Island lost because of weak team, says PAS

PAS has expressed dissatisfaction with the “weak” arguments of the Malaysian lawyers over the claim of Batu Puteh at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Its vice-president Nasharuddin Mat Isa said the weak arguments had resulted in Malaysia’s sovereignty of the island being taken over by Singapore.

“There was a lack of evidence to prop up our claims. Singapore, being awarded the island, will certainly bring a lot of hardship for our fishermen in Johor waters.

“We had a weak team of lawyers to fight our case,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here yesterday.

PAS, he added, would be explaining this issue to its members and rakyat all over the country.

Nasharuddin said PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub would attempt to table an emergency motion under 18(1) of the Parliament Standing Orders on the issue.

On another matter, Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan urged the Government to move into another island, where Singapore still maintains a lighthouse, and develop it.

This, he added was to avoid “banana trees from fruiting twice” as Singapore could move to stake a claim to Pulau Pisang, located some 5km from the coast of Pontian, Johor.

“Why should Singapore be allowed to keep the lighthouse there? Wisma Putra told me that under the present agreement, Singapore is allowed to maintain the lighthouse as long as it is still being used and for as long as there are stars and moon.

“But in this day and age, no ship uses a lighthouse and all of them now rely on global positioning system and radar to guide them. So what’s the use of the lighthouse?” he said - The Star

Apathy made us lose Pulau Batu Puteh

AS mature nations Malaysia and Singapore have earned the respect of the international community for accepting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on Singapore’s claim to Pulau Batu Puteh made on May 23. The decision was accepted in good faith with no untoward incident by citizens of both countries.

Nevertheless, for Malaysia it is a lesson well learnt that should not be repeated. Due to carelessness, apathy and goodwill Malaysia inadvertently handed Pulau Batu Puteh on a silver platter to Singapore.

My short stint at our country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs handling the Singapore desk has given me an insight into the psychological psyche of how Singapore operates or rather tick with precision as follows:

• The siege mentality strengthens their will for survival. Being an island republic, they have to expand physically outward and upward. Any unoccupied landmass, island or coral reef provides an opportunity for expansion.



• Their will to survive have made their leaders very focussed in projecting and planning for the future. Their diplomats are handpicked and well trained in the art of diplomacy and they don’t take bilateral relations for granted.

I once had an outing with Singapore diplomats at the Press Club. Over drinks they casually brought up the topic of Pulau Batu Puteh. I remembered vividly the conversation:

“What’s the situation on Pedra Branca?” asked my Singapore counterparts. I responded humorously “Are you referring to the Portuguese lady?” And all of us had a good laugh.

The moral of the story is that Singapore diplomats are well trained to gather information at all occasions. To them any outing is business and has great implication to Singapore’s survival.

I hope the ICJ decision has opened the eyes of Malaysian leaders and officials in not taking the country’s sovereignty for granted. Being nice, accommodating and tidak apa has its limits.

I sympathise with the fishermen of Tenggarang, Johor who have now forever lost their traditional resting place at Pulau Batu Puteh.

HASSAN TALIB,
Gombak, Selangor.

Debate diverted to loss of island

Reports by LEE YUK PENG, ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN, LOONG MENG YEE, SIM LEOI LEOI, ELIZABETH LOOI and ROYCE CHEAH

DEBATE on a motion to re-distribute allocation from two defunct departments got sidetracked after both backbenchers and the Opposition voiced their dissatisfaction over the outcome of the Batu Puteh case.


It is our failure to keep proper historical documents that has led us to lose Pulau Batu Puteh - DR PUAD ZARKASHI (BN - BATU PAHAT)

Leading the pack was Dr Puad Zarkashi (BN – Batu Pahat), who decried the lack of proper documentation on the part of the Government leading to the loss of the island to Singapore.

“We must make sure that each department under the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry receives fair attention.

“For instance, on the question of heritage, it is our failure to keep proper historical documents that has led us to lose Pulau Batu Puteh. It’s such an important task but we neglected to do so.

“We have to set up a historical documentation centre so this does not happen again,” he said.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice decided that Singapore had ownership of Pulau Batu Puteh while Malaysia had sovereignty over Middle Rocks which lies to the south.

Ambassador-at-large Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Mohamad had voiced his frustration over his failure to find a letter said to be from the British governor in Butterworth to the Johor Temenggong seeking permission to build the Horsburgh Lighthouse on the island.

Dr Puad said as a Johorean, he felt very disappointed by the decision, urging the Government not to continue “bowing” to Singapore’s pressure over certain unresolved issues such as the Central Provident Fund contributions, the use of air space and water treaties.

Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR – Permatang Pauh) said the Government should be careful of referring overlapping territorial claims to the ICJ.

“The decision is most often not based on justice but on the current world political climate. Let this be a lesson to us,” she said.

Mahfuz Omar (PAS – Pokok Sena) said the Attorney-General’s chambers should have done its research properly before laying their case before the ICJ.

“How can this be a win-win situation for us? How does this guarantee the safety of our fishermen?” he said.

Hamim Samuri (BN – Ledang) said the Government should be more wary of Singapore’s actions in the future.

In his reply, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the Government had indeed learnt its lesson from the Pulau Batu Puteh incident and had started monitoring activities on islands in its waters.

“The National Archives Department has also set up a special unit to collect our historical documents. However, it depends on government agencies to provide it with these documents,” he pointed out.

The motion, which was to re-disburse a total of RM1.12bil allocation meant for the defunct Internal Security Ministry and the Unity Department under the Prime Minister’s Department, was passed - The Star

Bumburing: Act fast to solve illegal immigrant issue

THE GOVERNMENT must quickly solve the problem of illegal Filipino immigrants in Sabah especially in the light of a challenge made by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to contest the ownership of Sabah in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Datuk Wilfred Bumburing (BN-Tuaran), said with so much focus on the Batu Puteh case in the ICJ, it would be wise for the Government to be seen to be doing something about the problem in Sabah.

“If we are not careful, we will lose a much bigger piece of land than Batu Puteh or the Middle Rocks,” he said when responding to Ibrahim Ali’s (Ind-Pasir Mas) comments about the ICJ’s recent decision when debating the Supplementary Supply Bill.

“Sabah MPs have raised this problem time and again and the Government must take note of the immigrant issue,” he said, adding that the Philippine’s claim to Sabah is still there.

Bumburing said that Malaysia was still paying the Sultan of Sulu a certain amount of money every year.

Outside the Dewan, Bumburing said some of the immigrants have become entrenched in Sabah, adding that the number of Filipinos in Sabah was unknown.

“This is why we need a Royal Commission of Inquiry,” he said.

Reports in Philippine online news portals quoted Moro leader Nur Misuari as saying on Saturday that the amount of money (about RM5,000) paid by Sabah to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu was “pittance”.

Misuari said the Sabah issue should be brought to the ICJ for resolution - The Star