10 - Malaysia's Maritime Claims in the South China Sea: Security and Military Dimensions

Summary

Malaysia's maritime boundaries border those of six other countries, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Because of the number of littoral countries around the South China Sea, these boundaries are more apparent there compared to the rest of Malaysia's maritime space. Malaysia's maritime territory in the South China Sea is basically divided into two parts, separated in-between by Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Of Malaysia's two areas of the South China Sea, one borders the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and the other borders the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively referred to as East Malaysia) on the island of Borneo. It is the East Malaysian part of the South China Sea that is the most contentious area, particularly given the various overlapping claims over the Spratly Islands.

Malaysia's maritime territory in the South China Sea encompasses twelve features, be they islands, rocks, reefs, shoals and atolls in the Spratly Islands. Malaysia maintains a physical presence on five of the features. These are Pulau Layang-Layang (Swallow Reef), Terumbu Mantanani (Mariveles Reef), Terumbu Ubi (Ardasier Reef), Terumbu Siput (Erica Reef), and Terumbu Peninjau (Investigator Reef). Two other features, though lying within Malaysia's claims, are occupied by the Philippines and Vietnam, with the Philippines occupying Terumbu Laksamana (Commodore Reef) and the Vietnamese occupying Pulau Amboyna Kecil (Amboyna Cay). Malaysian special forces actually landed on Pulau Amboyna in 1978 and placed markers, but the Vietnamese who subsequently occupied the feature destroyed them. Malaysia then began a series of gradual claims of several positions in the area beginning in May 1983 when special forces personnel occupied Pulau Layang-Layang (Swallow Reef). The full details of the developments of these military outposts will be discussed later in the chapter.

The current official position of the Malaysian government towards its claims can be seen in the replies of the Malaysian government to Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz on issues regarding the Spratly Islands and the South China Sea. The two transcripts below dated 6 May 2010 and 28 July 2010 were originally provided in Bahasa Malaysia by the Senator's office to the media and obtained by the author. I have translated the transcript and edited out the routine salutation and greetings in the response to the Senator's question.