New islets in West Nusa Tenggara

New islets in West Nusa Tenggara

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian archipelago has become richer
with the discovery of 42 islets in West Nusa Tenggara in the past
eight years, the province's governor said yesterday.

Warsito told 13 visiting House of Representatives legislators
in charge of legal affairs now on recess that the province's
collection of islands had reached 145, including the two major
islands of Sumbawa and Lombok.

The governor said the islets had emerged naturally. Some of
them were found in Pelabuhan Lembar and Lombok Barat areas, he
added.

But the findings could spell future trouble for the provincial
administration because some people have claimed to be the owner
of the new islands, according to Warsito.

"The government has to decide the legal status of the islands,
lest certain people will illegally stake claims over them,"
Warsito was quoted by Antara.

Indonesian law says islands in the archipelago belong to the
state, not to any individual.

Chief of the survey and mapping agency Paul Suharto said in
January that the world's largest archipelago had 17,508 islands,
but 67 percent of them were unnamed.

Warsito said the West Nusa Tenggara administration had planned
to develop three of the new islands situated in West Lombok
regency, including Gili Meno, Terawangan and Air, into tourist
resorts. The proposal is being challenged by fishermen who claim
to have discovered the islands.

"We don't want to deal with such problems in the future. Both
the law enforcers and the National Land Agency should take strict
measures against those who have claimed the islands," Warsito
said.

The visiting legislators are from Golkar, the United
Development Party (PDI) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
factions, led by Djupri of the PDI. Their trip was part of the
House's assignment to seek local inputs for the next session
scheduled to start on June 7. (amd)