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