Abstract
Intractable, long-standing, unresolved disputes over maritime borders and sovereignty between Malaysia and Indonesia are among the problematic issues responsible for causing unwanted strains and irritants on their bilateral relations. Over the past three decades, these relations have been marred by occasional diplomatic tensions, nationalistic-fuelled public protests, chest-thumping incursions, and even intense naval stand-offs in the disputed maritime waters. Such incidents were notably prevalent during the period when the two littoral States were still embroiled in the contestation over the sovereignty of Sipadan and Ligitan Islands. Universally recognised as the first maritime territorial dispute in Southeast Asia to be submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for judicial settlement, the dispute over the ownership the two tiny islands in the Celebes Sea off the north-eastern coasts of Borneo had been ongoing since as early as 1969. It was not until 17 December 2002 that the rightful ownership of the islands was finally resolved when the ICJ rendered its judgment that ruled in favour of Malaysia based on the effectivités principle (actual exercise of authority).
In his book, Ranjit Singh offers a detailed insight into and a historical and legal account of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands dispute. Organised into nine chapters, two main themes visibly dominate the discussions in the book: the historical roots of the Malaysia–Indonesia dispute over the ownership of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands, and the legal dimension of the dispute and its judicial settlement process under the purview of ICJ. Despite more than 15 years having passed since the ICJ delivered its judgment on the case of Sipadan and Ligitan Islands, the subject matter and scholarly debates in the book remain relevant, timely, and important even in this present day. Besides being a valuable addition to the contemporary literature on the historical and legal narrative of the dispute over the sovereignty of the two islands, the book contributes towards one’s understanding of accepted principles of international law, particularly concerning the acquisition of sovereignty and legal title over island and other maritime features.
Drawing upon extensive archival materials and rare prints, including maps, treaties, official reports, letters, and exchange notes, the author makes a compelling assessment and convincing arguments that the origin of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands dispute can be traced back to the precolonial and colonial periods. The bulk of the dispute’s historical narratives, which can be found in chapters 2 to 4, offer an insightful and diverse spectrum of political, diplomatic, and commercial activities on the vast island of Borneo, involving not only the indigenous Malay kingdoms but also Western colonial powers, notably those of Spain, Holland, Britain, and the United States. As early as the eighteenth century, the push by the Western powers for commercial and territorial expansion in this part of the region had inevitably led to hostilities and rivalries among them. Coinciding with the declining political influences of the Brunei Empire and Sulu Sultanate, the partitioning of this vast island into multiple and often overlapping Western colonial spheres of influence and jurisdiction was inevitable. As elaborated in chapter 5, the postcolonial period saw the newly independent nations of Malaysia and Indonesia embroiled in a series of territorial disputes as they inherited some of the unresolved maritime boundary problems from the legacy of the colonial era.
In this book, the historical discourses of the Indonesia–Malaysia dispute over the two islands of Sipadan and Ligitan are delivered in a persuasive, authoritative, and compelling manner. The author clearly has comprehensive knowledge and a solid understanding of the historical milieu of the dispute. This is not surprising, given that the author was appointed by the Malaysian government to lead a team of researchers in preparing the historical evidence of the dispute for the country’s case at the ICJ. Hence, the book is a product of nearly two decades of the author’s extensive research work, making use of not only secondary resources but also archival records obtained from national archives and libraries across the European continent as well as in the United States and Sabah.
Whilst the coverage in the early chapters of the book mostly delves into the historical accounts of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands’ dispute, a large section of the book, especially in the last four chapters, is devoted to the legal dimension of the dispute, encompassing the legal bases of countries’ claims, ICJ procedures, and its verdict of the dispute. Perhaps one of the key strengths of this book lies within its concluding chapter (pp. 175–189) where the author outlines a set of prerequisite requirements and core principles of international law that can guide any interested party to have unassailable claims to contested territory. In terms of international law development, the judgment of the ICJ case of Indonesia against Malaysia concerning the sovereignty of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands to a considerable extent further affirms and solidifies the paramount function of the Court in determining contested sovereignty of territory via interpretation of accepted rules and principles of international law. Of relevance, the effectivités principle, in which the Court gives primary importance in framing its decision to award the sovereignty of Sipadan and Ligitan Islands to Malaysia’ would serve as a critical basis in influencing the Court’s decision in other subsequent cases on maritime territorial disputes. This is evident when Malaysia loses the title to Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Putih) to Singapore in another ICJ case. The Court’s decision in this 2008 case was primarily based on the same principle of effectivités, which was referred to in the earlier case regarding the sovereignty status of the disputed islands of Sipadan and Ligitan.
Reflecting the lessons learnt from the two ICJ cases involving Malaysia, namely, Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Sipadan (Indonesia/Malaysia) Case (2002) and Sovereignty over Pedra Branca, Middle Rock and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore) Case (2008), the author rightly point outs that it is insufficient to request the ICJ to rule only the sovereignty of the contested territory or maritime feature, without mandating the Court to resolve the problem of overlapping maritime jurisdictional claims and boundary delimitation between the disputing parties (p. 187). He convincingly argues that this is because even after the settlement of sovereignty issue of a disputed maritime feature, unresolved delimitation of maritime boundaries or jurisdictions around such a feature would continue to cause diplomatic friction and tension between the parties concerned. It is suggested that future research activity should be conducted on the study of contested maritime territory and jurisdiction in water columns and seabed areas in the adjacent or nearby contested islands and maritime features that have been resolved under the ICJ, arbitral panels, or any third-party dispute settlement mechanism. Indeed, such suggestion is of relevance to the current reality of Malaysia–Indonesia relations, given the fact that the two countries are involved in the ongoing overlapping claims over the seabed areas of Ambalat (or blocks ND6 and ND7 according to Malaysia) within the vicinity of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands.
Accessibly written, the book is highly recommended to anyone who is interested in learning and understanding not only the historical origin of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands’ dispute, but also the geopolitical dynamics of Western colonial expansion on the island of Borneo. The book will also be of great interest to and a useful reference source for legal practitioners, policymakers, and academicians concerning judicial resolution for maritime territorial and sovereignty disputes.
