No Man's Land? No Way: M'sia

Soure : TODAY, Thursday, November 15, 2007

M'sia says Pedra Branca was fully used and frequented

THE HAGUE — Malaysia has dismissed Singapore's claim that Pedra Branca was terra nullius (no man's land) when the British built the Horsburgh Lighthouse on the island in 1847.

Malaysia's international legal counsel James Crawford told the International Court of Justice that reference to Pedra Branca could be found in historical records. The earliest map, dated 1595, marked it between Bintan and the Malayan Peninsula — "within the domains of Johor", he said, as quoted by Bernama news agency.

The island was labelled by its Portuguese name of Pedra Branca, which "is not surprising as it is a Portuguese map", he said on day two of Malaysia's oral arguments in the territorial dispute.

He said the island was "fully used and frequented by tribes or peoples", either socially, as a landmark and aid for navigation or as a place for fishing.

He added that a 1655 Dutch diplomatic note referred to it as being within Johor's territory, reported Bernama.

He also said that Pedra Branca was not terra nullius because maps and texts show that the pre-1824 Sultanate of Johor extended north and south of the Straits of Singapore as well as to the east and west.

Although the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Agreement divided the Sultanate, and Britain and the Netherlands disagreed as to who was the continuator of the old Kingdom of Johor, Mr Crawford argued that "they disagreed not at all" on the territorial consequences of the division, reported Bernama.

"It was Johor, the state which outlived the East India Company and the Straits Settlements, that had the original title to the lands, seas and islands it did not cede to Britain," he said.