The demarcated international border between Malaysia and Indonesia stops at the eastern edge of Sebatik Island, so that the ownership of Unarang Rock and the maritime area located to the east of Sebatik is unclear. This is one of the reasons why the Ambalat region waters and crude oil deposits east of Sebatik Island have been the centre of an active maritime dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia since March 2005. The ambiguity of the border at the eastern edge also caused a
dispute over two nearby islands of
Sipadan and
Ligitan, both south of 4° 10' N but administered by Malaysia. The territorial dispute was resolved by the
International Court of Justice in 2002 which awarded the islands to Malaysia. While there are border guards on the island, there is no immigration office, no customs house, no barbed-wire fence and no walls demarcating the border. Instead, the only evidence of a border are the concrete piles buried every kilometre from east to west. When the
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation happened between 1963 and 1966, the island was heavily contested between Indonesian troops, and Malaysian and her Commonwealth allies. Naval ships, such as
HMS Manxman, were sent to take part in the defence of Malaysian territories and waters. The North Borneo Timbers company operated a logging concession on the island until the 1980s and its mostly expatriate employees lived in a self-contained community in Wallace Bay. Sebatik Malaysia is within the administrative division of
Tawau. For electoral purposes, Sebatik falls within the parliamentary constituency of
Kalabakan and the state assembly district of Sebatik. Sitangkai Indonesia (at its closest points) is approximately to
Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines, the second-closest point between the two countries after the
Miangas island in
North Sulawesi. ==Economy==