Pedra Branca (), also known as Batu Putih (), is an outlying island and the easternmost point of Singapore.For the history, historical cartography, and toponymy of Pedra Branca, cf. Ong, Brenda Man Qing, and Francesco Perono Cacciafoco. (2022). Pedra Branca off Singapore: A Historical Cartographic Analysis of a Post-Colonial Territorially Disputed Island. Histories, 2, 1: 47-67, Paper , DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/histories2010005. The name of the island, which is Portuguese for "white rock", refers to whitish guano deposited on the rock. The island consists of a small outcrop of granite rocks with an area of about at low tide. During the low water spring tide it measures, at its longest, and has an average width of . Pedra Branca is situated where the Singapore Strait meets the South China Sea, and so is considered a maritime landmark of the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.
There are two maritime features near Pedra Branca. Middle Rocks, under the sovereignty of Malaysia, consists of two clusters of small rocks about apart situated south of Pedra Branca. South Ledge, which is to the south-south-west of Pedra Branca, is a rock formation visible only at low-tide.
Pedra Branca was known to sailors for centuries. It was originally within the territory of the Johor Sultanate, which was founded in 1528, and remained under the new Sultanate of Johor while under the British sphere of influence following the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Between 1850 and 1851, the British built Horsburgh Lighthouse on the island without seeking the consent of the Johor authorities or informing them of the decision. From that time, the Straits Settlements administered the island; Singapore then assumed responsibility in 1946 after the dissolution of the Straits Settlements. On 21 September 1953, the Acting State Secretary of Johor, responding to a query from the Colonial Secretary of Singapore about the status of the island, stated that "the Johore Government does not claim ownership of Pedra Branca".
On 21 December 1979, Malaysia published a map that showed the island to be within its territorial waters. This ignited a 29-year territorial dispute which, together with the issue of sovereignty over the nearby maritime features of Middle Rocks and South Ledge, the disputants presented to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for resolution. On 23 May 2008, the ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca was under Singapore's sovereignty. At this point, the ICJ also noted Singapore's plans to conduct reclamation at Pedra Branca. Although the island had originally been under the sovereignty of the Johor Sultanate, the United Kingdom and Singapore had carried out various acts of sovereignty in respect of the island. The failure of Malaysia and its predecessors to respond to these acts, and other actions that demonstrated their acknowledgment of Singapore's sovereignty over the island, meant that Singapore had gained sovereignty over Pedra Branca. On the other hand, Middle Rocks remain part of Malaysian territory as Singapore had not manifested any acts of sovereignty in respect to it. The Court did not rule definitively on the remaining outcrop, South Ledge, declaring that it belonged to the state in the territorial waters of which it is located. Malaysia and Singapore have established the Joint Technical Committee to delimit the maritime boundary in the area around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks, and to determine the ownership of South Ledge.
Singapore also asserts claims to territorial waters and airspace around Pedra Branca, including a slice of the South China Sea, which is discontiguous with the rest of Singapore's territorial waters. This discontiguity is due to Pedra Branca's location 40 kilometers east of the Singapore mainland, through a narrow strait between Malaysian and Indonesian land. The award of sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore has raised concerns in Malaysia if Pulau Pisang, near the west end of the Singapore Strait on which Singapore also operates a lighthouse, may also face territorial claims from Singapore. Thus far both Malaysian and Singapore governments have expressed that there is no question of Malaysia's sovereignty over Pulau Pisang.
Etymology Pedra Branca means "white rock" in Portuguese, and refers to whitish guano (bird droppings) deposited on the rock by the black-naped tern, which used the island as a nesting ground.. This name is used by both the English-language and Malay-language press in Singapore.See, for instance, . Malaysia formerly referred to the island as Pulau Batu Puteh, which means "white rock island" in Malay, but the Government of Malaysia subsequently decided to drop the word Pulau ("Island"). In August 2008 Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said Malaysia considered that the maritime feature did not meet internationally recognised criteria for an island, that is, land inhabited by humans that had economic activity.. See also ; .
The island is known in Mandarin as Baijiao (), which means "white reef".. The Tamil name is , a transliteration of Pedra Branca.
Geography
Pedra Branca, located at 1° 19′ 48″ N and 104° 24′ 27″ E, is an island with an area of about at low tide. During the low water spring tide it measures, at its longest, a mere and has an average width of . It is approximately to the east of Singapore; south of Johor, Malaysia; and north of Bintan, Indonesia., para. 16..By the Protected Places (No. 4) Order 2002 (S 305/2002), which came into effect on 27 June 2002, Pedra Branca was declared a "protected area" within the meaning of the . In the Schedule to the Order, it was described as "[t]he island occupied by 'PORT OF SINGAPORE (HORSBURGH LIGHTHOUSE)' containing an area of approximately 8,650 square metres. The easternmost point is approximately along the bearing 73° 51′ for 97 metres from the centre of the lighthouse, Latitude 1° 19′ 48.8″ N and Longitude 104° 21′ 20.6″ E (WGS 84 datum) approximately".
There are two maritime features near Pedra Branca. Middle Rocks, which is under the sovereignty of Malaysia, consists of two clusters of small rocks about apart situated south of the island. They stand to permanently above water. South Ledge, on the other hand, is a rock formation visible only at low-tide. It is to the south-south-west of Pedra Branca.Pedra Branca case, para. 18. Its ownership has yet to be definitively determined by Malaysia and Singapore.
Rock samples from Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge show they are all composed of a light, coarse-grained biotite granite. Therefore, from a geomorphological standpoint, the three maritime features belong to the same rock body.Pedra Branca case, para. 282.
History
Pedra Branca was known to sailors for centuries. Part of the Chinese sailing instructions for the South China Sea based on information compiled by Admiral Zheng He (1371–1433) advised a navigator that after departing Long Ya Men (Mandarin for "Dragon's Teeth Gate"), a rocky outcrop at the gateway to what is now Keppel Harbour in Singapore, he should steer a course of between 75° and 90° for five watches until his vessel reached Baijiao. Pedra Branca was also mentioned in Dutch voyager Jan Huyghen van Linschoten's Itinerario (Itinerary), (in Dutch). an account of his voyages in the Portuguese East Indies. After the publication of the work in 1596, the island began appearing regularly on European maps of the Far East.Davison, p. 88. The 1598 English edition of the work stated:.
Pedra Branca was originally within the territory of the Johor-Riau Sultanate,Pedra Branca case, para. 68. which was founded in 1528 by Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II, the son of Sultan Mahmud Shah of the Malacca Sultanate. In the mid-17th century, the Dutch Governor of Malacca wrote to the Dutch East India Company, asking it to send two boats to the Straits of Singapore to "cruise to the south of Singapore Straits under the Hook of Barbukit and in the vicinity of Pedra Branca" to stop Chinese traders from entering Johor River. The plan was put into force, and two Chinese junks were captured in the Straits and diverted to Malacca. However, this action provoked a protest from the Sultan of Johor, which showed that the Sultan regarded the junks' seizure as an infringement of his sovereignty in the area. Three letters written in 1824 to the Government of India by the British Resident in Singapore, John Crawfurd, also confirm it was his understanding that all the islands in the region of the Straits of Singapore came under the Johor Sultanate.Pedra Branca case, paras. 54–56.
In addition, other 19th-century documents show that the Sultan of Johor exercised authority over the Orang Laut ("sea people") who inhabited the maritime areas of the Straits of Singapore and visited Pedra Branca. One of these was a letter of November 1850 by John Turnbull Thomson, the Government Surveyor of Singapore, which reported on the need to exclude the Orang Laut from Pedra Branca where Horsburgh Lighthouse was being built. Calling them a "half fishing half piratical sect", Thomson noted that they "frequently visit the rock so their visits should never be encouraged nor any trust put in them ... In the straits and islets of the neighbouring shores and islands many lives are taken by these people."Pedra Branca case, paras. 71, 74–75.
On 17 March 1824, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands signed the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1824. It divided the old Johor Sultanate into two new Sultanates: the new Sultanate of Johor, which would be under the British sphere of influence, and the Sultanate of Riau–Lingga under Dutch influence.Pedra Branca case, para. 98. Under Article XII of the Treaty, Britain agreed that "no British Establishment shall be made on the Carimon Isles, or on the Island of Bantam, Bintang, Lingin, or on any of the other Islands South of the Straits of Singapore ..." The islands and islets within the Straits fell within the British sphere of influence. This included Pedra Branca, which thus remained part of the territorial domain of the new Johor Sultanate.Pedra Branca case, para. 100.
1840s to 1851: Construction of Horsburgh Lighthouse