Malaysia commits serious border violations: Widodo

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border posts are out-of-date and the number of military personnel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)