evidence: Both Malaysia and Singapore claimed Pedra Branca as their own. The dispute started arose in 1979 when Malaysia published a map claiming the island as hers. [...] Singapore, on the other hand, claimed that Pedra Branca was no man's land when the British took over it. The British, and subsequently Singapore, maintained a continuous and effective display of state authority over the island from the 1850s - such as building piers, military assets, investigating shipwrecks within Pedra Branca’s territorial waters and granting/not granting permission to Malaysian officials to survey the waters surrounding the island. Singapore also produced a 1953 letter from a top Malaysian civil servant indicating that "Johore does not claim ownership of Pedra Branca". The matter was finally brought up to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2003. In 2008, the ICJ rule that Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore. Case closed.