Singapore, Malaysia go to international court to settle island

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Singapore and Malaysia will appear before the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands next week to settle their claims to a strategically located island.

Both countries have said they will accept the court's decision on Pedra Branca and two outcrops in the Singapore Strait as the final word in the 28-year disagreement.

The hearings in the Hague, where the 15-member court is located, follow three rounds of pleadings between the two countries from March 2004 to November 2005.

The city-state has exercised sovereignty over the island since the 1840s when the British colonial government built a lighthouse there.

The island, about 40 kilometres east of Singapore, is strategically located at the eastern entrance of the strait.

Malaysia staked its claim to the island in 1979 and calls it Pulau Batu Putih, triggering the row.

An agreement was signed on February 6, 2003 to submit the dispute to the international body.

The court said on its website Wednesday that the city-state will have four days starting November 6 to present its case. Malaysia will make its case from November 13 to 16.

The court has set aside three weeks for the case, a Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement was quoted by DPA as saying.