Jakarta's defence pact with Singapore hits snag

The Straits Times, May 17, 2007
By Azhar Ghani, Indonesia Bureau Chief


Disagreement over how to implement the pact has led to indefinite delay in signing

JAKARTA - THE Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) signed between Singapore and Indonesia last month has run into problems because of disagreements over how to implement the pact.

The hiccup surfaced on Monday last week when a scheduled signing ceremony to seal three sets of detailed arrangements for the military training areas covered under the DCA failed to go ahead.

The arrangements were to have been signed in Jakarta between the respective chiefs of the armies, navies and air forces of the two countries.

But a last-minute failure to agree on some details led to an indefinite postponement of the signing.

Indonesian Defence Ministry expert staff Major-General Djoko Soetrisno was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying: 'There are still several points that have not been agreed on by both sides.'

He said the signing ceremony was initially rescheduled to take place in Batam the following day, but that also fell through, and it has now been postponed indefinitely until the two sides can reach agreement.

Among the outstanding issues, added Gen Djoko, is the delineation of naval training areas bordering Malaysia.

A broad agreement on the training areas was signed by the countries' military chiefs at the same time that the DCA was inked.

But the three outstanding pacts between the different arms of the two militaries are supposed to flesh out more specific details, such as exact training zone perimeters and procedures.

Without the details upfront, the DCA does not stand much of a chance of being ratified by the Indonesian Parliament.

On Tuesday, Antara also quoted Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono as saying: 'We still need to tie up several details. And this process is part of our efforts to give (the Indonesian Parliament) confidence in the agreements we signed with Singapore.'

The DCA was inked together with an extradition treaty at a high-profile April 27 ceremony in Bali, witnessed by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

This followed a commitment made by the two leaders in 2005 to negotiate the two pacts in parallel and conclude them together as a package.

But the package arrangement has led to Indonesian critics branding the DCA as a sop for Singapore to get it to agree to the extradition treaty long sought by Indonesia.

And critics of the agreement include legislators who would be involved in ratifying it.

According to the Antara report on Tuesday, they will learn more about the DCA at a government briefing scheduled for May 28 as a prelude to the ratification process.

And Dr Juwono said: 'We will convince them first. We're ready for that.'