The Pedra Branca Case in the Context of Maritime Dispute Resolution in Southeast Asia

Download or read book The Pedra Branca Case in the Context of Maritime Dispute Resolution in Southeast Asia written by Yvonne Guo and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper seeks to find out why the Pedra Branca maritime dispute between Malaysia and Singapore was resolved while so many other maritime and territorial disputes in Southeast Asia remain unresolved. It does so by examining the existing dispute resolution mechanisms available to Southeast Asian states on bilateral, regional and international levels, and pointing out the limitations of these mechanisms. It then proposes a multidimensional analytical framework to determine which dispute resolution mechanism(s) will most likely be chosen in a given conflict. The dimensions considered are the number of parties involved, the relative strength of the parties, the relationship between the parties, the nature of interests, and the existence of a domestic political lobby. This framework suggests that the Pedra Branca conflict was resolved via the ICJ because both parties were close in strength, had a good relationship, and the interests concerned were relatively minor. The paper concludes that at the present time, dispute resolution via the ICJ and ITLOS remains the most effective and conclusive solution for any maritime dispute, although this solution usually requires the agreement of both parties to third-party arbitration, which is not always forthcoming.