Goh told to pay attention to sand

Goh told to pay attention to sand

JAKARTA: People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais told Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Monday to stop pretending he was unaware of the smuggling of sand from Riau islands to his country.

Amien said the sand smuggling had been taking place for 20 years, causing four islands in Riau to sink.

"All the illegal sand is smuggled from Riau to reclaim land in Singapore. It is the job of Indonesia and Singapore to talk about this issue further," Amien said after meeting with Goh.

"Please stop pretending not to know about the origin of the sand," he added.

He said that should the smuggling continue, Indonesia would have to stop exporting sand to Singapore. -- Antara