Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.

Malaysia has a number of territorial disputes such as Sipadan-Ligitan, Batu Puteh, Limbang and the Spratly Islands. So far, it had settled two of the disputes through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that is Sipadan-Ligitan and Batu Puteh Islands. Other disputes remain outstanding and/or u...

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Main Authors: Salleh, Asri, Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan, Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academic Journals 2009
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15525/
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author Salleh, Asri
Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan
Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
author_facet Salleh, Asri
Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan
Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
author_sort Salleh, Asri
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Malaysia has a number of territorial disputes such as Sipadan-Ligitan, Batu Puteh, Limbang and the Spratly Islands. So far, it had settled two of the disputes through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that is Sipadan-Ligitan and Batu Puteh Islands. Other disputes remain outstanding and/or unsettled that is the Spratly Islands and Limbang. This paper provides an overview of the disputes and Malaysia’s approaches to manage and/or settle them. As such, it analyzes the factors that influence Malaysia’s policy in this regard. Analysis of the factors suggests that Malaysia’s policy towards territorial disputes has been mainly shaped by the Prime Minister’s Department. Other key foreign policy bureaucracies, such as the Defense and Foreign Ministries, have also been found to play an instrumental role especially through the National Security Council of which the two ministries are part of the other important bureaucracies include ISIS and MIMA. It also suggests that Malaysia’s policy has adopted a pragmatic stature in which it allows for a combination of approaches to settle the disputes. This includes unilateralist approach as in Swallow Reef case, multilateralist as in Amboyna Cay case and bilateralist as in Sipadan and Batu Puteh cases. Finally, based on the analysis, this paper suggests several recommendations with regard to Malaysia’s handling of the territorial disputes.
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spelling upm-155252013-10-17T01:15:34Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15525/ Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes. Salleh, Asri Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan Jusoff, Kamaruzaman Malaysia has a number of territorial disputes such as Sipadan-Ligitan, Batu Puteh, Limbang and the Spratly Islands. So far, it had settled two of the disputes through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that is Sipadan-Ligitan and Batu Puteh Islands. Other disputes remain outstanding and/or unsettled that is the Spratly Islands and Limbang. This paper provides an overview of the disputes and Malaysia’s approaches to manage and/or settle them. As such, it analyzes the factors that influence Malaysia’s policy in this regard. Analysis of the factors suggests that Malaysia’s policy towards territorial disputes has been mainly shaped by the Prime Minister’s Department. Other key foreign policy bureaucracies, such as the Defense and Foreign Ministries, have also been found to play an instrumental role especially through the National Security Council of which the two ministries are part of the other important bureaucracies include ISIS and MIMA. It also suggests that Malaysia’s policy has adopted a pragmatic stature in which it allows for a combination of approaches to settle the disputes. This includes unilateralist approach as in Swallow Reef case, multilateralist as in Amboyna Cay case and bilateralist as in Sipadan and Batu Puteh cases. Finally, based on the analysis, this paper suggests several recommendations with regard to Malaysia’s handling of the territorial disputes. Academic Journals 2009 Article PeerReviewed Salleh, Asri and Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan and Jusoff, Kamaruzaman (2009) Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes. Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution, 1 (5). pp. 107-116. ISSN 2006-9804 http://www.academicjournal.org English
spellingShingle Salleh, Asri
Che Mohd Razali, Che Hamdan
Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title_full Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title_fullStr Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title_full_unstemmed Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title_short Malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
title_sort malaysia’s policy towards its 1963 - 2008 territorial disputes.
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15525/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15525/