Pulau Merambong, formerly known as Pulo Ular, is an uninhabited island on the

Straits of Johor The Johor Strait (also known as the Tebrau Strait, Straits of Johor, Selat Johor, Selat Tebrau, and Tebrau Reach, also spelled Johore Strait) is an international strait in Southeast Asia, between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. Geography ...

. The island is dominated by

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withs ...

. It is located just off the coast from

Tuas Tuas ( ) is a planning area located within the West Region of Singapore. It is bounded by the Western Water Catchment to its north, Pioneer to its east and the Straits of Johor to its west. Tuas also shares a maritime boundary with the Weste ...

, Singapore. Administratively, it is placed under the

Johor Bahru District The Johor Bahru District is a Districts of Malaysia, district located in the southern part of Johor, Malaysia. It covers an area of 1,063.97km2 and has a population of 1.8 million, making it the second largest district in Malaysia by populatio ...

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Conservation

Pulau Merambong is located within the single largest seagrass bed in the country. The bed extends from the island right up to the estuary of

Pulai River The Pulai River () is a river in Johor, Malaysia. It runs from Mount Pulai in Kulai District until Tanjung Pelepas, draining into the Tebrau Straits. At its mouth lies the single largest seagrass bed in Malaysia, which extends all the way to ...

in Johor. Dugongs and seahorses, which feed on seagrass, make their home in the nearby coral reefs. Environmentalists are concerned that the development of

Port of Tanjung Pelepas The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP, UN/Locode: MYTPP) is a container port located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia, and is part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which holds a minority share in the joint venture. ...

is threatening the area and the livelihood of seahorses as well as dugongs and turtles. The island is planned to be gazette as a nature park with various environmental based NGOs funding it.

Sovereignty dispute

In the aftermath of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

(ICJ) ruling that saw Pedra Branca being awarded to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, concerns on Malaysian sovereignty over Pulau Merambong have been raised. Some proponents on the Malaysian side have cited the Straits Settlement and Johore Territorial Waters Agreement of 1927 between the British Empire and its Straits Settlements colony claiming that the boundaries between Singapore and Johor were settled. On the Singaporean side, not much thought has been given over Pulau Merambong as of yet.

Singaporean territorial waters incident

On 13 April 2007, two Interceptor Crafts of the Special Task Squadron of Singapore's

Police Coast Guard The Police Coast Guard (PCG) is a division of the Singapore Police Force that combines the functions of marine police and coast guard in Singapore. Its duties include the law enforcement and search and rescue operations in collaboration with the ...

(PCG) were on ambush duty off

in the vicinity of Tuas Jetty, when a speedboat with six illegal immigrants and cartons of cigarettes intruded into Singapore's territorial waters at about 9:30pm from the direction of Malaysia. The speedboat sped off when approached by the police, resulting in a five-minute chase which ended with a collision between one of the crafts and the speedboat near Pulau Merambong. PK 50 capsized, while the speedboat was completely wrecked. Two officers were rescued from the scene within minutes with minor injuries, while another two were found dead. Three passengers on the intruding vessels were also rescued, and a fourth man found dead. The rest of the passengers were still missing.

References

{{coord, 1, 19, N, 103, 37, E, display=title, region:MY_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki Malaysia–Singapore border Islands of Johor Pontian District Uninhabited islands of Malaysia

Conservation

Sovereignty dispute

Singaporean territorial waters incident

See also

References