The Straits Times, March 17, 2007
IT'S MALAYSIAN: Sipadan residents raising the flag in 2002 after Kuala Lumpur won its case at the ICJ. -- UTUSAN MALAYSIA
IT'S MALAYSIAN: Sipadan residents raising the flag in 2002 after Kuala Lumpur won its case at the ICJ. -- UTUSAN MALAYSIATHE disputed region which the Indonesians call Ambalat, off the coast of Borneo island, is rich in oil.
The oil blocks are near the Sipadan and Ligitan islands, whose ownership was disputed for years by Indonesia and Malaysia. The islands were awarded to the latter by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002.
Jakarta bases its ownership claims on Ambalat on an 1891 Anglo-Dutch pact, which clearly demarcated the areas of the two colonial powers by drawing a boundary line extending eastwards from Borneo.
Both Sipadan and Ligitan are south of that line - something that was reflected in all maps issued until 1979, when Malaysia began to declare them as part of its territory.
The ICJ's 2002 ruling not only made it clear that ownership belonged to those who have shown long-term 'manifestations of state authority' over disputed areas, it also found the 1891 treaty inconclusive about the ownership of the islands and the surrounding waters.
Thus the overlapping claims to the oil-rich area.
The oil blocks are near the Sipadan and Ligitan islands, whose ownership was disputed for years by Indonesia and Malaysia. The islands were awarded to the latter by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002.
Jakarta bases its ownership claims on Ambalat on an 1891 Anglo-Dutch pact, which clearly demarcated the areas of the two colonial powers by drawing a boundary line extending eastwards from Borneo.
Both Sipadan and Ligitan are south of that line - something that was reflected in all maps issued until 1979, when Malaysia began to declare them as part of its territory.
The ICJ's 2002 ruling not only made it clear that ownership belonged to those who have shown long-term 'manifestations of state authority' over disputed areas, it also found the 1891 treaty inconclusive about the ownership of the islands and the surrounding waters.
Thus the overlapping claims to the oil-rich area.
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