KL wants new talks on islands

KL wants new talks on islands

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi
yesterday urged Jakarta enter into fresh talks to resolve a 25-
year-old dispute over the ownership of two small islands.

The dispute over the Sipadan and Ligitan islands could not be
resolved through demonstrations or any acts of aggression, he
said, reiterating that Jakarta could refer the dispute to a
bilateral joint mechanism.

"We must leave the issue to the mechanism that has been fixed
and not try to resolve it by way of demonstrations," he said,
referring to the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Commission.

He was responding to recent reports that emotional Indonesian
MPs had put pressure on Jakarta to take a more aggressive
approach.

Abdullah said Malaysia was prepared to continue talks despite
three failed rounds of official negotiations to determine
ownership of the islands, located near Malaysia's eastern Sabah
state on Borneo island.

The two governments last year pledged to avoid souring ties
with their rival claims on the islands, with Kuala Lumpur
proposing to take the dispute to the International Court of
Justice in The Hague.

But Jakarta prefers to exhaust diplomatic channels before
resorting to legal action.

"We accept their proposal as Malaysia adopts an open attitude
in the matter. If discussions have come to a deadlock, surely
there are still ways to resolve it without getting emotional,
Abdullah said.