Abstract
This paper looks at the latest maritime boundary dispute between Malaysia and Singapore and examines the salient issues and means of dispute settlement mechanisms open to both in resolving this quagmire. With Singapore submitting its declaration pursuant to Article 298 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) on 12th December 2018 is not accepting any of the procedures provided for in Section 2 of Part XV of UNCLOS 1982, this effectively means that resort to adjudicative tribunals as per the said Section is now out of the equation, and the only method(s) to pursue now would be via consensual or diplomatic channels. This paper will look at the opportunities lost from this choice made by the government of the Republic of Singapore, but, at the same time will ponder upon the possibilities of resolution of the dispute by bilateral efforts, and possibly the engagement of third parties as provided under Article 33 of the UN Charter, e.g. via the ASEAN dispute settlement mechanism. With Singapore still continuing with massive reclamation works along its coast, while at the same time not recognizing any of the official maps published by the government of Malaysia, and with the change of the diplomatic ambience brought by the new government under Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the prospect of a definitive resolution seems to be rather grim.
Highlights
Disputes between Malaysia and Singapore are nothing new
Some of them have been described as normal spats due to “sibling” rivalry, one of the most prominent ones involved questions of state’s territorial sovereignty, namely the Pedra Branca / Pulau Batu Puteh Case (Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore), 2008) which went all the way up to the International Court of Justice, in which the Court awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia, while leaving the sovereignty of South Ledge to “the State in the territorial waters of which it is located”
In addition to its concerns of the impingement on its territorial waters brought about by the massive reclamation works carried out by Singapore in Pulau Tekong and the Tuas View Extension, Malaysia contended that the reclamation activities were affecting the marine environment in the Straits of Johore whereby jetties were damaged and the catch of Malaysian fishermen who made their living in the Straits of Johore was significantly reduced
Summary
Disputes between Malaysia and Singapore are nothing new. some of them have been described as normal spats due to “sibling” rivalry, one of the most prominent ones involved questions of state’s territorial sovereignty, namely the Pedra Branca / Pulau Batu Puteh Case (Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore), 2008) which went all the way up to the International Court of Justice, in which the Court awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia, while leaving the sovereignty of South Ledge to “the State in the territorial waters of which it is located”.1 Understandably, and expectedly, the issue of sovereignty over South Ledge has yet to be determined until today despite series of discussions being held between both governments. Malaysia argues that land reclamation works carried out by Singapore in the disputed area does not give them a new baseline from which their maritime boundaries - territorial waters included, are measured.
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