Jakarta may let go of Kepulauan Seribu

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

The dispute over Kepulauan Seribu regency will soon be settled as Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has agreed to hand authority over the chain of islands to Banten province, an official claimed on Saturday.

Tangerang regent Ismet Iskandar said Sutiyoso's visit to the Banten capital of Serang last Wednesday -- where he had signed a memorandum of understanding with Governor Djoko Munandar on development cooperation -- was a good sign.

Quoting Sutiyoso, Ismet said the islands would be handed to the province "if the House of Representatives and the central government endorse a new law to determine the jurisdictional borders of Jakarta and Banten".

In earlier debates, Sutiyoso had referred to Law No. 34/1999 on Jakarta's administration and government regulation No. 55/2001 on Kepulauan Seribu regency to support his administration's claim of authority over the islands.

Tangerang regency was absorbed into the newly established Banten province in 2001. It was claimed that nine out of the 22 disputed islands belonged to the regency, since they were located nearer to Tangerang than Jakarta.

The nine islands concerned are Rambut, Karang, Laki, Cangkir, Bokor, Karang Tiga, Gosong, Untung Jawa and Ubi Kecil.

However, Ismet said, while the province had a struggle on its hands to convince the House and the central government to draft a new law, granting Banten authority over the islands: "With that, we are optimistic that we can improve the people's welfare and develop the new province," he asserted.

Djoko Munandar said his administration would soon file for a judicial review of the 2001 government regulation at the Supreme Court.

Separately in the day, Banten Council speaker Dharmono K. Lawi said that the council had formed a special team to handle the matter.