Sipadan-Ligitan case won't recur

Sipadan-Ligitan case won't recur

JAKARTA: Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda assured
on Thursday that there would be no more loss of islands in the
future as there was no more disputed islands in the country.

Indonesia lost Sipadan and Ligitan, two small islands off East
Kalimantan, to Malaysia last December after a long legal battle
at the Netherlands-based World Court, previously called the
International Court of Justice.

"As long as the islands are in Indonesia's territory, there is
no doubt about their ownership," Hassan said at a hearing with
House Commission I for foreign and defense affairs here on
Thursday.

He also said that his ministry fully backed the Indonesian
Navy, which has exercised sovereignty over outlaying islands by
erecting the country's national flag there.

Hassan said that outlaying islands would be developed as
transmigration areas or tourist resorts. --JP