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.