Pulau Batu Puteh Part 2

The authors disclosed that Malaysia had employed tactics that “would not have been tolerated in any domestic court of law”.

The ICJ verdict saw ordinary Malaysians hurling brickbats at the Malaysian legal team for facing the ICJ without having a “sure-win” legal case.

Singapore successfully proved that the photograph was taken with a telephoto lens, which increased the height of the hill in the background by a factor of seven.

By Stephanie Sta Maria

Pulau Batu Puteh Part 1

Rais Yatim called the verdict a “win-win” decision.
According to the authors, Malaysia displayed a “certain sense of desperation” that saw it resorting to questionable tactics.

These tactics involved deliberately mis-translating a text, suppressing parts of quotations used to support its arguments, as well as producing a distorted photograph of PBP that showed it nearer than it actually is to the coast of Johor.

Karpal Singh concluded that Malaysia's loss rested on two elements: a superior opponent and a badly miscalculated strategy.

The entire Malaysian team totalled 60 members, almost double the size of Singapore's team.

In fact, we're lucky that we even won Middle Rocks!”

In the first of a two-part exclusive report, FMT looks at the history of the Pulau Batu Puteh dispute which Malaysia lost to Singapore. The two Singapore lawyers who were involved in the case give their views in a book they wrote.