Indonesia speeds up border negotiations with neighbors

Desy Nurhayati - The Jakarta Post, Benoa, Bali - Fri, 06/24/2011

Indonesia will hold several meetings in the coming months to settle unresolved border problems with Malaysia, Vietnam and Timor Leste, an official said here Thursday.

Indonesia has concluded almost all of its territorial sea and continental shelf boundary agreements with its neighbors, with the exception of those with the three countries, as well as with Singapore, the Philippines and the Republic of Palau, director of regional politics and security Rachmat Budiman said.

“With Timor Leste, 90 percent of the land border has been agreed, but three unresolved segments remain in negotiation. The two countries have targeted to solve it as soon as possible within this year. We will hold a meeting in the near future,” he said on the sidelines of the annual conference on the law of sea and ocean affairs, where scholars meet to discuss maritime border diplomacy.

After the agreement on the land border has been completed, Indonesia and Timor Leste will start negotiating maritime borders.

In the near future, Indonesia would also hold a meeting with Vietnam to determine the border of the exclusive economic zone following three previous meetings, and an agreement in 2003 concerning continental shelf boundaries, Rachmat said.

Indonesia had its last meeting with Malaysia over a border dispute in Bali in April. Although there has been progress in the series of negotiations, five segments remain unresolved, he said.

“Negotiations are still in progress to settle disagreements concerning the five segments. In the northern and southern parts of the Malacca Strait and in the South China Sea, we are still negotiating about the borders of the Economic Exclusive Zone,” Rachmat said.

“As for borders in the Sulawesi Sea, where violations often occur, we have not reached an agreement, both in terms of territorial sea and the continental shelf boundary, due to several technical problems. It is not a deadlock, we are still negotiating.”

The two countries have set up a provisional border of territorial sea, but are still working on some 12 nautical miles of border in the northern part of Kalimantan and the eastern part of Sebatik island, he said.

He said the Philippines had halted a negotiation with Indonesia, citing internal problems, but that the two countries had made a joint declaration to continue the process.

Indonesia and Singapore recently met for the first time to discuss for the two countries’ maritime borders in the eastern part of the Singapore Strait. As with the Palau, Indonesia has held two meetings to discuss continental shelf boundaries and exclusive economic zones.

Deputy Foreign Minister Triyono Wibowo said that Indonesia would continue to implement border diplomacy through different methods and platforms, including by negotiating the remaining land and maritime borders and solving them at the earliest possible meetings at least once a year