Originally posted by
Gun:
So there ain't any "emergency" ? Correct me here.
Anyway, thanks to hloc & Atobe for sharing info about that
"red-white-tower"
I did a little more bkgnd research about that structure and source
says operated by MPA instead of PSA. The later business core is on
port operation while MPA (www.mpa.gov.sg) focus on maritime safety
and navigation.
Kinda like ATC for shipping traffic.
MPA calls their ATC as Vessel Traffic Information System (VTIS).
(source: http://www.mpa.gov.sg//infocentre/pdfs/jan-mar03.pdf).
That tower is one of several built after 9/11.
You can spot the same tower on Singapore mainland like along ECP
next to PA sailing club
okay. sure it can be used by military, but hey, at least we have
civilian organsiation involved 24/7.
Thanks for clearing up the details concerning MPA and PSA.
The ATC at Changi International Airport is manned by both Civilian
and Military personnel, while the coastal radar system is more
likely manned by MPA and the Coast Guard - {which was previously
known as the Marine Police until it came under a common Naval
Command for overall coastline security management, even as the
Coast Guard has its own operational HQ and methods}.
My conclusion so far:
If such CIVILIAN communucation/surveillence system exist on both
S'pre mainland and its off-shore isle while custom operation and
security are actively carried out in these territory, wouldn't that
be an indication of more than just a "lighthouse adminstrator"?
Having gone thru Malaysia's ICJ presentaiton, I kinda feeling that
KL is going for another land-grab tactic like they did with
Indonesia.
This time, no turtle shell to collect. Only an island full of
bird-sh*t. 
Malaysia's claim occurred during Mahathir's terms as PM, and came
about during a period when many countries were reviewing their own
interests admidst multiple claims to
extra-territorial Exclusive Economic Zone - which allow coastal
states to extend its sovereign rights to all economic wealth in the
sea - up to a limit of 200 nautical miles.
This murky status of overlapping territorial claims was finally
resolved in an international review during the United Nations
sponsored Third Law of
the Sea Convention under the chairmanship of Singapore's Professor
Tommy Koh - lasting from 1980 to 1982.
The Law of the Sea Convention provide the framework for maritime
disputes to be resolved, as well as clarify the many maritime
issues related to sovereign ownership to maritime areas involving
accompanying rights to undersea wealth. It also provide
clarification to multiple issues arising from the doctrine of
'Freedom of the
seas''.
Malaysia's extended claims that is legitimize by such UN approved
conventions can only make Singapore's position vulnerable - given
that every square kilometer of space will be important for
Singapore.
Whether Malaysia has any legitimate claim or not to Pulau Batu
Puteh or Pedra Branca, perhaps Mahathir has his own agenda to
instigate such a ''fishing
trip'' by suddenly extending its sovereign rights from the
''traditional'' 3 nautical miles limit to 24 nautical miles of
contiguous territorial claim - and affecting the multiple
overlapping claims to the South China Seas by Brunei, China,
Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Singapore would have been straddled with another problem island, if
we kept Christmas
Island - {located in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of
Java}.
Although some local generated propaganda would have us believe that
Singapore Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock had betrayed Singapore's
interest in selling off the Christmas Island for a sum of Sterling
2.9 million to Australia in 1957 {before LKY too over the chair},
perhaps Lim Yew Hock had done a service to Singapore by getting rid
of Christmas Island, although he could have struck a better deal
with the help of geologist.
We could be having far bigger problems facing down an Indonesia
under the volatile and ambitious President Sukarno who has a
penchant for swallowing up islands bigger then Christmas Island -
such as Iran Jaya {also known as West Guinea}, East Timor {now
known as Timor Leste}, the Moluccas as well as a large chunk of
Borneo {now known as Kalimantan}.
Even if Pedra Branca is all bird sh*t - like Christmas Island - it
could well be worth more than a fortune, as Australia recovered a
thousand times more in value from the Sterling 2.9 million paid to
Singapore in 1957, from the continous phosphate mining activities
that went on from the 1960s through the mid-1990s.
