Island dispute to go to court in the new year

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian and Malaysian officials will meet in Kuala Lumpur in the first weeks of 1997 to resolve technical details before jointly submitting the Sipadan-Ligitan dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The two sides have formed technical teams to define the exact argument to be arbitrated by the ICJ.

The Indonesian team will be led by the foreign ministry's Director General for Political Affairs Izhar Ibrahim. It will include the Director for International Organizations N. Hassan Wirayuda and the Director for International Agreements Arizal Effendi.

The Malaysian side will be headed by its foreign ministry's Secretary General Abdul Kadir.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas after meeting with his Malaysian counterpart, Abdullah Badawi, said yesterday he had discussed ways to push forward preparations for taking the overlapping claims for the islands to the ICJ.

After failing to resolve the matter bilaterally, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta had agreed earlier this year to take the dispute to the ICJ.

The two tiny islands are located just off the north east coast of Kalimantan. The dispute is a legacy of the two country's former colonial rulers, the Dutch in Indonesia and the British in Malaysia.

While the two countries have pledged to leave the status quo so as not to worsen matter, Malaysia has been promoting the islands as a tourist destination.

Alatas has said Indonesia was preparing a formal objection over Malaysia's actions.

Yesterday, Alatas said he had discussed with Badawi the preparations for the two teams' meeting.

"We spoke about how it would be good for the two teams to meet in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, during the first week of January to formulate the matter," he said.

He underlined the fact that the two countries would be submitting the dispute together thus avoiding any hint that one side was suing the other.

Alatas, however, could not say when the joint submission to the ICJ would take place. He only said it would be after the two teams finished their task.

In their meeting next year the two sides will have to clearly define the specifics of the dispute to be adjudicated.

Among the complex legal issues which need to be worked out is whether the ICJ should only making an interpretation of the British-Dutch treaty of 1891, one of the primary sources of the overlapping claims.

It also needs to work out if the ICJ's decision should also determine the maritime borders around the two islands.

Alatas and Badawi met yesterday after the closing ceremony of the 24th ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC). (mds)