International court to settle row over S'pore island claimed by KL
SINGAPORE and Malaysia will go before an international court next week to argue their claims of sovereignty over an island in the Singapore Strait.
The hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in the Netherlands, is to settle their dispute over Pedra Branca and two outcrops - the Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
It is the final stage of a longstanding disagreement that goes back to 1979.Both countries have said they will accept the ICJ's decision.
The court has set aside three weeks, starting on Nov 6, to hear the case, said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement yesterday.
The hearings at the Peace Palace in the Hague, where the 15-member court is located, follow three rounds of written pleadings Singapore and Malaysia exchanged between March 2004 and November 2005.
These exchanges of documents were the result of a special agreement they signed on Feb 6, 2003, to submit the dispute to the ICJ.
Singapore has exercised sovereignty over the island, which is the size of a football field, since the 1840s when the British colonial government built the Horsburgh lighthouse there.
The island, about 40km east of here, is located strategically at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.
However, in 1979, Malaysia staked its claim on the island - which it calls Pulau Batu Putih - when it published a new map of its territories. The map included Pedra Branca.
That touched off a row over who owns the land.
Singapore's delegation to the hearing comprises Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S. Jayakumar, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Attorney-General Chao Hick Tin and Ambassador at Large Tommy Koh.
Accompanying them are senior government officials and a team of international legal counsel, said the MFA.
The counsel are:
Queen's Counsel Ian Brownlie, an international law specialist from Oxford University;
Professor Alain Pellet of the University of Paris X-Nanterre, a member of the United Nations International Law Commission;
Mr Rodman Bundy of the English firm Eversheds. He specialises in boundary and territorial dispute resolution; and
Ms Loretta Malintoppi, also of Eversheds and an international arbitration and public international law specialist.
The ICJ website says Singapore has four days, from Nov 6, to present its case, followed by Malaysia, from Nov 13 to 16.
Both sides then respond, Singapore on Nov 19 and 20, and Malaysia on Nov 22 and 23.
The ICJ, formed by the United Nations in 1946 to deal with legal disputes between states, is expected to announce its decision only next year.
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