Indonesia acts to curb smuggling of sand to Singapore

The Sunday Times, February 18, 2007
By Salim Osman, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT


JAKARTA - THE Indonesian police will deploy officers at sand quarries in the Riau archipelago this week to curb the continued smuggling of sand to Singapore despite the ban imposed last month.
Riau Islands police chief Sutarman was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Post yesterday that his men would monitor the movement of sand from the quarries and check on sand exporters to stop them from shipping sand to other provinces before re-routing the shipments to Singapore.

'We will inspect every shipment of granite which might just be a camouflage to carry sand,' he was quoted as saying.

Indonesia imposed a ban on land sand exports to Singapore on Jan 23, which took effect on Feb 5. It claimed that sand mining affected its maritime boundaries.

The Jakarta Post also quoted a senior official who complained about the amount Singapore had paid for Indonesian sand.

The head of the Maritime Security Coordinating Agency, Vice-Admiral Djoko Sumaryono, told the newspaper that Singapore had paid Indonesia $5 per cu m but had offered to pay much more following the ban.

'This is just an example of how Singapore treats us,' he said.

The Vice-Admiral also referred to what he said was a rising trend of selling islands in Riau province, including Segayang Island in Galang, Batam, to a Singaporean businessman. He said the 20ha island with small resort facilities was sold to the businessman in 2000. The newspaper said the island, located about 50km from Batam, was sold for 55 million rupiah (S$9,300).

Vice-Admiral Djoko said negotiations were continuing for the sale of another island for 100 million rupiah.

In another newspaper, the inspector-general of the Indonesian navy, Major-General Nono Sampono, said that Singapore's territory had expanded by 12km because of reclamation works, and that the further sale of sand could impact on Indonesian territory.

'If such reclamation works continue to be carried out, Indonesian territorial waters will shrink every year,' he was quoted as saying in the Kompas daily.

He added that Indonesia would lose more of its territory when its islands in the border areas disappear after sand is taken for Singapore reclamation projects.