Comment On The Case Concerning Sovereignty Over Pedra Branca/pulau Batu Puteh,middle Rocks And South Ledge Between Malaysia And Singapore

As a reef of the entrance of the Singapore Strait,The Pedra Branca island is notbig,about a football field’s size,but it’s strategic position to a country is veryimportant,the one who owns it will decide whether or not to control the SingaporeStrait.So,both Malaysia and Singapore advocate has sovereignty over it.Malaysiamainly based on it’s ancestor the State of Johor Sultanate has the original title of thePedra Branca Island to advocate the sovereignty of this island,while Singapore mainlyhold the point that through construction the lighthouse named Horsburgh Lighthouseon the Pedra Branca Island and then carried out maintenance management over acentury constitute the legal possession the island to assert its sovereignty.The twosides reached an agreement to be submitted to the International Court of Justice ofUnited Nations to hear after several diplomatic negotiations without result betweenthe two sides. In the day of May23,2008,the court the Court concludes thatsovereignty over Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore,sovereignty over Middle Rocksbelong to Malaysia,sovereignty over South Ledge belongs to belongs to the State inthe territorial waters of which it is located.This judgment concludes the sovereign over the island belongs to Singaporewhich construct a lighthouse on it and maintain it over a hundred years after1851.Notbased on the point of view of Singapore that the Pedra Branca is a terra nullius before1840s,the selection of Pedra Branca as the site for building of the lighthouse with theauthorization of the British Crown constituted a classic taking of possession à titre desouverain;but are based on the assessment of the conduct of the parties after buildinglighthouse.The court held that the conduct of Singapore implement on the PedraBranca beyond the purely management the lighthouse,and become a sovereign act.Butboth of Johor Sultanate and its successor Malaysia had not response these conductuntil the year of1979the Malaysia official map had been published,these conductsthemselves have constitute acquiescence,for Singapore that these conducts constitutethe effective control of Pedra Branca,and the sovereign over it belongs to Singapore.The main content of this thesis is divided into the following sections:Part one:First reviewed the background of the case of Pedra Branca,andcombined with the facts and the reasons of the case of the judgment to analysis themeaning of research the case.Pointed out the principle of effective control in the study of the problem of Spratly Islands and Diaoyu Islands issues.Part two:List three focus problem of the case,one is the Pedra Branca is or not aterra nullius;second is the nature of building the Horsburgh Lighthouse;the three iswether the1953letter is a statement of give up the ownership of the island.Part three:The summative evaluation of the judgment of the International Courtof Justice.And analyzed the principle of acquiescence,principle of estoppel and theprinciple of effective control.Part four:Compare the case of Pedra Branca and the Spratly Islands and DiaoyuIslands with the historical background and capable apply principle of InternationalLaw and rules,and concludes some conclusion.