RI, Malaysia to resume talks on Sipadan
RI, Malaysia to resume talks on Sipadan
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia welcomed Malaysia's offer yesterday to resume talks on the Sipadan and Ligitan islands, whose ownership has been in dispute since last year's talks ended in a deadlock.
"The foreign ministry greets it and considers it a breath of fresh air," a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Irawan Abidin, the director general of information at the foreign ministry, indicated yesterday that Indonesia was ready to resume talks and was now waiting for a formal invitation from Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian foreign minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was reported to have stated in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday that his government was also prepared to discuss the disputed islands at the head of state level.
An earlier round of talks was held following meetings between President Soeharto and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
The dispute over the islands, located just off the northeastern coast of Kalimantan, dates as far back as the colonial legacy of Britain and the Netherlands.
A joint Indonesian-Malaysian working group reached an impasse last year after Kuala Lumpur, to the surprise of Jakarta, demanded that the issue be taken to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Jakarta rejected the proposal, arguing that if arbitration was necessary then the institutions provided within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be used.
The two countries along with Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are members of ASEAN.
"Let us, as brothers and with the spirit of ASEAN, resolve this issue," Irawan remarked.
The islands dispute resurfaced this month after Malaysia complained that Indonesia had inserted the two small islands into its territory in the latest edition of Indonesia's official map. In response, Indonesia claims that the islands were part of the country on earlier maps, even those dating back to the Dutch era.
Meanwhile, commenting on the impending United Nations sponsored talks between rival East Timorese factions, Irawan yesterday confirmed that the venue had been set but that the date had yet to be determined.
Earlier news reports cited Austria as the venue and April 24- 26 as the suggested date.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976. However Lisbon still defends its claim of sovereignty despite abandoning the islands beforehand.
The dialog was agreed upon during the following trilateral meeting between Portugal and Indonesia last January, when both sides agreed that the UN would facilitate an "all-inclusive" and "non-political" dialog between both sides of the integration debate. (mds)