Last week, the Malaysian government announced it would form a special task force to carry out a comprehensive study, including seeking the views of international legal experts, on the Pedra Branca case.
The quest is to reclaim the rock – also known as Pulau Batu Putih. Pedra Branca is a Portuguese word, meaning white rock, which refers to the white guano deposited on its surface.
This outcrop, together with the island of Temasik (Singapore), originally belonged to the Johor Riau-Lingga Sultanate (1528).
It was mentioned in the Malay Annals (Sejarah Melayu) that a Chinese traveller, Wang Dayuan, who visited the island around 1330, wrote about a Malay settlement called Danmaxi (Temasik).
The current Singapore government had embarked on erasing all traces of the Malay Sultanate and establishing its history, beginning with Stamford Raffles’ ‘founding’ of Singapore, just like Francis Light founded Penang in 1786.
The authorities tried to promote the narrative that this island was uninhabited and lost in the maze of the archipelagic Malay world.
It tried to make us think that Raffles negotiated through this maze, and came upon this terra nova as the cloak of mist lifted, revealing this ‘uninhabited’ island.
It is a fallacy to attribute Raffles as the founder of Singapore when there were already Malay settlements in existence for centuries before 1819.
The British colonialists established the Straits Settlements of Penang, Melaka, and Singapore, and eventually usurped the sovereignty of the Malay Rajas and Sultans, beguiling them into believing their noble intention of safeguarding their position and dominion.
They took over all aspects of administration, security, and education, leaving only the matter of religion and Malay customs under the purview of the royals.
Although Temasik was inextricably linked to the Peninsula, it was excluded from being part of the independent Federation of Malaya.
The declaration of independence only included the Federated, and non-Federated Malays States, and the two Straits Settlements of Penang and Melaka, while Singapore was retained as a crown colony when it should have reverted, to be a part of the Federation of Malaya.
Pedra Branca was not terra nullius (land belonging to no one), as claimed by Singapore, but a part of Johor’s territory.
But the British, after establishing the Straits Settlements and encroaching into the Malay states, commandeered the island to build a lighthouse in 1850 that was maintained by the crown colony, and later passed to Singapore, after the dissolution of the Straits Settlements.
But a slip-up occurred when, in response to a colonial inquiry from Singapore, the then acting state secretary wrote in 1953, an unauthorised letter, stating that the Johor government did not claim ownership of Pedra Branca.
Singapore had cited this letter, and its administration of the rock, to support its claim of sovereignty over Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) had, in 2003, ruled that Pulau Batu Putih (Pedra Branca) belonged to Singapore, while Middle Rocks and South Ledge, were in Malaysian territorial waters.
Johor did not reclaim the island of Temasik, which was historically under its sovereignty, but allowed it to be sequestered by the British to serve as its crown colony. It is ironic that the authorities now want to fight over a rock.
Perhaps it is just to salvage a wounded pride and/or to serve as a political distraction. It is now fait accompli.
We should instead focus our energies in addressing the numerous misuses of state lands, Malay reserves and wakaf lands that benefited the hereditary privileged class and the political elites at the expense of the common people.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
