Jakarta MPs talk tough on intrusions

The Straits Times, March 6, 2007
By Salim Osman, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT



JAKARTA - THE Indonesian Parliament yesterday called for a tough line on reported Malaysian military incursions, with two MPs saying Malaysians on the wrong side of a disputed border should be shot.

'Once in a while we need to shoot them,' said Mr Soeripto, a member of the parliamentary commission on defence and foreign affairs at a hearing with Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono and armed forces chiefs at the House of Representatives yesterday.

And his call for the intruders to be shot was echoed by legislator Permadi, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

'Don't be afraid if something escalates from the shooting. We have four million volunteers who are prepared to die,' he was quoted as saying by news portal Detikcom.

Using more restrained language, deputy chairman of the commission Sidharto Danusubroto told the meeting that Jakarta's lack of response to the alleged incursions was encouraging the Malaysians.

Yesterday's meeting was called to discuss the latest flare up in the border spat with Malaysia over the disputed oil-rich region which the Indonesians call Ambalat, in the sea off Borneo.

The commander of Indonesia's eastern fleet, Lieutenant-Colonel Tony Syaiful, had said that a number of Malaysian warships and military planes entered Indonesian territory around the Ambalat oil and gas block several times over two days last month.

He said that he deployed warships to drive the intruders out, but added that the Malaysian navy also entered Indonesian waters around Ambalat 35 times last year.

Tensions were also raised further before yesterday's meeting, when navy chief Slamet Soebijanto told Suara Pembaruan daily that Malaysia had redrawn its maritime borders at Indonesia's expense.

'Its border has gone quite deep into our territory,' he was quoted as saying. He charged that Malaysia has redrawn the map to include the Ambalat area as part of its territory.

The dispute over Ambalat took a turn for the worse two years ago, when Malaysia's state oil company Petronas awarded an oil concession to a subsidiary of oil giant Shell in an area where Indonesia had been granting oil concessions.

There was a standoff in the disputed area a month later, almost pushing both sides to the brink of war but tensions eased after they agreed to settle the dispute diplomatically.