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.