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.