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Land Reclamation dispute between Malaysia and Singapore - ITLOS tribunal judgement, Oct-2003

For the benefit of the Malaysian media and government, who do not seem to know where to locate the proceedings of the ITLOS, here is the URL :-

Details - ITLOS Tribunal proceedings & judgement, case#12

Also, the tribunal judgement of 8th Oct is attached here in full.
document_en_230.doc

Hopefully the Malaysians will one day get their facts straight; unless of course they are much too embarassed to admit that they have lost the argument. In addition I would draw the attention of the misinformed (especially the Malaysian public) to the statement of claim submitted by Malaysia, being points 1(a), (b), (c) & (d) and then followed by Singapore's response. Next, the final paragraphs of the tribunal's unanimous decisions which I have quoted below :-

"1. Whereas the provisional measures requested by Malaysia in the Request to the Tribunal filed on 5 September 2003, and maintained in the final submissions read by the Agent of Malaysia at the public sitting held on 27 September 2003, are as follows:


(a) that Singapore shall, pending the decision of the Arbitral Tribunal, suspend all current land reclamation activities in the vicinity of the maritime boundary between the two States or of areas claimed as territorial waters by Malaysia (and specifically around Pulau Tekong and Tuas);

(b) to the extent it has not already done so, provide Malaysia with full information as to the current and projected works, including in particular their proposed extent, their method of construction, the origin and kind of materials used, and designs for coastal protection and remediation (if any);

(c) afford Malaysia a full opportunity to comment upon the works and their potential impacts having regard, inter alia, to the information provided; and

(d) agree to negotiate with Malaysia concerning any remaining unresolved issues;

2. Whereas the submissions presented by Singapore in its Response, and maintained in the final submissions read by the Agent of Singapore at the public sitting held on 27 September 2003, are as follows:

Singapore requests the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to:

(a) dismiss Malaysia’s Request for provisional measures; and

(b) order Malaysia to bear the costs incurred by Singapore in these proceedings"


"
THE TRIBUNAL,
1. Unanimously,
Prescribes, pending a decision by the Annex VII arbitral tribunal, the following provisional measures under article 290, paragraph 5, of the Convention:

Malaysia and Singapore shall cooperate and shall, for this purpose, enter into consultations forthwith in order to:


(a) establish promptly a group of independent experts with the mandate

(i) to conduct a study, on terms of reference to be agreed by Malaysia and Singapore, to determine, within a period not exceeding one year from the date of this Order, the effects of Singapore’s land reclamation and to propose, as appropriate, measures to deal with any adverse effects of such land reclamation;

(ii) to prepare, as soon as possible, an interim report on the subject of infilling works in Area D at Pulau Tekong;


(b) exchange, on a regular basis, information on, and assess risks or effects of, Singapore’s land reclamation works;


(c) implement the commitments noted in this Order and avoid any action incompatible with their effective implementation, and, without prejudice to their positions on any issue before the Annex VII arbitral tribunal, consult with a view to reaching a prompt agreement on such temporary measures with respect to Area D at Pulau Tekong, including suspension or adjustment, as may be found necessary to ensure that the infilling operations pending completion of the study referred to in subparagraph (a)(i) with respect to that area do not prejudice Singapore’s ability to implement the commitments referred to in paragraphs 85 to 87.


2. Unanimously,
Directs Singapore not to conduct its land reclamation in ways that might cause irreparable prejudice to the rights of Malaysia or serious harm to the marine environment, taking especially into account the reports of the group of independent experts.


3. Unanimously,
Decides that Malaysia and Singapore shall each submit the initial report referred to in article 95, paragraph 1, of the Rules, not later than 9 January 2004 to this Tribunal and to the Annex VII arbitral tribunal, unless the arbitral tribunal decides otherwise.


4. Unanimously,
Decides that each party shall bear its own costs."


Any right minded individual who has read and understood the tribunal judgement will see that Malaysia's main claim 1(a) has been thrown out, and all the other claims 1(b), (c) & (d) have in fact all been agreed to by Singapore even before the tribunal and which we had restated during the tribunal's oral submissions, for the record. Therefore it is clear that Malaysia has lost the ILOC judgement.

I think the problem is that the Malaysian government is not used to negotiations and in understanding or keeping to agreements. There is no comment or updated info found on their MFA website (maybe the people there are asleep or have other things to do), however this is the Singapore MFA official statements regarding the ITLOS judgement :-

Singapore MFA comment on the ITLOS judgement

I think it is really perverse that the Malaysian press and government are claiming that they won the ITLOS tribunal judgement against Singapore when the opposite was the case. In fact this is nothing new, as we have seen in the announcements made earlier this year by Malaysia related to the "water issues", when they tried to twist the facts in their favour and attempted to present a different picture of the actual situation in order to fool (probably targetted at their badly uninformed local populace) those who are unable to read or comprehend the true facts of the case.

As mentioned in the Straits Times newspaper Forum by one of the readers today, the analogy is of Malaysia actually having "scored several own goals in the football game", but are reluctant to admit this fact in public due to embarassment; only trying to play up the one "victory" that Singapore had in fact already conceded to Malaysia even before the start of the tribunal.

The true outcome of the tribunal is clearly documented, and is all there for those who are intelligent enough to read or understand what has been written and said. Too bad the ITLOS judgement did not state explicitly that Malaysia has lost its case, for the benefit of those too ignorant to understand the points stated in the judgement.

Well. as expected, Malaysia lost the tribunal judgement. However as usual they do not seem to understand what is said in the written judgements of the ITLOS tribunal, and are appealing now for Singapore to "stop land reclamation in the name of goodwill" etc.

What fools and sore losers, especially outgoing Prime Minister Mahathir !! Too bad they were not made to pay all costs as requested by Singapore.
I think the learned judges were being too kind to Malaysia by not throwing out their ridiculous claims and by considering the one or two meetings between Singapore and Malaysia that were held to discuss this subject as "negotiations".

Details - ITLOS Tribunal proceedings & judgement, case#12

The facts from Singapore, ST 9th Oct
The ITLOS Judgement Ruling explained, ST 9th Oct
Mahathir: Singapore must stop reclamation work!

It was reported in the news on TV today, that the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Badawi "was saddened" that Singapore continues with its reclamation work at Tuas and P.Tekong. I have never heard anything more amazing in my life! What right has Malaysia to think that it has any control over activities that occur in Singapore territory?

Anyway the Malaysians will realise soon, when they will lose the judgement at the recently concluded ITLOS Tribunal and have to end up paying costs for the ridiculous legal action that they have tried to bring against Singapore. The results of this judgement will cause Malaysia to be truly saddened, and also really show them off as the fools that they are.

Here are my comments related to the Law of the Sea Tribunal, posted in the Void Deck website.
I am the "Dragon".
Views from the Void Deck