THE ANATOMY OF RESEARCH IN THE MALAYSIAN PLEADINGS

As part of the presentation of the Malaysian memorials in the Pulau Batu Puteh case a total of 194 documents were submitted in the form of annexes for the consideration of the judges. The table below provides an analysis of the contributions of different research teams to the identification, acquisition, collation and analysis of these primary data. There is a stark difference between the work of my two teams - at the University of Malaya and the Attorney General's Chambers - and that of Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and others. In a broad sense, my teams were deeply immersed in sifting through the huge range of sources available in many different archives and libraries around the world. By contrast, the 1945-80 period was handled largely by Wisma Putra and its team and dealt almost exclusively with a narrow range of affadavits. The lack of substance in the quality and quantity of research for this contemporary period left Malaysia's case extremely vulnerable.

(Click on the table to enlarge)