Kuala Lumpur: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver its judgment on the sovereignty dispute case over Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge between Malaysia and Singapore on May 23.The decision will be delivered by the Vice-President of the Court, Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, who was the Acting President in the case, ICJ said in a statement Tuesday.
Based in the Hague, the Netherlands, the ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, had heard oral arguments from Malaysia and Singapore from Nov 6 to 23 last year before deliberating on the case.
The dispute between the two countries centred around the island which lies 7.7 nautical miles (nm) from the Malaysian mainland but 25.5 nm over the sea from Singapore.
During the proceedings the court heard Singapore's contention that Pulau Batu Puteh was terra nullius (No Man's Land) when Britain took possession of it from 1847 to 1851.
Singapore claimed that it had conducted various activities there to show it had exercised sovereignty powers on the island which it called Pedra Branca.
Malaysia dismissed the claim that Pulau Batu Puteh was terra nullius, saying that the claim was flawed.
It stressed that Johor had the original title to the island and the two marine features since time immemorial and that Britain had obtained permission from Johor to build the lighthouse there.
Malaysia said Singapore is merely the administrator of the lighthouse on Pulau Batu Puteh and activities that have taken place there are just acts required of a lighthouse administrator.
Malaysia had stressed that Britain's activities in relation to the Horsburgh Lighthouse and the island after 1851 were purely operational and did not reflect any intention to acquire sovereignty over the island.
Malaysia had submitted before a 16-member panel of judges that Britain's and Singapore's activities in respect of the lighthouse did not amount to a conduct of sovereignty as claimed by Singapore.
Malaysia said that once it is established that Pulau Batu Puteh was not terra nullius in 1847 and must have been regarded as subject to Johor sovereignty, that would be the end of Singapore's case.
It had argued that this was because Singapore itself had declared that it rested its case upon the basis that it acquired title to Pulau Batu Puteh by taking possession of the island as a terra nullius.
During the proceedings, Malaysia was headed by Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Mohamad, who was Malaysia's agent for the case while Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin was the co-agent.
Others were Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Malaysia's team of international lawyers.
They were Sir Elihu Lauterpacht and James Crawford, both professors in International Law at the Cambridge University; Nicolaas Jan Schrijver, professor of Public International Law, Leiden University; Marcelo G. Kohen, professor of International Law, the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva; and Penelope Nevill, college lecturer, Downing College, Cambridge University.
