore (NUS), is that “it was impossible to negotiate the maritime boundary in this area until it was decided which state had sovereignty over the three features”.
The three are Pedra Branca and the two maritime features closest to it, Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
Under Unclos, the extent of a state's territorial seas depends on where its land and island holdings end.
A state can claim a territorial sea of up to 12 nautical miles (one nautical mile = 1.852km) and an exclusive economic zone of up to 200 nautical miles from the edge of its lands and islands.
Within the first, a state has the right to set laws and regulate the use of the seas.
Within the second, it has the right to explore and exploit any resource in the waters and seabed, including the use of the currents and winds to generate energy.
The tricky part of the ICJ judgment is that it awards Pedra Branca to Singapore, and two clusters of granite just 0.6 nautical miles to its south — known as Middle Rocks — to Malaysia.
The court also ruled that South Ledge, which is visible only at low tide and does not generate its own territorial waters, belongs to the state in whose territorial seas it lies.
The court was asked to decide only on sovereignty and not on the maritime boundary.
Singapore has made it clear that it would have preferred to have been awarded all three features but that it accepts the court's judgment.
The outcome seems to complicate the delimitation of a maritime boundary in an area where the territorial-sea claims of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia overlap.
After all, Pedra Branca is only 7.6 nautical miles away from the Indonesian island of Bintan and 7.7 nautical miles from the Johor coast.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies director K. Kesavapany says that as far as implementation details are concerned, “the water is still somewhat murky”.
The former Singapore high commissioner to Malaysia adds that “much would depend on how the officials from both sides sort out the basics for co-existence within the waters surrounding Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge”.
The Joint Technical Committee tasked with ensuring a smooth implementation of the court's judgment is due to meet soon.
Its members will need to iron out issues such as naval patrols and fishing rights in the waters around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks.
It is unclear whether this same committee will be in charge of delimiting the maritime boundary, or whether another group will be set up to do so since that negotiation will also need to involve Indonesia.
Courtesy: Malaysian Insider (31/05/08)
