To most Indonesians, the tiny islands of Sipadan and Ligitan were

To most Indonesians, the tiny islands of Sipadan and Ligitan were
once just insignificant specks on the map.

That was until the nationalistic stink kicked up by the tussle
over ownership of the islands between Indonesia and Malaysia. The
fight can be traced back to 1969 when the two countries, while
holding negotiations on their continental shelf boundaries,
agreed to enforce status quo status on the two islands.

In 1976, the two islands were included on the geographical
map of Sabah, but this was not considered legitimate evidence of
jurisdiction over them.

In 1991 then foreign minister Ali Alatas asked Malaysia to
stop the construction of tourist resorts on the two islands. In
subsequent years, negotiations went on between the two countries
over which of them held jurisdiction over the islands.

In 1996 the two countries agreed to bring the dispute to the
International Court of Justice. A hearing on this case began in
mid-2001, and on Dec. 17, 2002, to Indonesia's consternation, the
ICJ ruled that the islands belonged to Malaysia, and the dispute
was settled amicably, even though it meant a loss for Indonesia
and some subsequent jingoistic grandstanding by domestic critics
of Jakarta.

This book is compiled mainly from papers presented at a panel
discussion on the Sipadan-Ligitan case, held in conjunction with
the 53rd anniversary of the University of Indonesia earlier this
year.

One of the most interesting articles in the book is written by
foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda. He explains the whole process
of the settlement of the territorial dispute, tracing the
historical background of ownership of the islands and the
doctrine that finally prevailed in the ruling for Malaysia.

For the layman, this book is informative about how a country
exercises its sovereignty over a specific territory. It tells us
how, through annexation, accretion, surrender, prescription or
occupation, a country declares its sovereignty. Then the country
must demonstrate its will to act as a sovereign party and
exercise this sovereignty properly.

In the case of Sipadan and Ligitan, Malaysia fulfilled the
criteria on the grounds that Britain, former colonial ruler of
Malaysia, controlled the collection of turtle eggs on the two
islands as of 1914, established a bird sanctuary in Sipadan in
1933 and constructed lighthouses in early 1960.

This provides a good understanding of why we have lost the two
islands, but also acts as a wake-up call. Only 7,353 of
Indonesia's 17,508 islands have been charted and identified.
Sixty-seven of these identified islands share a boundary with
neighboring countries, particularly those islets lying on the
outermost boundaries of the archipelago.

Unless we learn a good lesson from our loss of Sipadan and
Ligitan, we may suffer the same bitter fate in the future.

-- Lie Hua