Govt yet to name 11,801 islets

Govt yet to name 11,801 islets

JAKARTA: The government needs to name some 11,801 small
islands across the country to maintain Indonesia's control over
its territory and to avoid any further border disputes with
neighboring countries, a discussion concluded on Thursday.

Focusing on the country's maritime borders, the discussion
said only some 5,707 of the country's 17,508 islands had been
named.

"Naming (the islands) will help the government record the
country's outermost islands and set the maritime border with
neighboring countries," Hasjim Djalal, a former minister of
maritime affairs, said.

Hasjim, also an expert on international maritime law,
suggested regents and governors give names to unnamed islands in
their territories immediately.

Indonesia recently lost a case against Malaysia in the
International Court of Justice over the ownership of the Sipadan
and Ligitan islands, located off the coast of East Kalimantan.
--JP