The Colonial Legacy in Southeast Asia: Maritime Boundary Problems

Abstract

The evolution of Southeast Asian land boundaries did not follow the classical model of an international boundary emerging only after a political frontier had been whittled away by encroachments from either side. This could only happen where there was a long period of historical, continuous, indigenous political power. In Southeast Asia, as is well known, the intervention by European colonial powers created a political discontinuity in the evolution of boundaries from frontiers. All the states were carved out from indigenous kingdoms which had been subdued by the European powers. Hence, it was not a matter of selecting a precise boundary to replace an indefinite frontier. Rather, it was political decisions made in European capitals that decided where a boundary should lie. Such land boundaries imposed by the colonial powers were often imprecise as they were badly delimited. Some cut through areas of ethnic homogeneity, while others used vague or changeable physiographic features. It is therefore not sur prising that there have been boundary disputes between states today. Boundaries have, in fact, become an important theme in the politics of Southeast Asia.1 Such colonial decisions have also made their mark in the maritime boundaries of Southeast Asia. Despite the fact that the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea has provided the necessary guidelines for the delimitation of the various sea boundaries, the historical legacies of the colonial powers, in the form of maritime boundary treaties or protocols, have made such delimitation difficult. In many cases, they have given rise to problems and boundary disputes. This is the historical legacy that will be discussed in this paper, a legacy that has stalled or delayed the acceptance of agreed maritime boundaries based on the 1982 Convention.2 Two specific examples, one on Singapore and the other on the Philippines are used to illustrate some of the problems.