KL, S'pore set to battle island case

KL, S'pore set to battle island case

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia plans to resolve a dispute with Singapore over a tiny island before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, officials said yesterday.

"We are to meet in mid-December to work out the procedure to submit the case before the international court," said Ahmad Kamil Jaafar, the secretary-general of Malaysia's foreign ministry.

The meeting of senior foreign ministry officials of both countries would be held in Kuala Lumpur, Kamil told reporters at the opening of the three-day Malaysia-Philippines Joint Committee on Border Cooperation here.

Malaysian officials said the meeting would be significant as it meant that the thorny 12-year-old bilateral issue was progressing towards a definite solution after both countries agreed last month to refer the dispute to a third party.

Both countries had exchanged voluminous documents to back their claims to the island, 15 kilometers off Malaysia's southern Johore state since Kuala Lumpur laid claim about 12 years ago to the rocky outcrop it called Pulau Batu Putih.

Singapore operates a lighthouse on the island it calls Pedra Branca and it claims to have administered it for the last 150 years.