Jayakumar and Tommy Koh give behind-the-scenes account of 30-year saga
BACK in 1992, Singapore was so confident of its legal case on Pedra Branca that it handed over all its documents to Malaysia.
In his foreword to a new book on the 30-year dispute, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew disclosed he had instructed that the materials be shown to Malaysia, 'an unprecedented unilateral move'.
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENTS
'When the Youth Wing of PAS threatened to invade Pedra Branca in order to plant a Malaysian flag on it, the then-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir (Mohamad), stopped them and warned that such an act could lead to war.
'The two governments have acted responsibly, both before and after the court judgment.'
Yesterday, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong took up the point in his keynote address at the launch of the book Pedra Branca: The Road To The World Court.
He said: 'I am not sure whether the International Court of Justice (ICJ) realised that most of the documents used by Malaysia in her arguments against Singapore were produced by us.
'So, you can imagine our deep disappointment when it was alleged that Singapore had withheld from the court a letter which Malaysia believed would damage our case.
He added: 'The truth is that we had gone round the world looking for it for some 30 years without success.'
This move and other previously undisclosed facts about the Pedra Branca case are contained in the 190-page book on how both countries managed the dispute, which the ICJ resolved in May this year.
Pedra Branca, a football field-sized island at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait, was first occupied in 1847 by the British, who built Horsburgh Lighthouse there. Singapore later took over, and Malaysia staked its claim in 1979.
In May, the ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca belonged to Singapore, and that nearby Middle Rocks belonged to Malaysia.
Who owns a third maritime feature, South Ledge, is being worked out by the two countries. The ICJ says it belongs to the country in whose waters it sits.
Prof Jayakumar and Prof Koh autographing copies of the book, Pedra Branca: The Road To The World Court, for Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan (left) and Foreign Minister George Yeo (third from left).
The long journey to the ICJ resolution was highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, who co-wrote the book with Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh.
Speaking at its launch at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), he said: 'For both of us, working on the case for some 30 years was really a labour of love.'
In the book, both men noted how their involvement with the case began in 1978, when they were representing Singapore at the United Nations in Geneva. The MFA had sent them an urgent telex, asking Professor Jayakumar to go to London to locate certain documents on the island.
Both men went on to helm the team making Singapore's case for Pedra Branca before the ICJ in The Hague in November last year, with CJ Chan, who was Attorney-General from 1992 to 2006.
The book recounts the twists and turns in the dispute and the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres taken to resolve it.
At the launch, Prof Jayakumar recounted several anecdotes, including how he won 10 euros (S$20) from CJ Chan at the last stage of the hearing last year.
Prof Jayakumar had wagered that the judges would ask a question allowing Singapore to reply to a last-minute argument Malaysia had made when Singapore could no longer address the court.
'CJ was happy to lose that bet,' he said to laughter.
Prof Jayakumar also noted that both sides agreed to third-party dispute settlement, now a key tenet of Singapore's foreign policy in managing disputes.
Professor Koh said they decided to write the book to distil the lessons they had learnt from the case - Singapore's first at the ICJ - and share them with colleagues as well as the public.
CJ Chan, in his speech, noted that Pedra Branca was 'not an easy case by any standard'. The written pleadings alone of each side filled more than 2,600 pages.
'This is a case where history was part of the legal arguments, and law was part of the historical arguments,' he said.
'Ultimately, the majority of the court decided that Malaysia had history on its side, and Singapore had international law on its side, and this is expressed in the final disposition of the judgment.'
The authors will donate their royalties from the book sales to the proposed centre for international law at the National University of Singapore, which aims to nurture a new generation of Asian international lawyers.
The Straits Times
Singapore
20/12/08
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