Govt told to make rulings on maritime borders

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government needs to establish some rulings on the country's maritime borders in a bid to promote security and law enforcement of its territory at sea, a discussion concluded here last week.

Focusing on the country's maritime borders, the discussion said that the country had not set clear boundaries for its sea territory, continental coastline and exclusive economic zones (EEZ), even though it ratified the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1985.

Hasjim Djalal, a professor of international relations and law at the Bandung-based Padjadjaran University and one of the speakers at the discussion, regretted the fact that the country did not have a map of its maritime borders although it had drawn some 183 base points as references to determine the borders of its waters through government regulation No.38/2002.

The former Indonesian ambassador for maritime affairs said that there were some 27 base points that had not been incorporated into the regulation.

"The government needs to draw up a map because the base points and points of its sea territory, additional zones, continental coastline and EEZ should be recorded with the UN Secretary in New York so that our maritime borders can be internationally recognized," he said.

According to the convention, the country has the right to claim as its territory up to 12 miles from its outermost islands, an additional zone of a special jurisdiction that reaches 24 miles and its EEZ of up to 200 miles. The continental base is measured between 200 miles and 350 miles.

Another speaker Rear Adm. (ret) Bambang Moergianto, the director general of maritime defense at the Ministry of Defense, said that the absence of clear borders had prevented law enforcers at sea from carrying out their duties effectively.

"We cannot easily allege that a particular foreign vessel is involved in illegal fishing or other crimes in our waters because there are no clear coordinate points for our maritime borders," he said.

The Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center said in its annual report in February last year that actual or attempted piracy attacks from January to December 2001 in Indonesia accounted for 91 incidents, while another 17 occurred in the busy Malacca Straits that separate Indonesia from Malaysia.

"The shipping industry hopes that the Indonesian authorities will increase their efforts, otherwise the area will maintain its high risk status," it said.

Illegal logs, mainly from Sumatra, were also reported to have been brought to Malacca and Johor states on the Malaysia peninsula and to Sabah state on Borneo island.

Bambang said that the country had suffered losses of US$4 billion from the illegal exploitation of natural resources and some $6 billion from illegal logging.

"It is hard for the Navy to uphold security and law enforcement over 5.8 million square kilometers of water because only 20 of its 116 ships are operational," he said.

Hasjim said that the government should also determine more sea lanes that can be used by foreign vessels, because many areas of the country's waters have become international routes, including the Java Sea and the Flores Sea.

Indonesia's seas border with those of Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Australia, East Timor, India and Palau. But so far Indonesia has signed continental coastline agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, India, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

There are only two agreements on sea territory with Malaysia and Singapore, and just one agreement on the EEZ with Australia.