Seized granite shipments 'still being investigated'

The Straits Times, March 7, 2007
By Azhar Ghani, Indonesia Bureau Chief


Seized granite shipments 'still being investigated'
Jakarta will reply to S'pore's diplomatic note soon, says foreign minister

IN JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has said that Jakarta is still gathering information on the recent seizure of several Singapore- bound granite shipments by his country's navy and will respond soon to the Republic's diplomatic note on the issue.

The Batam Pos yesterday quoted him as saying: 'We will give a complete report to the Singapore Government as soon as possible.'

Last month, the Indonesian navy stopped a number of Singapore-bound granite shipments on suspicion that the vessels were being used to smuggle sand.

Jakarta banned the export of sand last month, citing environmental concerns and the need to protect its maritime boundaries.

Despite recent assurances from Indonesia that there is no export ban on granite, Singapore's granite supply has still not normalised as the seized vessels remain detained and granite exporters have halted shipments for fear of running into more trouble with the naval authorities.

On Monday, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a statement concerning the detained vessels, noting that they have still not been freed.

It also said that when Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo met Dr Hassan in Nuremburg on March 15, the latter had told him that an inter-departmental team had visited the Riau Islands to investigate the cause of the vessels' detention.

'Minister Hassan assured Minister Yeo that the Indonesian team's verification process would be transparent,' the MFA statement said.

'As the vessels are still under Indonesian detention and we have not heard from the Indonesians since then, MFA has sent a Third Party Note (diplomatic note) to the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore on March 26 to seek an update on the results of the Indonesian team's investigation.'

In the interview with the Batam Pos, Dr Hassan said Indonesia had received the diplomatic note, adding that he had already verbally explained the situation to Mr Yeo when they met in Germany.

He told the newspaper: 'At that time, I said that it was true that the ships detained by the navy were granite-bearing vessels, but the problem lay with what was below the granite.'

According to the Batam Pos, Dr Hassan said only a few of the ships were actually carrying granite chips.

He added: 'They were trying to pull a fast one on us by hiding land sand, which has been banned from export, under the granite.'

Also in the report, however, was navy spokesman Slamet Yulistiyono attributing the seizure to reasons other than sand smuggling.

Although he said that a number of the detained vessels were caught for trying to smuggle sand, he also told the paper: 'Most of them were stopped because they didn't have the proper passage permits, or had unclear shipping manifests and unqualified captains.'