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‘Positive’ Sign Seen in Malaysia Talks
Nurfika Osman | July 04, 2009

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Malaysia had given what Indonesia regarded as a “positive signal” for settling common border issues, including those in the disputed oil-rich waters off northeastern Borneo Island, Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said on Friday.

He said that he expected representatives from the two countries to meet in Malaysia on July 13 and 14 to discuss disputed maritime borders in the South China Sea, the Malacca Strait and the Sulawesi Sea.

“Even though Malaysia has not given any written reply to us, we have seen a positive signal for discussions on the dates we proposed,” Faizasyah said.

The “positive signal” had been communicated in telephone calls between officials in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

“We have sent them notes that we have to discuss these border issues,” Faizasyah said.

The Indonesian team will be headed by Arief Havas Oegroseno, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for international treaties and legal affairs.

Preparation for their work started on Tuesday when Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and his Malaysian counterpart, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, met in Jakarta in a bid to defuse friction over recent military maneuvers in the sensitive Ambalat waters area in the Sulawesi Sea.

Sudarsono told reporters that they had agreed that each country's sea patrols had to be extra cautious in determining patrol pathways, in accordance with the line that each regards as its own territory. Thirteen bilateral discussions have been held since 2005 to resolve the Ambalat dispute, but they have so far failed to yield an agreement.

The ministry has so far sent 36 diplomatic notes to Malaysia concerning the conflicting claims to the oil-rich Ambalat waters since 1980. Last month, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said negotiations over border issues had never been easy. As an example of how tough discussions over maritime borders were, he said it took 32 years for Indonesia and Vietnam to agree on their border in the South China Sea.

Malaysia claimed part of the Ambalat region based on a 1979 chart, while Indonesia based its claim on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.