Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Pakatan Harapan government did not play politics with foreign affairs.

“We have said many times that we do not politicise foreign affairs. In this matter, we will stand together with the federal government in order to get the island back.

“We stand together when it comes to national sovereignty and national security,” he told reporters at a Chinese New Year open house in Datuk Keramat today.

Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, then added that the state administration also hoped the federal government would extend Penang the same courtesy.

“We hope they will also stand by the state to ensure Penang’s sanctity and integrity to exist as one of the 13 states in Malaysia.

“We won’t allow our state to be legislated out of existence,” he said, referring to a recent proposal by Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to make Penang a federal territory.

On May 23, 2008, the International Court of Justice ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca and that Malaysia owned Middle Rocks and South Ledge.

Earlier this past week, Malaysia’s Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said he had applied to review the ruling, citing three documents recently declassified by the UK.

The Straits Times reported that the documents were found in the UK National Archives between August last year and last month. They were an internal correspondence of the Singapore colonial authorities in 1958, a 1958 incident report by a British naval officer, and an annotated map of naval operations from the 1960s.

It is reported that Singapore is looking into Malaysia’s application and has set up a legal team to respond.