Malaysia commits serious border violations: Widodo

JAKARTA (JP): Malaysia's violations of Indonesian sovereignty along the border in Kalimantan are serious, said Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo A.S.

"The violations are quite serious not only because a part of the border points have been purposely moved but also because of the prevalent illegal logging activity in our forests causing material losses to the country," he said at a hearing with House of Representatives Commission I for defense, foreign and political affairs on Tuesday.

He said Malaysia admitted to the violations.

The government and the military will intensify bilateral cooperation with the Malaysian government and its Army to act on the border violations, he said.

"The chief of TNI's general affairs and his Malaysian counterpart recently conducted a field tour of the border areas to identify the violations," he said.

Widodo acknowledged that TNI was not able to cover Indonesia's borders with its neighboring countries, especially Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, because of financial, personnel and equipment shortages.

"However, the military will help the National Police, the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations and the immigration office follow up on the violations and the prevalent log smuggling and theft," he said.

Military equipment deployed by the Army, Air Force and Navy on all the borders can no longer be used optimally because they were obsolete, he said.

"Almost all the vessels and radars stationed at our joint border posts are out-of-date and the number of military personnel is also limited," he said.

Widodo, who also chairs the Indonesian-Malaysia General Border Committee (GB Malindo), said TNI would intensify special operations along the West Kalimantan-Serawak and East Kalimantan- Sabah border.

"So far, 350 military personnel from the Tanjungpura Military Command overseeing Kalimantan have been stationed at certain areas in West and East Kalimantan to patrol the borders," he said.

Malaysian Ambassador Dato M. Isa recently denied that certain points along the Indonesian-Malaysian border in Kalimantan had been pushed further inward toward Indonesian territory.

Police from the two countries were almost involved in an exchange of gunfire on the West Kalimantan-Serawak border last month in line with the arrest of two Malaysian citizens who were found logging illegally in Indonesian forests. (rms)