SINGAPORE: Malaysia has actually established a brand-new maritime base upon Middle Rocks, near Pedra Branca, the island granted to Singapore in an International Court of Justice ruling in 2008.
The facility, called Abu Bakar Maritime Base, includes a 316-metre jetty, a lighthouse, and a helicopter landing pad, according to defence publication IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly.
The base is about 7.9 nautical miles from the Johor coast and 0.6 nautical miles from Pedra Branca, and was formally opened by Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar on Tuesday (Aug 1).
The facility was completed practically a year back, on Aug 29, 2016, and makes up two unique buildings 316.6 m apart, the Sultan of Johor stated in a Facebook post.
He included that it is utilized jointly by the Marine Department, Armed Forces, police, to name a few, consisting of anglers.
“The task, under the National Security Council, is aimed at protecting Malaysia’s sovereign area and waters and for performing marine scientific research study,” the Johor Sultan composed.
The base is likewise indicated to “reaffirm Malaysia’s absolute sovereignty over the Middle Rocks off Kota Tinggi, Johor,” he added.
The opening of the maritime base comes somewhat more than a month after Malaysia submitted an application requesting an analysis of the ICJ’s judgment over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca.
This, Malaysia said, was “self-governing and different” from another application in February looking for a revision of the ICJ judgment.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca, while Middle Rocks was awarded to Malaysia. South Ledge came from the state in whose territorial waters it lies, the ICJ found.
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