Ambalat talks held out of public view
Ambalat talks held out of public view
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Indonesia and Malaysia began negotiations on Tuesday behind
closed doors in Bali to seek a peaceful solution to the Ambalat
border dispute.
Technical teams from Indonesia and Malaysia were observed in
the vicinity of the Grand Mirage Hotel's ballroom, which was
heavily guarded by hotel security as well as intelligent
personnel from Udayana Military Command.
However, the officials refused to confirm the meeting and
several of them were spotted running away to avoid journalists'
questions.
AP reported a foreign ministry official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, saying on Tuesday that the talks were
focused on the maritime mapping of two deep-water blocks in the
disputed oil- and gas-rich area of Ambalat, off the western coast
of Kalimantan.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told AFP
that the venue of the two-day meeting, the first to deal directly
with the issue, had not been publicly disclosed to ensure a
favorable atmosphere for the delegates.
However, Thamrin said he believed it would take more than one
round of talks to solve the dispute, which centers on Kuala
Lumpur's granting of an oil concession in the contested area, but
he was optimistic of the outcome of the negotiations.
The hotel's communications and entertainment manager, Sonya
Marlina, declined to confirm the hotel is hosting the meeting,
which is reportedly scheduled to conclude on Wednesday. Malaysia
would host follow-up meetings, reports have said.
"It's true there's a meeting in the hotel, but that's among
Indonesians. I don't know what is it about, and I can't tell you
either because it's against the hotel's privacy policy," she
said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Monday the
two-day gathering was the result of a meeting on March 10 in
Jakarta between the two countries' foreign ministers.
In the meeting, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda and his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Albar agreed to
solve the dispute through talks.
Marty said the technical teams from Indonesia and Malaysia
would meet on March 22 and March 23 to discuss the issue of
Ambalat, but provided no other details.
"We are trying to make things as conducive as possible for the
technical meeting to go ahead," he said.
Earlier reports said the Indonesian team would comprise
experts in maritime law, geology, hydrology and mapping, among
other fields.