Sipadan-Ligitan row ignored: DPR

Sipadan-Ligitan row ignored: DPR

Kurniawan Hari and Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) criticized on
Friday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its failure to provide
the public with satisfactory progress in a dispute over Sipadan
and Ligitan islands.

They said the ministry should be more active in its campaign
to keep national integrity, otherwise the country would lose
another territory.

Legislators Djoko Susilo, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, and Astrid
S. Susanto raised the issue during their meeting with House
Speaker Akbar Tandjung here.

The meeting focused on President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
visit to East Timor, but the discussion later turned to the
Sipadan-Ligitan dispute.

"We have asked the ministry to give us the latest progress,
but until now there has been no reply," Djoko of the Reform
faction said.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is slated to organize
a verbal hearing on the issue from June 3 through June 12,
however the ministry gave no statement on it.

A media statement issued on Friday by the ministry showed that
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda would head an
Indonesian delegation to the hearing.

The minister is scheduled to deliver his argument on Jun. 3
and hear a reply on Jun. 10.

The ministry confirmed that it had set up an inter-ministerial
team with legal advocacy from the United States, England, France
and the Netherlands.

Indonesia and Malaysia agreed in 1996 to bring the issue to
the International Court for resolution after each made claims of
possessing both islands in 1969.

Both Sipadan (50,000 square meters) and Ligitan (18,000 square
meters) are located in the Makassar straits.

Malaysia has continued to allow hotels and resorts to be built
on Sipadan island, where the coral reef is said to be the best
destination for divers.

Djoko feared the nation would lose another territory because
de facto Malaysia became the owner of the island by continuing
its development projects.

The final decision of the International Court that binds the
two conflicting states will be made in November or December of
this year.