Karpal: Was gov't ill-advised?
Published: May 24, 2008 4:35 PM | Updated: May 26, 2008 11:07 AM
Veteran opposition legislator Karpal Singh believes that Malaysia had been dealt a severe blow by losing its claim over Pulau Batu Puteh and wonders if it was due to ill legal advice.
Veteran opposition legislator Karpal Singh believes that Malaysia had been dealt a severe blow by losing its claim over Pulau Batu Puteh and wonders if it was due to ill legal advice.
Karpal said in any legal pronouncement, one must be prepared to lose, but added that the Malaysian government should not have agreed to bring the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) unless it was confident of a win.
“I wonder whether the Malaysian government took the proper legal advice before subjecting itself to a possible decision of momentous proportions for the country, both politically and psychologically,” he said in a statement today.
The DAP chairperson was commenting on the 12 to 4 verdict handed down by the ICJ yesterday over Malaysia and Singapore’s claim of sovereignty on the rocky uninhabitable island of Pulau Batu Puteh south of Johor.
In the same hearing, the ICJ also decided that Malaysia has sovereign right over that another maritime feature known as Middle Rocks which is 1.1km south of Pulau Batu Puteh.
Not ‘win-win’ situation
Describing the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh as “disappointing”, Karpal expressed his disagreement with Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim who said that the ICJ’s verdict was a ‘win-win’ decision.
“Contrary to what Rais said that the decision of the ICJ is a win-win situation, no doubt, it is Singapore which obtained more than an edge over Malaysia’s claim over Pulau Batu Puteh.
“The right to Pulau Batu Puteh was the principal dispute before the ICJ, and not the insignificant and minute Middle Rocks,” he said.
Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, said Malaysia should accept that it has lost out to Singapore both in “dignity and kind”.
The veteran lawyer also warned that the ICJ decision may well lead to other future disputes of a maritime nature between Malaysia and Singapore.
For now, it is uncertain how the two country’s maritime borders would be affected.
Our arguments not weak
In another development, Rais defended Malaysia’s arguments presented before the ICJ and claimed that the loss in the case was not due to weaknesses in arguments.
"The fact that we have lost Pulau Batu Puteh is not due to the weakness of our arguments but to the lack of exercise by the authorities (on that island) for some 100 years," he told Malaysian journalists at the Malaysian embassy in The Hague, Holland.
He noted that the ICJ’s decision to award sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore was based on the fact that from 1850 to 1953, Malaysia did not effect any action or grounds which could be accepted as proof os sovereignty.
This acts of sovereignity could be in terms of occupation, conducting checks or supervision activities on the disputed island, explained Rais.
Rais said the ICJ also considered a letter writen by the Johor acting state secretary on Sept 21, 1953 which stated that “Johore government (did) not claim ownership” of the island.
The letter was in response to an enquiry by Singapore Colonial Secretary seeking to clarify the status of Pulau Batu Puteh where a lighthouse had been built, with a view to determining the “boundaries of the Colony’s territorial waters”.
Karpal said in any legal pronouncement, one must be prepared to lose, but added that the Malaysian government should not have agreed to bring the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) unless it was confident of a win.
“I wonder whether the Malaysian government took the proper legal advice before subjecting itself to a possible decision of momentous proportions for the country, both politically and psychologically,” he said in a statement today. The DAP chairperson was commenting on the 12 to 4 verdict handed down by the ICJ yesterday over Malaysia and Singapore’s claim of sovereignty on the rocky uninhabitable island of Pulau Batu Puteh south of Johor.
In the same hearing, the ICJ also decided that Malaysia has sovereign right over that another maritime feature known as Middle Rocks which is 1.1km south of Pulau Batu Puteh.
Not ‘win-win’ situation
Describing the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh as “disappointing”, Karpal expressed his disagreement with Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim who said that the ICJ’s verdict was a ‘win-win’ decision.
“Contrary to what Rais said that the decision of the ICJ is a win-win situation, no doubt, it is Singapore which obtained more than an edge over Malaysia’s claim over Pulau Batu Puteh.
“The right to Pulau Batu Puteh was the principal dispute before the ICJ, and not the insignificant and minute Middle Rocks,” he said. Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, said Malaysia should accept that it has lost out to Singapore both in “dignity and kind”.
The veteran lawyer also warned that the ICJ decision may well lead to other future disputes of a maritime nature between Malaysia and Singapore.
For now, it is uncertain how the two country’s maritime borders would be affected.
Our arguments not weak
In another development, Rais defended Malaysia’s arguments presented before the ICJ and claimed that the loss in the case was not due to weaknesses in arguments.
"The fact that we have lost Pulau Batu Puteh is not due to the weakness of our arguments but to the lack of exercise by the authorities (on that island) for some 100 years," he told Malaysian journalists at the Malaysian embassy in The Hague, Holland.
He noted that the ICJ’s decision to award sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore was based on the fact that from 1850 to 1953, Malaysia did not effect any action or grounds which could be accepted as proof os sovereignty.
This acts of sovereignity could be in terms of occupation, conducting checks or supervision activities on the disputed island, explained Rais.
Rais said the ICJ also considered a letter writen by the Johor acting state secretary on Sept 21, 1953 which stated that “Johore government (did) not claim ownership” of the island.
The letter was in response to an enquiry by Singapore Colonial Secretary seeking to clarify the status of Pulau Batu Puteh where a lighthouse had been built, with a view to determining the “boundaries of the Colony’s territorial waters”.
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