KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will set up a royal commission of inquiry to study the handling of cases involving three disputed islets in the Singapore Strait, the cabinet said on Wednesday (Jan 24).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has previously called for a review of a 2018 decision by Malaysia — under the administration of then-premier Mahathir Mohamad — to drop its application to revise an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca, one of the islets.

Pedra Branca is located near the eastern entrance of the Straits of Singapore, about 44km east of mainland Singapore.

In a 2008 ruling, the ICJ awarded the Middle Rocks formation to Malaysia while nearby Pedra Branca was given to Singapore. Malaysia in 2017 sought to have the Pedra Branca part of the ruling overturned, but dropped its claim a year later after Dr Mahathir became prime minister.

Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali said on Tuesday recommendations for the composition of the inquiry panel will be brought to Malaysia's king for approval.

"The recommendations... will take into account experts with wide experience in judicial, legal, and public administration matters who can carry out a transparent, fair and equal investigation," Mr Mohd Zuki said in a statement.

Malaysia later filed two applications after the ruling, the first on Feb 2, 2017, to revise the ICJ's 2008 judgment.

A second application on June 30, 2017, sought an interpretation of the same ICJ judgment.

Public hearings for the two cases were scheduled for July 2018 at The Hague. However, Putrajaya decided to drop the two cases to revise and to interpret the judgment in May 2018.

On Oct 14, 2022, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that it was ready to "robustly defend" its sovereignty over Pedra Branca.

This came a day after Malaysia announced its intention to continue legal action in ICJ on the issue of sovereignty over the island.

"Singapore stands ready to robustly defend our sovereignty over Pedra Branca and will deal with whatever legal action Malaysia may pursue," the ministry said.

In response to TODAY's queries, an MFA spokesperson said on Thursday that the royal commission of inquiry is an "internal matter" for Malaysia.
 
"We do not see this affecting the good bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia," the spokesperson added.
 
Noting the ICJ's 2008 ruling, the spokesperson said that "both Singapore and Malaysia have publicly announced that they will accept and abide by the court’s decision which is final". WITH AGENCIES