Since the dispute with Indonesia in 1969, the Malaysian and the diving community in Sabah have taken good care of the atoll. It was declared a marine park and one can safely say that our marine police have monitored the island and preserve it to be so. If indeed there are any complaints, it is the growing number of resorts, with which the small atoll is hardly able to cope.

There were complaints that if there are no checks in the indiscriminate building of resorts on the island, the fragile ecosystem in Sipadan will be destroyed. The Sabah state government has taken positive measures to control this and also lay down the method of disposing sewage. This is good for Sipadan.

I shudder to think what will happen if the Indonesians gain control over the island. They have no inkling of conservation and their marine police are known to be equally delinquent as the fishermen in their method of having fresh catch. The Indonesians are known to favour the deadly way of fish bombing. Bombing indiscriminately destroys everything within its path. The tiny coral fishes and shrimps which have no commercial value will be taken together with the other fishes. The ecological carnage and destruction of coral reefs will be devastating and indeed it will be a sad day for conservation.

For the sake of the circling barracudas, the friendly leatherbacks and hawksbill turtles, the great gorgonian (fan) corals; the bump head fishes, the clowning trigger fishes and even the docile black tip sharks community, let us hope that their future will be in Malaysian hands.

Let us keep our fingers cross and hope that the decision by the International Court of Justice favours Malaysia for the sake of the beautiful marine life there.