Sand ban 'linked to bilateral issues with Singapore'

The Straits Times, February 5, 2007


Maritime security chief cites border and extradition treaties as reason for measure.

JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S blanket ban on exports of land sand, which takes effect tomorrow, has taken on a new twist.

A senior official has linked it to the resolution of outstanding bilateral issues with Singapore.
Vice-Admiral Djoko Sumaryono, the head of the maritime security coordinating board, was quoted by the Jakarta Post on Saturday as saying the move was in response to Singapore's foot-dragging over two pacts with Indonesia: a border agreement and a bilateral extradition treaty.

Vice-Admiral Djoko was in Batam, in the Riau Islands province, with senior officials from Indonesia's Trade Ministry last week to brief local leaders and sand exporters on the ban. He is in charge of stepped-up efforts to police the ban, for which Navy, Customs and police officers are being deployed.

The province has been providing almost all the six million to eight million tonnes of sand a year for Singapore's construction sector since 1997, when Malaysia banned such exports to Singapore.

When the ban - which applies to exports to all countries - was announced by Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu two weeks ago, Jakarta gave two reasons: to prevent further damage to the environment by unchecked sand mining, and to protect the country's maritime borders. These were identical to those given for Jakarta's 2003 ban on the export of marine sand, which is used in reclamation works.

Like the 2003 ban, the latest ban is not indefinite: the ministerial directive said it would be lifted once the two concerns have been fully addressed.

The Trade Ministry's director general for international trade, Diah Maulidah, has already said that the ban would be reviewed within six months or a year.

To date, the ban on marine sand exports is still in place.

But, unlike the 2003 ban which specifically linked Singapore to the border issue, the latest ban did not explicitly mention the Republic - until Vice-Admiral Djoko's remarks, that is.

The chairman of the Riau Sand Exporter Business Association, Mr Ficky Zulfikar Zaljuli, who was at the briefing conducted by the authorities, said the admiral was not the only one who made the Singapore link clear during the meeting - the trade officials did too.

But he was not surprised by the latest twist.

He told The Straits Times: 'In fact, we were puzzled when environmental concerns were cited, because we pay a security deposit to the authorities as surety that we will rehabilitate the land once our sand mining permits lapse.' All licensed sand miners have to commit S$3 for each cu m of sand extracted.

Ongoing talks between Singapore and Indonesia on the border issue began in February 2005, after it was raised at a Jakarta meeting in 2004 between then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Back then, Singapore said it felt there were only two areas where its boundary with Indonesia was not clearly marked - one to the east, and the other to the west of Singapore.

The Republic has always maintained that its reclamation works are carried out within its territorial waters and will not alter its maritime boundaries with Indonesia.

But Indonesian nationalists have often expressed concerns over the possibility that the country's neighbours might try to expand their maritime borders if some of Indonesia's unmapped outer islands were to disappear under unchecked sand quarrying.

As for the extradition treaty, it is a thorn that has dogged bilateral ties for nearly a decade.

The prevailing view in Indonesia is that corrupt businessmen and politicians hide - and park their illegal gains - in Singapore.

The new sand export ban comes at a time when Singapore's construction sector is recovering from a prolonged spell in the doldrums.

The Singapore Government has said that sand will be released from its stockpile to meet the urgent needs of the industry. It will also look to diversify its supply source and explore alternative methods of construction.

By Azhar Ghani, Indonesia Bureau Chief