Borders of Malaysia

Malaysia shares international land and maritime borders with Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand and complete maritime borders with the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Land borders

Malaysia has a total land border length of 3,147.3km.

Brunei

Malaysia's border with Brunei is 481.3km in length. Except for its coastline with the South China Sea, Brunei is completely surrounded by Malaysia's state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Indonesia

Malaysia shares a land border with Indonesia on the island of Borneo where the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak lie to the north of the border while tne Indonesian provinces of East Kalimantan and West Kalimantan lie to the south. The length of the border is 2,019.5km.

Thailand

Malaysia's border with Thailand is located to the north of Peninsula Malaysia and runs between the Straits of Malacca on the west and the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea in the east. The Malaysian states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Perlis border the Thai provinces of Narathiwat, Satun, Songkhla and Yala. The border length is 646.5km.

Maritime borders

Brunei

Indonesia

Malaysia shares a long maritime border with Indonesia. The border is separated into four segments. The first segment is in the Straits of Malacca, the second is in the South China Sea off the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia, the third is also in the South China Sea but runs north of Tanjung Datu at the western-most point of Malaysia's Sarawak state on Malaysian Borneo, and the final segment is in the Celebes or Sulawesi Sea off the east coast of Borneo.

Both countries have agreed on their continental shelf boundaries in three of the four segments, namely that in the Straits of Malacca, in the South China Sea off the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia, and in the South China Sea off Tanjung Datu. The Celebes Sea segment has not been agreed on and is currently subject to dispute.

The two countries also have an agreement determine their common territorial sea boundary in the Straits of Malacca. There is however no agreement for the common territorial sea boundary in the South China Sea. Despite an overlap of each country's 12 nautical mile territorial sea claim in this waters.

Malaysia has delimited its continental shelf and territorial waters according to a map drawn in 1979 which fills in the "gaps" along the maritime boundary which are not covered by any agreement. Indonesia, and other neighbouring countries, however does not recognise those boundaries.

Philippines

ingapore

Malaysia shares a maritime border with Singapore. Most of the border lies in the Straits of Johor (Malay: "Selat Tebrau") but also extends into the Straits of Singapore both on the east and west of Singapore. The 23 May 2008 decision of the International Court of Justice in awarding Pedra Branca to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia also means that the maritime border between the two countries extends to the eastern entrance of the Straits of Singapore where it meets the South China Sea.

Only a 50 nautical mile stretch of the border in the Straits of Johor has been agreed upon by the two countries.

Although the two countries share a maritime border, they have land-transport connections via the Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link.

Thailand

Disputes

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