Pulau Batu Putih vs Middle Rock

May 26th, 2008 Submitted by: Adrian

Have you ever wondered why our minister said it was a “win win” situation when the International Court of Justice announced that Pulau Batu Putih “Pedra Branca” (which is large enough to house a lighthouse and more) now rightfully belongs to Singapore while we were awarded the few clumps of rocks (Middle Rocks) which are supposedly only visible only during low tide?

What in the world are we going to do with the few clump of rocks? Apparantly the fight for the rightful ownership affects not only the land on which they stand but also the surrounding waters (for the fishermen) and also the airspace above and over the “islands”. So based on these reasons, perhaps the win win situation is true but then again, based on history, The land actually belonged to Johor but because Singapore has been running a lighthouse there for the past god knows 150 yrs or so, they now have rightful ownership to the land. I guess Johor just waited too long (till 1980) to make the claim while doing their revised maps.

Personally, I hope this outcome will not affect out relationship with Singapore, affect our national security in anyway. I’m also wondering, is there a possibility of actually doing landfill around the area to build up an island on the existing structure of the middle rocks? That’ll be really cool don’t you think? I wonder how deep are the waters around that area…

Fact: Middle Rocks and South Ledge are two maritime features to the south of Pedra Branca. Middle Rocks consists of two clusters of rocks situated 0.6 nautical miles south of Pedra Branca.

South Ledge is a low-tide elevation (in other words, it is submerged at high tide) further south, 2.1 nautical miles, of Pedra Branca.

Click Here to see Map

Entry Filed under: General