Pertelingkahan antara Malaysia dan Indonesia berhubung
isu konsesi minyak dan gas di Laut Sulawesi
berkemungkinan hanyalah sandiwara murah ciptaan
pemimpin atasan kedua-dua negara.
Kedua-dua negara sedang menghadapi berbagai masalah
dalaman yang sangat kronik. Malaysia dan Indonesia
semakin hilang kepercayaan rakyat sendiri dengan
gejala rasuah, maksiat dan jenayah.
Para pemimpin kedua negara berpakat untuk
menyelamatkan kuasa masing-masing. Apabila dicipta
konflik artificial maka diharapkan rakyat akan lupa
masalah dalaman negara dan bersatu menyokong kerajaan
masing-masing.
Yang pasti, rakyat golongan bawahan menjadi mangsa.
Pemimpin yang korupt dan jahat terus berkuasa.
Sulawesi Sea row dredges up defenses
By Bill Guerin
JAKARTA - Demonstrators held a noisy protest outside
the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, chanting
slogans and asserting Indonesia's claim to a disputed
area off the coast of Malaysia's Sabah state and
Indonesia's East Kalimantan province in the first
territorial dispute since Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono took office last October.
Indonesia has sent four F-16 fighter planes and three
more warships to join the four already stationed in
the oil-rich waters off Borneo Island. The Royal
Malaysian Navy has also deployed two warships to the
area, further adding to the tensions. Though both
governments continue to insist that the dispute over
conflicting claims as to who controls the
resource-rich offshore area will be resolved
diplomatically, the buildup of military forces in the
waters continues to be a cause for concern.
After a cabinet meeting chaired by Yudhoyono on
Sunday, Indonesian air force chief of staff Rear
Marshal Djoko Suyanto said the additional military
strength "isn't aimed at provocation", but that the
fighters were sent to strengthen patrols maintaining
sovereignty over Indonesia's territorial waters.
This latest military buildup came after a report last
Thursday that a Malaysian navy Beechcraft had
apparently breached Indonesian airspace over the
Sulawesi Sea in the fifth such incident in less than
two weeks. According to Colonel Marsetio, commander of
the Indonesian navy's Eastern Fleet Command's Combat
Task Force, "The aircraft was flying close to our
warships near the Ambalat Island, and was three miles
into our territory according to map and visual
observation."
In a telephone conversation on Monday morning between
Malaysian Premier Abdullah Badawi and Yudhoyono, who
was about to leave Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah
military airfield to visit Sebatik Island, just west
of Ambalat, where the disputed area lies, the two
leaders agreed that both their foreign ministers would
meet in Jakarta on Wednesday to try to defuse the
long-running maritime row.
Sebatik is just off the land border between East
Kalimantan and Sabah and is split between both
countries. To the east lie the Sipadan and Ligitan
Islands, which were disputed for years before Malaysia
was given sovereignty over them by the International
Court of Justice in 2002 (see Indonesia: Islands in
the storm, December 21, 2002).
The visit to Sebatik by the president, who was
accompanied by Indonesia's former military commander
in chief and current coordinating minister for
political, legal and security affairs, Widodo A S;
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Purnomo
Yusgiantoro; Minister of Manpower and Transmigration
Fahmi Idris; Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi; and
current military chief General Endriartono Sutarto,
was aimed at seeking direct reports on the situation
in the border areas, presidential spokesman Andi
Mallarangeng said.
Yudhoyono told a local radio station during his visit
that he had agreed with Prime Minister Badawi to
reduce tensions. "Our hope is that this problem can be
solved through diplomatic channels with a fair
solution in respect to Indonesia's sovereign and
territorial rights," the president said.
Oil concessions add fuel to the fire
On February 16 Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas
awarded oil-exploration rights in two exploration
blocks in the disputed Ambalat area to its own
exploration arm along with Anglo-Dutch giant Royal
Dutch/Shell. However, Indonesia already had granted a
concession to US-based oil giant Unocal Corp in
November to pump liquefied natural gas (LNG) from
deepwater blocks in that area.
Jakarta has warned Royal Dutch/Shell not to meddle in
the offshore oil concessions. Arif Havas Oegroseno,
director for political, security and territorial
agreements with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, told local media that a letter had been sent
to Shell Malaysia and Shell in the Netherlands warning
that "the waters around the Sipadan and Ligitan
Islands are our territory, and we regard giving this
award as violating our sovereignty".
"We have warned Shell, do not enter our waters," he
said. When asked about the International Court of
Justice's decision to award sovereignty over the
Sipadan and Ligitan Islands to Malaysia, Oegroseno
said the judges had stated that the interests of
mapping Malaysian sovereignty over the two islands did
not have a direct influence on the delineation of the
continental shelf. "In other words, the maritime
region still belonged to Indonesia," he said.
Malaysia claims that the waters around the islands are
part of its territory, though Indonesia says Malaysian
waters extend only 19 kilometers from Sipadan and
Ligitan. The Malaysian claim is erroneous, according
to Jakarta, as it is based on a self-made and outdated
1979 map of the area that is not recognized by the
Indonesian government or most other Southeast Asian
countries.
Badawi calls for diplomacy
After his call to Yudhoyono, Badawi said he hoped the
dispute could be managed in a "cordial manner". He
added that, "to prevent any undesirable incidents
which may create tension in the relationship between
Indonesia and Malaysia, both of us agreed for the
matter to be discussed at the diplomatic level". But
back in Jakarta, leading legislators were beginning to
push for a hardline stance, with Speaker of the House
of Representatives (DPR) Agung Laksono urging stern
action, including the use of military force if
necessary, to "solve" the dispute.
"We will support such moves as we believe the people
will also support such a move," Laksono said. The
Ambalat block is well inside Indonesian territory and
undeniably part of Indonesia, he added.
Separately Theo Sambuaga, chairman of Indonesia's
powerful Commission I on Political and Security
Affairs, urged the government to recall its ambassador
to Kuala Lumpur, and demonstrators protested outside
the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.
Ties between the two predominantly Muslim nations
already are being severely tested by a Malaysian
crackdown on an estimated 1 million illegal
immigrants, some 400,000 of whom come from Indonesia.
Malaysia's controversial operation to round up, whip
and even deport the illegal workers has attracted
widespread condemnation by rights groups and the
governments of affected Asian countries.
Though Malaysia needs the Indonesian workers to
support vital industries such as construction, it
wants their stay legalized, as does Jakarta. Many
Indonesians who fled Malaysia last week after an
amnesty for illegal workers expired have sought
shelter on Sebatik Island, where both countries have
military garrisons.
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