Govt, House plan bill on border areas

Govt, House plan bill on border areas

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fearing that Indonesia might lose another island to neighboring
countries, the government and House of Representatives (DPR)
agreed on Wednesday to discuss a bill on the definitive
demarcation of the country's borders.

"The House suggested that we should discuss a bill on border
arrangements, and as the head of government I stressed that they
have the legislative authority to discuss such a bill," President
Megawati Soekarnoputri said after a consultation meeting with
House leaders on Wednesday.

Megawati said that the request was made in response to the
loss of Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Malaysia late last year
after a long legal battle in the International Court of Justice
in the Hague, the Netherlands.

"Learning from this case, the House underlined the importance
of the definitive demarcation of our borders," Megawati said
during a joint press conference with House Speaker Akbar
Tandjung.

"And we, the government, agreed that the need to deal with
border issues immediately is a crucial matter for the country,"
the President said.

Both the government and House leaders gave no timetable as to
when the proposed bill would be initiated.

However, the government's position was immediately criticized
by a noted analyst who said that the problem lay in the fact that
there were too many departments dealing with border issues.

"Our weakness is that we do not have a single institution in
charge of border issues, so while the enactment of a law is good,
we need clear definitions as to who will be responsible for the
implementation of the law," said Kusnanto Anggoro from the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Considering that all border discussions involved other
countries and had the potential for conflict, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs should take charge of any border negotiations
with neighboring countries, Kusnanto argued.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa
concurred, saying that currently there were several different
departments in charge of border issues.

"Border discussions with Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, for
example, are handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, while with
regard to the Philippines, it is the Indonesian Military (TNI)
that is in the forefront," Marty explained.

He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had urged
President Megawati to appoint one department to take charge of
any border talks to prevent further confusion.

Immediately after Indonesia lost Sipadan and Ligitan islands
to Malaysia in December, President Megawati designated the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the coordinator for all border
diplomacy in the country.

So far, however, Megawati has yet to put her decision in
writing.

Since she assumed the presidency in July 2001, Megawati has
made border issues one of her foreign affairs priorities, saying
that the settling of border issues with neighboring countries as
soon as possible would remove the potential for future conflict.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said earlier that
Indonesia had no more island disputes with neighboring countries.