OPINION | Batu Puteh

August 31, 2024 , 08:46 PM

By Manny Mogato

(August 31, 2024) – At its National Day celebration on August 30, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim echoed what Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the joint session of Congress in late July.

Anwar said no country will surrender even an inch of its soil or small rock to another country.

It sounds familiar. It was a pledge Marcos had repeatedly made and one of the most applauded remarks at his third SONA before a joint session in late July.

Anwar was not talking about the maritime dispute with China or the three other Southeast Asian states in the South China Sea.

Like the Philippines, Malaysia asserts its rights over specific sections of the South China Sea, which fall within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Malaysia has a diving resort and an oil field within its claimed area in the South China Sea.

China has also been harassing Malaysia in the disputed areas, frequently sending coast guard vessels to circle oil rigs and platforms.

Anwar was furious over a separate South China Sea dispute. It’s a dispute with its tiny neighbor, Singapore.

He wanted answers. He was serious about holding the people accountable for the loss of a strategic rock separating his country, Johor exactly, from Singapore.

In May 2008, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that a rock formation known in Malaysia as Batu Puteh, or White Rock, belonged to Singapore.

The ICJ awarded the Middle Rocks, located less than a kilometer from Batu Puteh, to Malaysia, while the maritime boundaries would still determine South Ledge’s ownership.

The uninhabited South Ledge is about four kilometers away from Batu Puteh, known by a different name in the tiny city-state: Pedra Branca.

Anwar called the mishandling of the Batu Puteh issue a form of betrayal. He called for intense debates in the parliament and outside the legislative halls to bring the dispute to national consciousness.

It will also serve as a “lesson for the future generation not to sacrifice national interests.”

“If anyone considers this a minor issue, they have a problem with their attitude as a Malaysian as this has never happened in global history,” he said in a speech at the National Day event.

“It is crucial to understand why Malaysia, a proud and distinguished nation, easily allowed such a great lapse, failing to use all available legal avenues to safeguard our rights.”

After the ICJ made its ruling, the Malaysian government made no appeal.

Originally, Batu Puteh was part of the larger Sultanate of Johor-Riau, established in the 16th century.

There was no state of Singapore as it was part of the Sultanate.

Three hundred years later, the British and the Dutch, who colonized the area, divided the Johor Sultanate into two: Johor went to the British and Riau went to the Dutch.

Singapore was part of Malaysia, known then as Malaya, when it won independence from the British on August 31, 1957.

Six years later, Malaysia was born when three states: North Borneo and Sarawak on Kalimantan island and Singapore merged with the Malay peninsula to form a federation.

However, racial tensions widened after the merger as non-Malay residents in Singapore, primarily Chinese and Indians, protested Kuala Lumpur’s discriminatory policies.

Then, Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman was forced to call the parliament to vote on the expulsion of Singapore from the federation in August 1965.

Singapore took an interest in Pedra Branca and did sovereignty activities, which convinced the ICJ to rule in their favor.

On the other hand, Johor and the Malaysian government did nothing to assert its sovereignty rights even after it contested Singapore’s ownership in 1979.

Malaysia said it would no longer appeal and questioned the ICJ’s decision on Batu Puteh but created a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in January 2024 when the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Iskandar, became the king of Malaysia.

The RCI will find out why Malaysia failed to defend its rights and sovereignty of Batu Puteh, questioning why the government under Mahathir Mohamad withdrew its appeal before the ICJ.

It now appears the government under Anwar was trying to blame Mahathir Mohamad and his government.

However, the RCI has no power to punish those found to have been liable for the ICJ loss and the appeal.

Marcos has a more noble cause for fighting for the Philippines’ sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.

A similar purpose might drive Anwar, but domestic politics could cloud that intention.

*The views expressed by the columnist do not necessarily reflect that of the media organization.

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