Singapore 'pips' Malaysia in Pedra Branca claim

Sentiment in blogosphere towards the court tussle for Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Putih seems to have turned in favour of Singapore instead of Malaysia when the hearing ended yesterday, at least according to the online poll of Sophie's World.

Some 275 people have taken part in the poll so far. With just five days to go before the poll closes, votes for Singapore have outnumbered Malaysia 132 to 121. Another 22 voters picked the third option of joint ownership of the little island in the South China Sea.

As stated earlier, the sample size is just not big enough to make a conclusive statement. At best, it's just an indication of the mood of a group of people.

Sophie's World noted the swing of votes happened when the photograph saga happened last week. Votes for Malaysia were ahead of those for Singapore until the Singapore legal team questioned the veracity of the photograph evidence submitted by the Malaysian legal team.

Since then, some readers, including readers from Malaysia, have lambasted Malaysia for using the photograph, which exaggerated the closeness of the island to Malaysia. Many bloggers on both sides of the causeway also ridiculed Malaysia for using the photograph from an unverified and little-known blog although the photograph is not the crux of whole court battle. The photo is merely an image of the island, regardless of its distance to the Malaysian shores. The photograph should not be used as the basis of the court judgment, which will be made next year.

What's more important is the argument whether Malaysia or Singapore had effective ownership of the island. Was Singapore merely a lighthouse operator on an island owned by Malaysia? Did Singapore or Malaysia act in good faith in the whole issue? Or was either side being legalistic in the bid to win at any cost?

Sophie's World is still rooting for Malaysia despite the odds.