KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia filed an application yesterday for a revision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s judgement on the sovereignty of the disputed Pedra Branca – also known as Pulau Batu Puteh – Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
In a statement to the press, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said the application, which was filed at the ICJ, The Hague, was made by Malaysia upon the discovery of a fact, of such a nature as to be a decisive factor, which was unknown to the Court and also to Malaysia, as the party claiming revision.
“The discovery of the new facts is important and they should be ventilated in a court of law accordingly. Thus, as agreed to by both parties in the Special Agreement, the International Court of Justice is an appropriate forum for this.
“We are also confident that the requirements, as stipulated under Article 61 of the statute of the International Court of Justice, have been met in that inter alia (among other things), the application for the revision is brought within six months of the discovery of the new fact and within ten years of the date of judgement,” Mohamed Apandi said.
He continued to say that Malaysia’s application for a revision of the judgement is a continuation of the process embarked upon on May 9, 2003, by both Malaysia and Singapore, when both nations agreed to submit the dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Blanca – or Pulau Batu Puteh – Middle Rocks and South Ledge, to the ICJ (“Special Agreement”).
An online portal has reported that the dispute over the proprietorship of Pulau Batu Puteh dates back to the 1980s, when Malaysia published a map indicating the island to be in the country’s territory.
The dispute had come to a close when the island was ruled to be Singaporean territory by the ICJ some nine years ago. The ICJ had found that Singapore investigated shipwrecks within Pulau Batu Puteh’s territorial waters, and granted or did not grant permission, to Malaysian officials to survey the waters surrounding the island.
The ICJ had, among others, noted that Malaysia did not react to the flying of the Singapore flag on the island, and Singapore’s installation of military equipment on the island.
The ICJ had also judged that sovereignty over the Middle Rocks is Malaysia’s, and refrained from awarding South Ledge to either Malaysia or Singapore.