Indonesia-Malaysia talks on island row deadlocked

Indonesia-Malaysia talks on island row deadlocked

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas conceded
yesterday that negotiations with Malaysia to settle the status of
two small islands off East Kalimantan have reached a deadlock.

The Joint Working Group has reached a "saturation point",
Alatas was quoted by Antara as telling a hearing with Commission
I of the House of Representatives.

The working group was established in 1992 after leaders of the
two countries agreed that the row over the sovereignty of the
islands of Sipadan and Ligitan should be settled amicably.

Both sides are maintaining their respective legal arguments,
Alatas said.

"Given this reality, the two sides agreed that the issue
should be discussed at the political level to find a solution in
the spirit of good neighborly relations," he told the commission,
which overseas security and foreign affairs.

Pending a solution, the two countries have agreed that each
has the right to patrol the islands, and that differences would
be settled peacefully, he said.

Each claimant came to the negotiating table armed with maps
inherited by its colonial master. The Netherlands, which occupied
Indonesia, and the British, which ruled Malaysia, never really
settled the ownership question and the row continued after
Indonesia and Malaysia gained independence.

Although the two sides have agreed to maintain the islands'
present status pending a solution, the conflict heightened in the
early 1990s, when Malaysia began touting Sipadan as one of its
latest exotic tourist destinations.

The Antara report did not say whether Indonesia would agree to
the case being referred to the International Court of Justice,
one alternative that had been suggested by Malaysia.

Alatas also explained to the House the details of the peace
agreement between the Moro National Liberation Front and the
Philippine government, which Indonesia helped broker.

The agreement, he said, is a significant contribution toward
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' goal of establishing
a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality in the region.

Moreover, peace in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao
bodes well for the plan to establish an economic growth area,
linking Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines (BIMP),
he said. "It is difficult to envisage that the BIMP project could
succeed without restoring peace in the southern Philippines."
(emb)