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By: Chan Wei (06) Lim Zhong Hui(21) 4S1 Slide 2 List of disputes a) Territorial disputes Land reclamation at Tuas Land reclamation off Pulau Tekong x2 Pedra Branca dispute (not covered ) b) Other disputes (not covered) - Bridge dispute - Water dispute Slide 3 Saga 1 1.Pulau Tekong 2.Tuas Slide 4 Slide 5 Slide 6 In 2005, Singapore wanted to reclaim from waters adjacent to Pulau Tekong in the Straits of Johor. Slide 7 Singapore Felt that it had the right to reclaim the land as it was well within her territorial waters Malaysia Worried that reclamation would affect their shipping as they said that the reclamation narrowed the Straits of Johor Slide 8 The purpose of this land reclamation was to construct a customs checkpoint for the causeway in the Strait of Johor, between Singapore and Malaysia. Slide 9 Case of territorial dispute Arose due to Malaysias Point 20 sliver Slide 10 The Point 20 sliver is incompatible with the Point W25 Border Agreement in 1995 Point 20 lies at a point that backtracks abruptly north-east of Point W25 Malaysia could not have agreed to Point W25 in 1995 if it had intended to maintain its claim to Point 20 Slide 11 Slide 12 Forms an extremely acute triangle of claimed seabed Impossible to construct any coastal configuration that would generate such an extraordinary feature Suspension of works Impose heavy burden on Singapore No benefit whatsoever for Malaysia Slide 13 Malaysias argument lacks the necessary urgency Point 20 was reclaimed 23 months prior to the complaint Any urgency should have rose when Singapore first began to implement its published plans to reclaim the Tuas View Extension area Malaysias silence at that time raises questions of acquiescence and estoppel Slide 14 At the height of the dispute in July 2003: Malaysia claimed that the work off Pulau Tekong was damaging Malaysia's beaches, harming its fisheries, and affecting its shipping Malaysia claimed that the reclamation off Tuas violated its territorial waters Slide 15 Both sides appeared before the International Tribunal of the Law of the Seas, which declared on 8th October 2003 that: Singapore could continue its reclamation works at Pulau Tekong and Tuas. Malaysian and Singapore governments signed a Settlement Agreement at the Singapore Foreign Affairs Ministry Slide 16 A lump sum of 374,000 Malaysian ringgit was paid to Malaysia as compensation for the fishermen who face losses as a result of the reclamation works. Each fisherman received 5,200 Malaysian ringgit. Singapore reassured Malaysia that the safe and smooth passage of ships would not be adversely affected through Kuala Johor and Calder Harbour after the Pulau Tekong reclamation. Singapore modified the final design of the shoreline of its reclamation at the Pulau Tekong area Slide 17 Singapore: The civil and civilized manner in which we have been able to settle this dispute gives us confidence that our bilateral disputes can be settled in the same wayWe have demonstrated that where there is an impasse, rather than let our bilateral relations be held hostage to the disputewe can overcome such disputes on the basis of mutual benefit and mutual respect. - Then Singapores Foreign Minister George Yeo Slide 18 Malaysia: "I consider this as a milestone in Malaysia-Singapore relations...Despite our initial differences now we have found that there is nothing impossible if we put our hearts and minds together to find a resolution. - Then Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar Slide 19 Slide 20 SAGA 2 came along... Slide 21 Slide 22 In January 2007, Malaysia blamed Singapores land reclamation at Pulau Tekong for the flooding in Southern Johor that left 17 people dead. This caused a war of words between both countries for days as temperatures on both sides flared. Slide 23 17 people died Around 100,000 evacuated Floodwaters more than 4m high 1.5 billion ringgit to repair roads and schools and reimburse victims Losses to agricultural sector totaling more than 140 million Residents called it the worst flood in memory Slide 24 View of extremists: The reclamation on Pulau Tekong prevented water from running smoothly to sea in case of heavy rain. In short, Singapore was at fault for the flood in Malaysia. View of moderates: Felt that it was too early to jump to conclusions and that more studies needed to be conducted. Other factors such as extremely high rainfall and tides had to be considered. However, they felt that any reclamation project at river estuaries would definitely have an effect upstream In short, Singapores reclamation coupled with other factors caused the flood in Malaysia. Slide 25 Some quotes from the China Post: A Malaysian official has blamed massive land reclamation by Singapore near the Malaysian mainland for the recent flooding The reclamation caused the...flooding quoting Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman The reclamation led to the narrowing of the mouth of the Johor river, slowing the discharge of excess rain water into the Johor Straits, Othman said. This led to the river bursting its banks in Kota Tinggi, Slide 26 Singapore defended itself from Malaysias accusations, saying that all these comments were unfounded He added that this was confirmed by technical studies that were conducted BOTH by Malaysia and Singapore Slide 27 Some quotes by Today online Singapore has rebutted the claim and even Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak has distanced himself from his colleague's statement. "There are all sorts of allegations but we can't reach any conclusion unless a thorough technical study is done on the cause of floods in Johor," he said. "The actual cause of the floods is exceptionally heavy rainfall. Meanwhile Singapore's Ministry of National Development (MND) said in response to media queries: "The comments are unfounded. This is confirmed by the results from the technical studies that were commissioned separately by both the Malaysian government and the Singapore government." Slide 28 Slide 29 Study carried out by Malaysias Department of Irrigation and Drainage in 2002 concluded that there were no appreciable changes to the water levels within the Straits of Johor Malaysia Reached the same conclusion as Malaysia Singapore3 rd party Slide 30 Was adamant that it was not at fault Agreed that for a technical consultant in a joint study Singapore Toned down its stance Did not really say that Singapore was not at fault Instead, she said that more studies had to be conducted Malaysia Slide 31 Slide 32 http://img6.travelblog.org/Photos/57634/253939 /t/2063120-Land-Reclamation-0.jpg http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070102/ 070125-4.htm http://sgfo.sgforums.com/forums/1710/topics/1 29031 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/ EG31Ae01.html http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2- 13264344.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia Singapore_border#Singaporean_land_reclamati on_case Slide 33 http://prevos.net/resume/tuas.htm http://www.mfa.gov.sg/reclamation/img 6.html http://www.itlos.org/case_documents/20 03/document_en_224.pdf