CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 78

STRATEGIES ON TERRITORIAL ACQUISITION- A CASE STUDY ON THE PEDRA …
Summary of the Pedra Branca Case
Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge are three granite islets
located at the east entrance of the Singapore Strait, facing the Southern-most
part of the South China Sea. 5 These three maritime features lie
approximately 25 nautical miles to the east of the island of Singapore, 7.7
nautical miles to the southeast of Malaysian Johor State, and 7.6 nautical
miles to the north of Indonesian Bintan Island. All these islets belong to one
geographical entity, sharing the same underwater base. Pedra Branca and
Middle Rocks, which respectively are the largest and the second largest
islets involved in this case, are defined as islands while South Ledge is only
a rock formation visible at low-tide.
Pedra Branca attracted the most attention from both parties in this
dispute because Singapore has managed this island and has maintained a
lighthouse on it for a long period. In 1851, the British Colony of Singapore,
which was part of the British Straits Settlements, set up a lighthouse named
Horsburgh on Pedra Branca. This act was consented by the Johor Sultanate,
which was one of the predecessor states of modern Malaysia. Thenceforth
Singapore began to manage the lighthouse as well as the island of Pedra
Branca. Its control and management lasted about 130 years. During this
period, Johor and Malaysia not only remained silent on Singapore’s conduct,
but also admitted the latter’s ownership over Pedra Branca in an official
letter regarding the legal status of this island in 1953. 6 It was on December
21, 1979, that Malaysia first marked Pedra Branca as one of its territories on
an official map. This act received protest from Singapore soon after on
February 14, 1980. Then the dispute of sovereignty over Pedra Branca was
crystallized. Later in 1993, the dispute over Middle Rocks and South Ledge
was added in a bilateral meeting held by the officials of both parties.
Negotiations over the Pedra Branca dispute lasted more than 20 years.
They can be divided into two stages. The first stage started from the critical
date, when this dispute was crystallized, in 1992. During this period, it was
Singapore that unilaterally tried to contact Malaysia and called for the
exchange of documents while the latter remained silent. The second stage
began when premiers of both parties initiated the first meeting regarding the
dispute in January 1992. After several meetings, they both failed to reach a
compromise and then finally agreed that the legal status of the three disputed
islets should rest in the hands of the International Court of Justice. Later, a
special agreement was signed in 2003, binding on the parties that they
should comply with the Court’s judgment on the dispute.
5
The Singapore Strait is the east part of the Malacca Strait.
Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge
(Malaysia/ Singapore), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2008, p. 73, para. 192. [hereinafter Pedra
Branca Judgment]
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