Apparently, Malaysia had to resort to obtain a photograph from a blog to present their case in court over the ownership of Pedra Branca. However, the blog looked somewhat like a fly-by-night blog create specially for the International Court case that seems to aid Malaysia in their fight for the island. You really have to see it to know what I mean.

I was somewhat wondering – how can Malaysia – such a big country with so much resources (including good photographers), rely on a photograph from a blog to present their case to the courts? So I visited the site, and the first post (earliest) where there was was just a picture of Pedra Branca, highlighted the proximity of the island to Malaysia (first picture). Another picture that had the same landmark in the photo had an opposite effect (second picture).

Here are the photos for your comments:

pedra1

pedra2

The first one was the evidence submitted by the Malaysian side, with a photo supposedly obtained from http://www.leuchtturm3.blogspot.com/. The first and last post of the blog showed pictures of Pedra Branca with its Malaysian name.

The second picture was the photo submitted by the Singapore side, that showed a diminished island in the background.

In view of such discrepancies, Simply Jean decided to do some investigative work. So, she searched the Internet for sentences located in the middle of a paragraph for plagarism. Heh heh… people who plagarise usually change the fronts and ends of a paragraph of *insignificant* portions – and this is where the evidence lies!!!

This was what I found from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse):

evidence1a

evidence1b

This is what’s from the blog :

evidence2a

There’s nothing wrong with copying from Wikipedia, but when you decide to copy from Wikipedia, and don’t credit it, and changed the wordings, then that’s… not very right.

Can you sport the differences between the highlight paragraphs?

Answer: the author of the blog changed the name of Cape May Lighthouse to Pulau Batu Puteh Lighthouse. Actually, if you click on the link at Pulau Batu Puteh Lightouse, it goes to Cape May Lighthouse at Wikipedia. That’s where the cat is out of the bag.

Well, I actually have not much interest in this court case, but, when they decided to bring the blogosphere into the news, then I felt that I had to do some justification for the community.

To the author (and all other implied parties), you suck.

IN THE HAGUE – AT A glance, the two pictures look alike. Both have Horsburgh Lighthouse and Pedra Branca in the foreground.

But look again – at the background which shows the Johor mainland, with Point Romania and a hill named Mount Berbukit. In one picture the hill is highly visible; in the other, it is hardly visible.

Therein lies the photographic illusion that Malaysia had created to exaggerate the closeness of Pedra Branca to Johor, Singapore said yesterday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

The first photograph, which Malaysia had shown the court last week, was taken by a camera using a telephoto lens.

The second photograph was taken by Singapore, using a camera lens that approximates what the human eye sees. As a result, the Malaysian photograph exaggerated the height of Mount Berbukit by about seven times, Singapore’s Attorney-General Chao Hick Tin said when he presented the two photos before the court.

He described it as ‘an attempt to convey a subliminal message of proximity between Pedra Branca and the coast of Johor’.But it was not an accurate reflection of what visitors to Pedra Branca would see if they were looking towardsthe Johor mainland, he said.

Mr Chao was speaking before the ICJ as the hearing over the Pedra Branca dispute enters the third week. Yesterday was the first day of Singapore’s rebuttals against Malaysia’s oral arguments made last week.

Both countries are appearing at the ICJ to resolve their dispute over the sovereignty of the island 40km east of Singapore and which stands at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.

Last week, Malaysia had also claimed the photo in question was taken from an online blog or weblog. The implication was the photo came from an independent source.

But yesterday, Mr Chao raised questions about the blog.

‘This blog site is a most unusual one. It was created only last month. There is no information on the identity of the blogger and the photograph used by Malaysia was only put on the website on Nov 2 2007, four days before the start of these oral proceedings,’ he said.

Mr Chao also sought to debunk Malaysia’s claim that Pedra Branca was near Point Romania in Johor. The phrase ‘near Point Romania’ was used in an 1844 letter from the Temenggong of Johor to Governor Butterworth in Singapore.

In that letter, the Temenggong gave permission for the British to build a lighthouse on any island near Point Romania.

Malaysia claimed the phrase included Pedra Branca, and that the letter showed Britain acknowledged Johor’s sovereignty over the island.

Mr Chao said the letter did not refer to Pedra Branca but to Peak Rock which, in 1844, was where the British planned to build a lighthouse.

He pointed out the distance between Pedra Branca and Point Romania was six times that between the latter and Peak Rock.

In an 1846 letter, Governor Butterworth explained his original preference for Peak Rock as the site of a lighthouse because Pedra Branca was ‘at so great a distance from the main land’.

Singapore’s rebuttals yesterday were launched by Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar. He highlighted five ‘baseless allegations and insinuations’ that Malaysia had lobbed against Singapore and rebutted each in turn.

Among them was Malaysia’s charge that Singapore wished to ’subvert’ long-established arrangements in the Singapore Strait.

On the contrary, he said, it was Kuala Lumpur that tried to alter the status quo through the publication of a map in 1979 that altered its maritime boundaries with seven of its neighbours.

That was also the map that sparked the current dispute.

Prof Jayakumar said he was disappointed that Malaysia had resorted to such allegations in its bid to win the case. ‘We should seek to win by stating objective facts and submitting persuasive legal arguments, and not by resorting to unfounded political statements and making insinuations damaging to the integrity of the opposite party,’ he said.

lydia@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 20th November 2007



Reader's Comments

  1. nick | November 24th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    seethelight, you must be in the tunnel all this while. I think you still have a long way to go before you see the real light.

    Singapore is not “given” independence by Malaysia; Singapore gained independence by kicking Malaysia out because of Malaysia’s racist policies.

    ngyt, it definitely makes more sense that the letter (if it really exist) to be in Johor’s possession. Accusing Singapore for hidding the letter makes no sense. But making sense is not what the Malaysian team is good at. They are better off making accusation.

  2. Scott | November 25th, 2007 at 2:34 am

    Will they perpetrator of the fake blog and fauxtography – and his slavemasters – be detained pending investigation? ABDULLAH BADAWI himself said that this is what should be done!

    http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/pm-those-who-spread-untruths-on-the-net-will-be-detained/

  3. malaysia want to cheat ICJ | November 25th, 2007 at 9:38 am

    malaysia team not only use a misleading photo… they even openly doctored boundary maps to suit their allegations… check the picture below.

    http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e352/shadow200671/vlcsnap-284378.jpg

  4. The Necessary Philosopher » Blog Archive » Lighthouse Hustle | November 26th, 2007 at 1:39 am

    [...] Unfortunately, it turns out that their source used material plagiarised from Wikipedia for one of the blog entries, and the blog was suspiciously created very recently and has only got a few posts. This was uncovered by blogger Simply Jean. [...]

  5. Eloi | November 26th, 2007 at 3:13 am

    After all is said and done. As
    one minister commented on the
    successful holiday trip of our
    angkasawan, “Kami bersyukur,
    angkasawan yang telah MENINGGAL
    DUNIA sudah selamat di KEBUMI”.
    We the citizens of both countries
    will forever be friends and leave
    the politicians to hammer each
    other senseless. Peace and out!

  6. Max | November 26th, 2007 at 11:48 am

    The dude had removed ALL the comments…

    http://www.leuchtturm3.blogspot.com/

  7. Mikey | November 29th, 2007 at 3:22 am

    Yeah, this is a very very cool blog. ;-)
    I just added you to my favorites.

    Thanx,
    Mikey

  8. Two Countries and a Blog « Used Brains For Sale | November 29th, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    [...] 29, 2007 by pleinelune I was looking up the Pedra Banca for International Law, and I came across this and this. I think it has already made its rounds in the bloggosphere, but I must have missed it. I [...]

  9. Hanim | December 15th, 2007 at 11:44 am

    Deat jean, i really enjoyed ur blog! well done. i know im a bit late abt this. im doing a research on my project abt pedra branca. so any more info abt plse, plse put it up. i really enjoyed tis site. the people as also sarcastically funny n there r the serious one. good. it shows the equality of speaking up for each country. well done. pardon for my “ketinggalan zaman” :) peace.

  10. Hanim | December 15th, 2007 at 11:47 am

    oh btw, am supposed to do “cross media” abt this issue. any ideas anyone where i can get my sources? i want to see more of u people’s comments. its fun n mind-opening.

  11. Idetrorce | December 15th, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
    Idetrorce

  12. Disputes over a rock » Musings | May 9th, 2008 at 9:56 am

    [...] bloggers have been having a field day. The plagiarism was originally discovered by one blogger here; and Jeff Ooi – a well-regarded Malaysian blogger – entry is probably the best read of the lot at [...]

  13. Batu Puteh: Tomorrow We’ll See « Euphoria in Misery | May 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    [...] that was tendered as pictorial evidence to support the Malaysian claim, was found out by blogger Simply Jean. What ensued was a storm in the blogoshere [...]

  14. Simply Jean » Blog Archive » Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) verdict out today at 4:00pm (GMT + 8:00 hours) | May 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 am

    [...] verdict on the Pedra Branca case (yes, the one where I wrote about the other side using a fake blog). Of course, the blog has since became a "private blog" which was still [...]

  15. Johnny | May 23rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm

    Finally the dispute is over.

    The news has just release:

    Sovereignty of Pedra Branca island to Singapore.
    Sovereignty of Middle Rocks and South Ledge to Malaysia.

  16. Pulau Batu Puteh goes to Singapore | Malaysia Social Politics | YeinJee | May 23rd, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    [...] I think our legal team should be blamed for the lost with the infamous fake photo incident still ringing in my mind. Although the picture might not be carrying much weight in the case, as [...]

  17. nal | May 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    I can’t imagine an island with a ‘foreign’ name got stuck somewhere in the middle of the malay’s archipelago region. It just doesn’t add up……….Who is this smark aleck, who changed the name ?

    I think Pulau Batu Putih sounds more realistic.

  18. anon | May 26th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    nal,

    shattap, Pulau Batu Putih no longer exist, it’s Pedra Branca now!

    MUahahahahaaaah!!!!1

  19. Simply Jean » Blog Archive » Should I delete this potentially seditious comment? | May 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    [...] blog and alarm bells started ringing immediately. The blog post in question was the one about the seemingly fake evidence on Pedra Branca. Now, "nal" wrote that: I can’t imagine an island with a ‘foreign’ name [...]

  20. ccdev | May 27th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    Ha Ha! I guess it’s difficult
    to win case when you can’t
    buy the judges, right DR M?
    AG Abdul Gani should stick to
    doing what he does best – sticking
    opposition members in jail
    and sedition act on bloggers.

  21. An island for Singapore, rocks for Malaysia – Amazing! « StockTube’s Weblog | June 13th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    [...] Gani Patail and his son Federal Counsel Faezul Adzra Gani Patail had to resort to using a blog’s unverified photo of Pedra Branca (Right) to present their case to the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The blog was said [...]

  22. Simply Jean » Blog Archive » Would you vote Simply Jean for the Most Insightful Blog award? | July 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    [...] not sure what I can give you guys, but I’d do more insightful stuffs =P and uncovering more Pedra Branca bluffs. =) Leave a comment Comment RSS Previous: Grab your (almost) free [...]

  23. BloggerDude | October 9th, 2009 at 8:28 am

    I don’t know If I said it already but …Great site…keep up the good work. :) I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, :)

    A definite great read….

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