The border between Brunei and Malaysia consist of a 481.3 km land border and substantial lengths of maritime borders stretching from the coastline of the two countries to the edge of the continental shelf in the South China Sea.
Except for its South China Sea coastline, Brunei is entirely surrounded by Malaysia's Sarawak state and the country only shares a land boundary with Malaysia. Brunei's unique shape where its territory consists of two non-contiguous portions results in its border with Malaysia being broken into two segments.
Brunei's 200 nautical mile continental shelfclaim makes it a claimant of a portion of the South China Sea that is subject to multiple overlapping claims by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Malaysia is also a claimant in the area but a bilateral agreement with Brunei has solved the overlapping claims over Brunei's territorial waters.
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From west to east, the Brunei–Malaysia border begins where the watershed of the Baram and Belait river basins meet the South China Sea at a point six nautical miles (11 km) east of Tanjung Baram with coordinates . It then travels along the watershed of the two river basins for about 30 km to the Pagalayan Canal. It then goes a further 44 km to the Teraja Hills. From there, the border runs along the watershed between the Belait and Tutong rivers on one hand, and the Baram and Limbang rivers on the other hand. It then proceeds along the watershed of the Brunei and Limbang river basins till it reaches Brunei Bay.
The land border between Malaysia and Brunei's Temburong District (which is separated from the other part of Brunei) starts at the estuary of the Pandaruan River and runs the entire length of the river to its source. It then runs along the watershed between the Temburong River on one hand, and the Limbang and then the Trusan rivers on the other until it reaches Brunei Bay.
Of the total length of the land border of 481.3 km, 207.3 km have been defined through five agreements between Brunei and Sarawak. The remainder of the boundary has yet to be defined.
The portions of the border which are defined are:
Brunei and Malaysia in an Exchange of Letters on 16 March 2009, agreed to affirm the five agreements. The two countries also agreed to use the watershed principle to determine the remaining undelimited portions of the border.[6][7]
Brunei's maritime boundary with Malaysia was inherited from the Sarawak (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council in 1958 and the North Borneo (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council 1958, both of which defined the boundary between Brunei on the one hand, and Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia, on the other. All three territories were then ruled by Britain. The powers for the order in council were derived from the British Colonial Boundaries Act of 1895.
The border can be divided into three sectors:
Brunei claims a continental shelf/exclusive economic zone stretching 200 nautical miles from its coast. The boundaries of this zone are effectively the straight line extensions from the terminus of the borders defined by the North Borneo (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council, 1958 and The Sarawak (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council, 1958. It asserts that its eastern boundary extends from the 100 fathom isobath at to while the western boundary extends from the 100 fathom isobath at to . The EEZ outer limit runs between the two distant points parallel to the coast.[11]
Brunei's EEZ claim would include waters surrounding the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The area claimed by Brunei however does not include any islands but includes Louisa Reef, which is currently occupied by Malaysia.
Until 2009, Malaysia did not recognise Brunei's EEZ claim and stated that Brunei's maritime territories ended at the 100 fathom isobath. In its 1979 territorial waters and continental shelf map, Malaysia claimed the area to be part of its continental shelf and depicted the Brunei-Malaysian border as running up to the 100 fathom isobath. Brunei did not recognise these assertions made by Malaysia.
The Exchange of Letters signed on 16 March 2009 by the two countries provided for Malaysia's recognition of Brunei's territorial waters which it had earlier disputed. A joint committee is to determine the final maritime border between the two countries.[6]
See below for more on the dispute between the two countries.
Brunei and Malaysia have had long standing disputes over land and maritime territories. However, due to the cultural ties between the two countries, the disputes have always been low-key and deemed too sensitive to be discussed openly.
The main land dispute was over the district of Limbang which has been controlled by Sarawak since 1890, while the dispute over maritime territory involved virtually the entire deep sea section of the South China Sea claimed by Brunei which Malaysia asserted as its continental shelf in its 1979 map.
The various disputes were deemed settled by both governments with the signing of the Exchange of Letters on 16 March 2009 in Bandar Seri Begawan by the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The dispute over Limbang district arose from the annexation of the district by Sarawak's Rajah Charles Brooke in 1890. The "involuntary cession" resulted in Brunei being split into two - the main part with three districts (Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Kuala Belait) to the west of Limbang, and the Temburong district to the east of Limbang.
The de facto boundary ran along the watershed between the Brunei River and Limbang River basins on the western side of the district, and along the length of the Pandaruan River on the eastern side. Boundary agreements have delineated a stretch of the western border [1] and the Pandaruan River[5] while the other stretches have yet to be delineated.
With the Exchange of Letters on 16 March 2009, the territorial dispute involving Limbang was deemed solved in Malaysia's favour. See below.
Brunei has claimed a continental shelf/exclusive economic zone stretching 200 nautical miles from its coast, which extends Brunei territorial waters deep into the middle of the South China Sea.
Until 2009, Malaysia did not recognise Brunei's EEZ claim and states that Brunei's maritime territories ended at the 100 fathom isobath as provided in the North Borneo (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council 1958 and Sarawak (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council 1958. In 1979, Malaysia published a territorial waters and continental shelf map showing the area claimed by Brunei as its continental shelf/EEZ as belonging to Malaysia. The map also depicts the Brunei-Malaysian border as only running up to the 100 fathom isobath.
Brunei does not recognise the assertions made by Malaysia.
In 2000, Brunei had earlier awarded a concession for a petroleum block called Block J to Shell, Mitsubishi and ConocoPhillips and Block K to France's Total, BHP Billiton and Hess Corp. Subsequently in 2003, Malaysia's national petroleum company Petronas awarded concessions to its subsidiary Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and US-based Murphy Sabah Oil Co. Ltd for two areas, which Malaysia calls Block L and Block M, which lie exactly within the area claimed by Brunei as part of its continental shelf/EEZ.[12]
Later in March 2003, a Bruneian gunboat was sent to drive away a Murphy drilling ship in the area. The following month, the Malaysian navy sent several gunboats into the disputed area to block the arrival of a Total ship. After a tense stand-off involving a single patrol craft from Brunei, Total backed off and both sides stopped work in the disputed areas.
On 16 March 2009, the two countries signed the Exchange of Letters to end all territorial disputes between Brunei and Malaysia.
The Exchange of Letters provided for the final settlement of maritime boundaries between the two country, the establishment of a joint petroleum revenue area, the agreement to the modalities for demarcating the common border between the two countries, and the recognition of "unsuspendable rights" of movement of Malaysian vessels over Bruneian waters.[6][7] Although the claim over Limbang was not specifically mentioned, the settlement of border demarcation essentially ends Brunei's claim over the territory.[13]
The two countries agreed to settle their boundary issues and demarcate their common border according to the five historical agreements, of which the two directly concern Limbang, namely the 1920 agreement establishing the Pandaruan River as the Brunei-Sarawak border to the east of Limbang, and the 1933 agreement establishing the Brunei-Sarawak border to the west of Limbang. The two countries also agreed to use the watershed principle to fill in the gaps. This essentially reaffirms the current de facto boundary without major deviation.
This led Malaysia to declare that the Limbang Question has been settled with Malaysia having unequivocal ownership over Limbang.[6] Brunei however immediately denied Malaysian press reports, saying the Limbang Question was never discussed during negotiations for the Exchange of Letters.[14][15] Malaysia subsequently said the Limbang Question will be settled once the survey and demarcation of the boundary between the two countries is completed.[13]
The Exchange of Letters of 2009 provided for the complete settlement of the dispute over the maritime territory claimed by both countries. The agreement also provided for the final delimitation of the maritime boundaries between the two countries as well as for an area of joint development area.[6]
Details of the effects of the 2009 Exchange of Letters were not revealed immediately after the signing on 16 March 2009. However, a Brunei news report on 23 April 2010, more than a year after the signing, quoting the Sultanate's Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Lim Jock Seng, said Brunei had "retained ownership" of the two petroleum blocks which Malaysia had previously claimed. Lim was also quoted as saying that the matter was "sorted out during last year's agreement".[16] However, as the question to Lim was only on the petroleum blocks, no mention was made pertaining to the disputed territory outside the two petroleum blocks although going by the location of the two blocks which are situation in the middle of the disputed territory, it could be possible to infer that the sovereignty of the entire disputed waters was also solved in Brunei's favour.
Further details on the 2009 Exchange of Letters were revealed on 30 April 2010. Following a spat which was played out in the media between former Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was a signatory of the 2009 Exchange of Letters, and his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah revealed that the 2009 Exchange of Letters settled the issue of sovereignty of the area in dispute whereby "sovereign rights of the resources" in the disputed area "belonged to Brunei". This effectively stated that Malaysia had agreed to drop its claim over the disputed maritime territory. At the same time, Abdullah said the agreement ensured Malaysia's participation in any commercialisation of oil and gas from the area, thereby guaranteeing Malaysia's share in the resources of the area.
The spat began when Mahathir accused Abdullah of "signing away" Malaysia's rights over hydrocarbon resources in the area, specifically in Blocks L and M, in exchange for Brunei giving its claim over Limbang. His comments followed the announcement by Murphy Oil Corp which said that its production sharing contract with Petronas for two petroleum blocks which were situated within Brunei's EEZ claim, had been terminated because they were "no longer a part of Malaysia".[17][18][19]
In response, Petronas issued a statement on 1 May 2010 confirming that it had terminated its production sharing contracts with its subsidiary Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Murphy Sabah Oil Co Ltd as the two production blocks were no longer Malaysian territory. It added that the settlement of the territorial dispute through the signing of the 2009 Exchange of Letters has allowed it to enter into new production sharing contracts for the two blocks.[20]
This was followed by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry on 3 May 2010 confirming Malaysia's recognition of the sovereignty of two petroleum blocks as belonging to Brunei. It stated that the decision to recognise this which was given effect through the 2009 Exchange of Letters was based on the provisions of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.[21]
Prior to this, the effects of the 2009 Exchange of Letters were not clear as nothing beyond the general principles of the agreement were revealed immediately after the signing.
Malaysia's submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf for the extended continental shelf in the South China Sea, which was lodged on 6 May 2009, continued to not recognise Brunei's continental shelf, EEZ and extended continental shelf claims.[22] Coordinates and maps delineating Malaysia's 200 nautical mile limit off the coast of its Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak form a continuous line from its intersecting point with the 200 nautical mile limit for the Philippines in the north, and the Indonesia-Malaysia maritime border in the south, despite Brunei forming an enclave in northern Sarawak which should have resulted in a break in Malaysia's 200 nautical mile line.
Malaysia's submission was jointly made with Vietnam where both countries claimed a "defined area" over which both countries currently have overlapping claims. Brunei should also have a competing claim over a portion of the "defined area". However, unlike China and the Philippines which objected to the Malaysia-Vietnam joint submission, there is no record of Brunei registering any similar objection.
Brunei has not submitted its extended continental shelf claim to Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. However, in its preliminary submission[23] which it lodged with the Commission on 12 May 2009, it gave notice of its intention to claim a continental shelf beyond its 200 nautical mile limit. It defined its current "territorial sea and continental shelf" boundary with Malaysia in accordance with the North Borneo (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council 1958 and Sarawak (Definition of Boundaries) Order in Council 1958 up to the 100 fathom isobath, and its "territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf" boundary with Malaysia up to the 200 nautical mile limit in accordance with the 16 May 2009 Exchange of Letters between the two countries. No details of the boundaries were however given. Brunei said its full submission which should bear the necessary details, will be lodged at a later date.
The Exchange of Letters in 2009 also establishes a joint commercial arrangement area for the two countries to share the proceeds from the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the disputed area. However, details as to the percentage split between the two countries and the full extent of the joint commercial arrangement area was not revealed.
On 1 May 2010, Petronas issued a statement which said it had been invited by Brunei to participate in the development of Blocks L and M, which have since been redesignated Blocks CA1 and CA2. It said it has set up a team to begin negotiations with Brunei to work out the terms of the commercial agreement.[20]
In its statement on 3 May 2010, Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said the 2009 Exchange of Letters provided for the establishment of a joint commercial arrangement area "incorporating these blocks", namely the newly renamed Blocks CA1 and CA2. The statement seems to suggest that the joint commercial arrangement area could extend beyond just the two blocks which came under scrutiny in 2010.[24]
The following are major border crossings into Sarawak, Malaysia, with the Malaysian border town/checkpoint in brackets: