RI and East Timor officials discuss demarcation lines

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia and East Timor agreed on the first day of a joint commission meeting on Monday to determine precise borders between the two neighbors and other residual issues following Indonesia's 24-year occupation which ended in 1999.

The two-day meeting, led by respective foreign affairs ministers, were set to discuss a time frame to establish the lines, which will be used to mark clear borders.

"We have completed a joint air surveillance to determine the demarcation lines and expect to place marks on the land borders of the two countries as soon as possible," Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said after talks with his East Timor counterpart Jose Ramos Horta.

Hassan further said that the technicalities of the agreement, including the time frame, would be discussed at the end of the meeting on Tuesday.

Currently, the two countries are separated by temporary demarcation lines.

On the border issue, the two countries also discussed the arrangement for people's movement along the borders as people from East Timor and neighboring East Nusa Tenggara were traditionally related, Hassan said.

East Timor, meanwhile, proposed a gradual reduction in the number of troops on both sides of its borders.

"It is the common vision of (East Timor's) President Xanana Gusmao and our government that our relations develop in such a way that we can come to a gradual downsizing of the military on both sides of our border," Horta said.

On the meeting, Hassan said that Jakarta proposed a settlement to end the assets issue by turning Indonesia's assets in the former province into equity to start joint venture companies.

"We are proposing to establish joint venture companies with those assets. We believe this is an innovative proposal to end the disputes on assets," Hassan remarked.

However, he has yet to provide further details regarding the joint venture proposal saying that it has to be further discussed between the two countries.

The former province separated from Indonesia, following the United Nations (UN) popular consultation in 1999, which resulted in East Timor's independence.

The partition has left several problems, including refugees, pension funds for East Timorese civil servants and soldiers under Indonesian administration as well as contentious issues on borders and assets.

On state assets, Hassan said that Indonesia proposed a settlement that could benefit both sides as Jakarta had built infrastructure such as water pipes, electricity, oil and gas installations in the territory, which then president Soeharto claimed as the country's 27th province in 1976.

"We are thinking about, for example, using the building of former state-owned Bank Mandiri in Dili as a place to set up a joint venture bank," Hassan said.

Another point of contention, the minister said, was the arrangement to settle personal assets as the two countries had yet to find a solution.

The joint commission was to be established earlier this year, when a group of Indonesian ministers visited Dili, after the country celebrated its independence day on May 20.

Hassan said sea boundaries would be another sensitive issue as it related to the oil-rich Timor gap, and Jakarta would seek to ensure that any possible exploration in the area would not trespass into Indonesian waters.