KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 ― Malaysia is citing several documents dating back to the 1950s to support its application for a revision of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling that awarded Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.
According to South China Morning Post, which sighted court documents filed by Malaysia to the ICJ, the “new evidence” that Malaysia claims to have on the matter, which was recently discovered in the British archives, includes a letter by Singapore’s top colonial official in 1958 and a naval incident report in the same year.
The map of Singapore in 1966, which did not include the football field-sized island as part of its territorial waters, was also referenced.
“This application is not an appeal against the 2008 judgment. On the contrary, it draws to the court’s attention what has only recently become known to Malaysia, namely, that even after the 1953 correspondence, and at a point at which Singapore had become a self-governing colonial territory, Singapore, at the highest levels of its government, did not have the view that it had sovereignty over Pedra Branca/ Pulau Batu Puteh,” the court document reportedly read.
“It is Malaysia’s contention, informed by a close reading of the judgment in 2008 and its accompanying opinions, that the court would have been bound to reach a different conclusion on the question of sovereignty over Pedra Branca had it been aware of this new evidence,” it added.
While the ICJ’s 2008 ruling relied heavily upon a 1953 letter by the colonial secretary in Johor to Singapore officials saying that the state did not stake a claim on the island, Malaysia now has a letter by Singapore’s governor in 1958 which said he did not consider the island as part of Singapore’s territory.
A British naval vessel guarding Singaporean waters in 1958 did not view the island as being part of Singaporean waters, according to an incident report.
It was cited as a reason as to why it could not assist a Malaysian vessel that was being followed by an Indonesian gunboat.
Malaysia filed on February 3 for a revision of the ICJ decision.
Pulau Batu Puteh is 19 kilometres off the coast of Johor and 40 kilometres off the coast of Singapore.
