Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that it was informed of Malaysia’s decision by the ICJ.

Malaysia had filed an application for revision of the ICJ’s original judgment on Feb 2, 2017.

It had also sought an interpretation of the ICJ’s original judgment which it filed on June 30, 2017.

“Malaysia informed the ICJ on May 28 that it would discontinue the proceedings that it had initiated earlier. Singapore informed the ICJ on May 29 that it agreed with Malaysia’s request for discontinuance.

“Prior to that, the Malaysian solicitor-general had written to inform Singapore’s attorney-general of Malaysia’s intention to discontinue the proceedings, and Singapore’s attorney-general had replied conveying Singapore’s agreement,” the statement said.

ICJ had ruled on May 23, 2008, that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca, located some 24 nautical miles to the east of the republic.

It also awarded the outcrop, known as Middle Rocks, near the opening of the Straits of Singapore, to Malaysia.

Malaysia had filed a challenge on the Pedra Branca ruling after claiming that new facts had been uncovered from three documents discovered in the United Kingdom’s national archive.

“We were confident of our case, and the correctness of the original ICJ decision. When Malaysia requested to discontinue the cases, without them being argued, we were happy to agree. Both Malaysia and Singapore had gone through the due legal process and put this matter to rest,” Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said in the statement.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said that Malaysia would be developing the once-disputed Middle Rocks, near Pedra Branca.

“It is our intention to enlarge Middle Rocks so we can form a small island for us,” Mahathir said.

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