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.