Malaysia, RI to step up oil and gas cooperation<\/p>\n
LANGKAWI, Malaysia (JP): Malaysia and Indonesia pledged on
\nTuesday to extend cooperation in oil and gas exploration and
\nproduction following a historic agreement between the two
\nneighboring oil producers earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said after talks
\nwith visiting President Abdurrahman Wahid that the cooperation
\nwould include refining their crude oil.<\/p>\n
\"We agreed to continue with our cooperation in the field of
\noil and gas exploration and production and also in the refining
\nof oil in our two countries,\" he told a joint media conference in
\nthe northern Malaysian island of Langkawi.<\/p>\n
Malaysian state oil company Petronas and its Indonesian
\ncounterpart Pertamina earlier this month concluded their first
\ndeals on oil refining and gas sales.<\/p>\n
Under one deal, Petronas will process 20,000 barrels per day
\nof sour crude for Pertamina. Petronas will also buy natural gas
\nfor 20 years from Indonesia's West Natuna Sea area from
\nPertamina.<\/p>\n
Also in the conference, Abdurrahman said Jakarta would
\nrepatriate in the near future more than 6,000 Indonesians who
\nhave entered Malaysia illegally to work.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman said that these illegal workers would be
\nrepatriated to their ports of embarkation in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"Before leaving for Langkawi, I was told by Minister of Home
\nAffairs Surjadi Soedirdja that there has been an agreement
\n(between Indonesia and Malaysia) to send these people back to
\nIndonesia and both countries have agreed to shoulder the
\nfinancial burden together,\" Abdurrahman said.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman's statement came as Mahathir admitted earlier that
\nillegal Indonesian workers were high on the agenda of the one-day
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
Mahathir said Malaysia would eventually have to send the
\nIndonesian illegal workers back to their country.<\/p>\n
\"We have jobs for them but so often they come here without any
\nidea whether they can get employment here or not and obviously
\nunemployed people will create problems because somebody will have
\nto feed them, somebody will have to house them and that is a cost
\nto us,\" Mahathir said.<\/p>\n
\"So do not come here and unemployed people who have came here
\nillegally will have to be sent back to their country,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Minister of Manpower Al Hilal Hamdi, who was also
\npresent on Tuesday, later told reporters that there were some
\n6,084 Indonesian illegal workers who would soon be repatriated.<\/p>\n
\"Most of them are men and the rest are women and some 38
\nchildren and they will be sent back in phases,\" Al Hilal said.<\/p>\n
When asked when the repatriation process would begin, Al Hilal
\nsaid: \"It will begin soon\".<\/p>\n
He added that these illegal workers were scattered in nine
\ndetention centers throughout Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\"For those who want to return to Dumai or Sumatra they will be
\ncovered by the Malaysian government while those who want to
\nreturn to Java will be covered by both governments,\" Al Hilal
\nsaid adding that Indonesian navy ships would likely be deployed
\nduring the process.<\/p>\n
At the end of the talks between Mahathir and Abdurrahman,
\nIndonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab and his
\nMalaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Syed Albar released a joint
\nstatement calling on the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)
\nto meet in Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian issue following
\nthe latest surge of violence in the territory. (byg)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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