Settling a sibling row

Settling a sibling row

If two siblings are fighting over two pies, the solution is
obvious: each gets one. If two nations are fighting over two
small islands however, the solution, unfortunately, may not be as
simple.

Despite 27 years of trying, Indonesia and Malaysia have not
been able to resolve the riddle of Sipadan and Ligitan -- two
islets off the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. The
ownership row, dating back to 1969, remains the sine e most
serious obstacle to the otherwise blossoming relations between
the two countries and two peoples, whose Malay roots make them
siblings.

Not even the statesmanship of President Soeharto and Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad has proved adequate to find a solution.
The two men, in their meeting on the Malaysian resort island of
Langkawi in 1993, lent their personal stature to the search for
peace by declaring that the row should be settled through
bilateral negotiations, without the involvement of a third party.

It is also apparent now that the kinship that exists between
the two countries, or the neighborly ASEAN spirit, is not
sufficient to push them into an agreement.

Yesterday, when Soeharto and Mahathir met in Kuala Lumpur,
they agreed that the matter should be brought before a third
party, in this case the International Court of Justice in The
Hague.

This is a rather unfortunate turn of events, but one that is
understandable, if not unavoidable. A once-and-for-all settlement
is urgently needed if the two countries are to remove the
remaining thorn in their relations, but obviously neither
Indonesia nor Malaysia is willing to back down from their
respective claims of sovereignty over the two islands.

Both countries seem to find it difficult to remove the islands
from their respective national maps. Indonesia claims its map is
based on an agreement signed in 1891 between Britain and the
Netherlands, the respective colonial rulers of Malaysia and
Indonesia at that time. According to this pact the two small
islands are part of the territory of what was then the
Netherlands East Indies, the present state of Indonesia.

Since then, maps of the Indonesian archipelago have
incorporated those two islands. Malaysia apparently did not begin
to include them on its maps until 1969. Jakarta insists that
Malaysia's claim over the islands did not come until after
Indonesia reasserted its ownership in 1967. Two years later
Malaysia put the two islands on its national maps as part of the
country's territory. And it was not until 1983 that Malaysia
started enforcing its claim with the passing of a state law.

Although the two countries have reached an impasse, credit
must be given to President Soeharto and Prime Minister Mahathir
for keeping the row under control thus far, without affecting the
overall bilateral relations.

The protracted negotiations over the conflict may have failed
to bear fruit, but at the very least, they showed the two
countries' resolution to settle their row by peaceful means. When
one considers that the two countries were on the verge of war
during the Confrontation years of the early 1960s, this is no
mean feat.

There were moments when the issue threatened to blow up, such
as when Malaysia began to develop the islands -- in defiance of a
1969 agreement to maintain their status quo pending a solution --
and tout them as its latest exotic tourist destination. There was
also the time when Malaysia conducted military drills which
purported to free the two islands of foreign occupation.

Although the two countries have now agreed to take the matter
to a third party, it is difficult to see how the International
Court of Justice can settle the row, given that both parties feel
that they have a strong position and that neither of them is
willing to budge. Given this situation, the solution of giving
each an island may not be so naive after all.