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.