Borders of Malaysia

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. It has land and water borders with its neighbors.

On land, Malaysia shares borders with Brunei, Indonesia, and Thailand. Along the coast, Malaysia has maritime borders with the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

These borders are important. They help define where Malaysia ends and its neighboring countries begin. Learning about these borders helps us understand the relationships and geography of Southeast Asia.

Land borders

Malaysia has land borders with three countries. The border with Brunei is 481.3 km long. Brunei is almost surrounded by Malaysia's state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Malaysia also shares a land border with Indonesia on Borneo. This border is 2,019.5 km long. It runs between Malaysia's states of Sabah and Sarawak and Indonesia's areas of North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan.

The border with Thailand is in northern Peninsula Malaysia. It stretches for 646.5 km between the Straits of Malacca and the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea. It touches several Malaysian states like Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, and Perlis, and Thai provinces like Narathiwat, Satun, Songkhla, and Yala.

Maritime borders

Malaysia shares water borders with Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some of these borders were set by agreements between the countries.

Malaysia showed its own ideas for these water borders on a map made in 1979. Not all of its neighbors agree with this map, and some borders are still being discussed. Malaysia has made special plans with Thailand and Vietnam for areas where borders are not clear. It also made an agreement with Brunei in 2009 to settle questions about their shared waters. The borders between Malaysia and Brunei follow old rules set before Malaysia was independent.

Point	Latitude (N)	Longitude (E)	Remarks
Border with Thailand according to 1909 Anglo-Siamese agreement
A			From Point A, which is "the most seaward point of the northern bank of the estuary of the Perlis River", along "mid-channel between Terutau and Langkawi", to point B
Border with Thailand according to 1979 territorial sea agreement
B	6 28'.5	99 39'.2
C	6 30'.2	99 33'.4
D	6 28'.9	99 30'.7
"Outer limit" border with Thailand according to 1979 agreement
1	6 18'.4	99 27'.5
2	6 16'.3	99 19'.3
3	6 18'.0	99 6'.7
4	5 57'.0	98 1'.5	Common Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand tripoint established under 1978 agreement
Border with Indonesia according to 1969 continental shelf agreement
5	5 27'.0	98 17'.5	Northern terminus of continental shelf boundary
6	4 55'.7	98 41'.5
7	3 59'.6	99 43'.6
8	3 47'.4	99 55'.0
9	2 51'.6	101 0'.2	Northern terminus of territorial sea boundary according to 1970 territorial sea agreement
10	2 41'.5	101 12'.1
11	2 15'.4	101 46'.5
12	1 55'.2	102 13'.4
13	1 41'.2	102 35'.0
14	1 19'.5	103 3'.9
15	1 15'.0	103 22'.8	Southern terminus of continental shelf and territorial sea boundary
Continental shelf border according to 1979 map, subject to negotiations with Indonesia and Singapore
16	1 13'.45	103 26'.8
17	1 1'.45	103 32'.5
18	1 11'.0	103 34'.2
19	1 15'.15	103 34'.95
20	1 16'.37	103 37'.38
21	1 15'.85	103 24'.1	This turning point is located near the western end of the boundary determined by the 1995 Malaysia-Singapore border agreement
Boundary between 21 and 22 determined by the 1995 Malaysia-Singapore border agreement
Continental shelf border according to 1979 map, subject to negotiations with Indonesia and Singapore
22	1 17'.63	104 7'.5	This turning point is located near the eastern end of the boundary determined by the 1995 Malaysia-Singapore border agreement
23	104 2'.5	1 17'.42
24	1 17'.3	104 4'.6
25	1 16'.2	104 7'.1
26	1 15'.65	104 7'.42
27	1 13'.65	104 12'.67
28	1 16'.2	104 16'.15
29	1 16'.5	104 19'.8
30	1 15'.55	104 29'.45
31	1 16'.95	104 29'.33
Border with Indonesia according to 1969 continental shelf agreement
32	1 23'.9	104 29'.5	This point is the southern terminus of continental shelf boundary
33	1 38'.0	104 53'.0
34	1 54'.4	105 5'.2
35	2 22'.5	105 1'.2
36	2 55'.2	104 51'.5
37	3 50'.1	104 46'.5
38	4 3'.0	104 51'.9
39	5 4'.7	105 28'.8
40	5 40'.6	105 47'.1
41	6 5'.8	105 49'.2	Northern terminus of continental shelf border with Indonesia
Continental shelf border according to 1979 map, subject to dispute with Vietnam and Thailand
42	6 48'.25	104 30'.0
43	7 49'.0	103 2'.5
44	7 10'.25	102 29'.0
Border with Thailand according to 1979 memorandum of understanding
45	6 50'.0	102 21'.2	Northern terminus of the continental shelf boundary with Thailand according to 1979 memorandum of understanding
46	6 27'.8	102 9'.6
Border with Thailand according to 1979 territorial sea agreement
47	6 27'.5	102 10'.0	Northern terminus of territorial sea boundary, southern terminus of agreed continental shelf border
D	6 14'.5	102 5'.6	Terminus of territorial sea boundary at estuary of Golok River

Point	Latitude (N)	Longitude (E)	Remarks
Boundary with Indonesia according to 1969 continental shelf agreement
48	2° 5'	109° 38'.8	Southern terminus of continental shelf boundary, eastern terminus of land boundary with Indonesia
49	3° 0'	109° 54'.5
50	4° 40'.0	110° 2'.0
51	5° 31'.2	109° 59'.0
52	6° 18'.2	109° 38'.6	Northern terminus of continental shelf boundary
Continental shelf according to 1979 map, subject to dispute with China, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam.
53	7° 07'.75	111° 34'
54	8° 23'.75	112° 30'.75
55	8° 44'.42	113° 16'.25
56	8° 33'.92	113° 39'
57	8° 24'.42	113° 47'.75
58	8° 24'.43	113° 52'.42
59	8° 23'.75	114° 19'.83
60	8° 30'.25	114° 29'.17
61	8° 28'.17	114° 50'.12
62	8° 55'	115° 10'.58
63	8° 49'.08	115° 38'.75
64	8° 19'.92	115° 54'.08
65	8° 01'.5	116° 03'.5
Boundary with the Philippines according to 1898 treaty and 1930 treaty
66	7° 40'	116° 00'	Western terminus of the treaty defined boundary
67	7° 40'	117° 0'	The western terminus of the Malaysia-Philippines border as per 1930 treaty
68	7° 24'.75	117° 25'.5
69	6° 52'	117° 58'
70	6° 17'	117° 58'
71	6° 0'	118° 20'
72	6° 0'	118° 50'
73	5° 16'	119° 35'
74	4° 42'	119° 0'
75	4° 23'	119° 0'
76	4° 23'	120° 0'	Malaysia's 1979 map regards this as the Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines tri-point and the eastern terminus of the Malaysia-Philippines border; the 1898 treaty however gives 4 45'N 120 0'E as the eastern terminus which is now located on the Indonesia-Philippines border
Continental shelf claim according to the 1979 map, subject to dispute by Indonesia.
77	3° 02'.75	120° 15'.75
78	3° 01'.5	119° 53'
79	3° 06'	118° 57'.5
80	3° 08'.67	118° 46'.17
81	3° 39'	118° 22'
82	4° 03'.65	118° 01'.1
83	4° 08'	117° 56'.95
84	4° 10'	117° 53'.97	This point is on the eastern terminus of the land boundary (but it is only left for 1/2 a day)

Disputes

Malaysia and Singapore do not fully agree on their shared borders. This has caused some overlapping claims. Singapore believes its sea border should be three nautical miles from its shore, but Malaysia thinks it should be twelve nautical miles away.

In 2008, Pedra Branca was given to Singapore. This means the sea border between Malaysia and Singapore near the island still needs to be settled. There is also a disagreement about Singapore's building work that Malaysia says went into its waters near the Straits of Johor.

Borders of Malaysia