Sovereignty
of disputed Pedra Branca
ICJ to hold
public hearings on Pedra Branca case in June at The
Hague
SINGAPORE: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold
public hearings in June for two cases brought by Malaysia against
Singapore on the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, the UN's principal
judicial body said on Thursday (Apr 5).
The first case is Malaysia's application for revision of the ICJ's
2008 judgment, which gave Singapore sovereignty over Pedra Branca,
filed on Feb 2 last year. The ICJ will hold four days of public
hearings for this case, starting from Jun 11.
The second case is Malaysia’s request for interpretation of the
ICJ’s judgment, filed on Jun 30 last year. The ICJ will also hold
four days of public hearings for this case, from Jun 18 to 19 and
Jun 21 to 22.
Both of the hearings will be held at the Peace Palace at The Hague,
Netherlands.
Pedra Branca - referred to by Malaysia as Batu Puteh - was first
claimed as a territory of the Johor Sultanate in 1979. Singapore
protested and the matter was brought to the ICJ.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over
Pedra Branca, while Middle Rocks was awarded to Malaysia and South
Ledge belonged to the state in whose territorial waters it is
located.
In February 2017, Malaysia's Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali
filed an application for a revision of the ICJ's judgment.
Malaysia applied to revise the judgment, claiming "a new fact"
unearthed from three documents discovered in the National Archives
of the United Kingdom between Aug 4, 2016, and Jan 30, 2017.
In a separate case, on Jun 30, 2017, Malaysia filed an
application to the ICJ requesting interpretation of the 2008
judgment.
Its new application claims South Ledge, along with the waters
surrounding Pedra Branca, as located within its territorial
waters.
SINGAPORE "CONFIDENT" OF CASE: VIVIAN
BALAKRISHNAN
Prior to the public hearings, Malaysia and Singapore exchanged
written submissions consequent to the filing of Malaysia’s
application for revision, and the filing of Malaysia’s request for
interpretation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a
statement on Friday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said that
Singapore's legal team “strongly believes” that the three documents
relied on by Malaysia in their application to overturn the ICJ
ruling do not satisfy the criteria laid out for a revision of a
judgment.
"We are confident of our legal team and our case," he told
Parliament on Mar 2 last year.
The Singapore legal team includes Attorney-General Lucien Wong,
Professor S Jayakumar, Professor Tommy Koh and former Chief Justice
Chan Sek Keong.
As for Malaysia's application requesting interpretation of the
judgment, Singapore has called the move "unnecessary and without
merit".
"Malaysia's request for the ICJ to interpret the judgment is
puzzling. Singapore will therefore oppose Malaysia's application
for interpretation, which we consider to be both unnecessary and
without merit," MFA said in July last year.
Source: CNA/nc