The dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over Pedra Branca started in 1980, after the
Director of National Mapping of Malaysia issued a map in 1979 showing Pedra Branca to
be within its territorial waters which Singapore requested for the map to be corrected. Since
then the two countries have tried various ways in settling the dispute until they finally
agreed to bring the case up to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, in the
decision made by ICJ in 2008 did not entirely solve the dispute of the two countries as the
judgement made is deemed to be ambiguous as the court did not decide on the sovereignty
of South Ledge, a low-tide elevation in the vicinity of Pedra Branca. Consequently, both
the states could not continue their efforts in maritime delimitation of boundaries in the
Strait of Singapore. Therefore, the objectives of this research is to analyse the ambiguity
of the decision made by the ICJ on Pedra Branca in 2008 and to identify the implication
that Malaysia would face if delimitation of boundaries still yet to be done. This research is
based on data obtained from secondary source such as books and journal articles. The data
was analysed to determine the ambiguity of the judgement made and the repercussions if
maritime boundary delimitation is yet to be finalised between the conflicting states.
Furthermore, this paper analyses the case study based on United Convention on the Law
of the Sea (UNCLOS). The results of the study suggested that immediate agreement
between Malaysia and Singapore on maritime boundary delimitation in the strait need to
be done to prevent other conflict from occurring. It is hoped that this study would make
good contributions to the body of knowledge.
