BFF-43 Malaysia drops island case against Singapore at top UN court

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MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE-DIPLOMACY-ICJ-LAW

Malaysia drops island case against Singapore at top UN court

THE HAGUE, June 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Malaysia has dropped its request
before the UN’s top court to overturn its ruling in a decades-old dispute
with Singapore over a tiny but strategic island, the court announced Friday.

Malaysia in a letter on Monday “notified the Court that the parties had
agreed to discontinue the proceedings in the aforementioned case,” the
International Court of Justice announced.

“Consequently the court made an order recording the discontinuance
following the agreement of the parties… of the proceedings instituted by
Malaysia against Singapore and directing the removal of the case from the
Court’s list,” it said in a statement.

Two weeks of hearings, scheduled to start on June 11 have therefore been
cancelled, the Hague-based ICJ added.

Malaysia lodged the case in February 2017, calling for the court to
overturn its 2008 ruling granting its neighbour sovereignty over the disputed
rocky outcrop.

Kuala Lumpur then maintained new documents had been discovered in
British archives backing its territorial claim to the islet. Malaysia calls
the island Pulau Batu Puteh, while Singapore dubs it Pedra Branca (white
rock).

The island is in a strategically important position, 7.7 nautical miles
(14 kilometres) off Johor on the eastern approach to the Singapore Strait
from the South China Sea.

Singapore had operated the Horsburgh Lighthouse on the granite island
for more than 130 years without protest from its neighbour.

The ICJ on Friday gave no further details on the agreement reached
between the two eastern Asian neighbours.

Established in 1946, the ICJ is the UN’s highest court and rules in
disputes between countries.

BSS/AFP/RY/1940 hrs