This review came in late, because it was supposed to. I took my time to read through blogs and absorbed intakes on this territorial issue between the 2 countries in South East Asia. I came across different type of views, from the very critical, fcuksingapore.blogspot.com, to something milder on simplyjean and a personal account of a seafarer(lost the blog link) and a man with close attachment to Pedra Branca.

A little land mass of…. pride?

Just observe the above photograph. Pedra Branca in itself is not big, roughly about the size of half a soccer field and is surrounded by the sea. It doesn’t look appealing as a land, but it is nicely situated in between both countries. It has always appear to me that this issue is surrounded not by the need for more land, rather, a stake in the geographic of Pedra Branca equals to a stake in either nation’s pride. We are friendly neighbours, but we do indulge in friendly tussles too, an example will be like the annual soccer game between us. We don’t play the soccer match because we love soccer, we play it for diplomacy and if we win, pride. Therefore, this matter was brought up to ICJ to judge as both parties couldn’t let go of this little land mass.

Implications of the Judgement

Observe the above map. Middle Rocks was awarded to Malaysia and Pedra Branca was to Singapore. Looking at how Pedra Branca is situated, i think it is a rather ingenious judgement from ICJ. This is because, if Singapore has a stake in that territory, they must be thinking that the latter can work more closely with Malaysia to govern the territorial waters, which is definitely more beneficial than having one country to govern the large area there. In that, it will allow diplomacy to bloom.
The territorial lines around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks were not drawn explicitly by the ICJ committee. On one hand, this might lead to complications and conflicts between marine vessels of both countries(this is probably quite inevitable). On the other hand, as i see it, this actually allow both countries to be actively engage in territorial discussions, rather than getting it all drawn out by ICJ and leaving it as that. Working together is better than pointing fingers at each other when situations arise.
Another implication of the judgement is that, no owners was determined for South Ledge. I thought this article on simplyjean was insightful, regarding this topic.

To End…

The area in dispute is indeed not large and both parties should really sit down and talk through it again for the above implications. The above implications can be poison apples in times to come, or they can open a new route of friendlier ties between both countries. I thought it would be perfect if the small area can actually be developed into something that both countries share, like a “common area” for the people of both countries.

Just a thought