Lesson from the Timor Gap

Lesson from the Timor Gap

What is visualized as a lesson from the Timor Gap on the part
of Indonesia is the fact that what was once acclaimed a
diplomatic gain but later turned out to be a liability imposing a
troublesome burden to Indonesia. The Jakarta Post of Feb. 16
carried a report titled Indonesia to discuss the Timor Gap with
Australia and East Timor. The salient points in focus consist in
the richness of the Timor Gap in oil and natural gas that has
prompted Australia to single out the future of the development of
the Timor Sea resources as the potential mainstay of the economic
salvation of East Timor in time to come.

So in the next decades, it is envisaged that East Timor will
heavily count on the richness of oil and natural gas derived from
the Timor Gap and so it is vying for the status of national
welfare and property that has been achieved by Brunei Darussalam.

Referring to the outstanding issues cited in the report, two
topics of international law are worthy of note: first, state
succession and second, the limitation of the continental shelf,
in this case the Timor Gap.

Meanwhile, foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda clarified
Indonesia's stance on the issue, stating that the Timor Gap is
not part of Indonesia. In other words, the matter is settled as
far as the delimitation of the boundary of the Timor Gap is
concerned.

However, although the matter is considered settled,
nonetheless from a historical perspective the debate on the
delimitation of the boundary of the Timor Gap at the time could
not discard the dissenting views put forward by Prof. Johannes,
who once commented in a Kompas article that the delimitation of
the boundary was too advantageous to Australia. At this point,
the interesting question was whence did Prof. Johannes draw his
scientific resource to substantiate his dissenting opinion.

But, of course, the political implications under the
circumstances at the time relating to Australia's support
favoring Indonesia in its hold over East Timor, particularly at
the critical time when the debates in the UN on East Timor were
rife, were too obvious. Australia's support helped bolster
Indonesia's position in the UN with regard to East Timor at that
time. Now, political circumstances differ significantly.

S. SUHAEDI

Jakarta