Singapore, Jakarta to sign border pact

Straits Times 10 Mar 09;

SINGAPORE Foreign Minister George Yeo is visiting Jakarta today to sign a bilateral maritime border agreement with Indonesia.

The agreement on the western segment of their maritime border will delimit the western part of the Strait of Singapore,said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said early last month that the new borderline was drawn between Indonesia's Pulau Nipah and Singapore's Sultan Shoal.

Pulau Nipah is located between the Indonesian islands of Batam and Karimun Besar.

While in Jakarta, Mr Yeo will officiate the opening of the new chancery of the Singapore Embassy.

He will also be meeting prominent Indonesian academics and media personalities, the statement said.

Republic Indonesia, Singapore ink sea border agreement
The Jakarta Post 10 Mar 09;

After four years of negotiations, the governments of Indonesia and Singapore agreed on a sea border on Tuesday, formed by Nipah and Tuas islands in the Singapore strait, Antara state newswire reports.

After signing the deal with Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the agreement was in its second stage after first being inked in May, 1973.

Under the agreement, the two islands would form part of Singapore's western sea border, although it is unclear from the report whether the islands would be part of Singapore or Indonesian territory.

"We hope this deal will help develop cooperative ties between the two countries, and we are optimistic about reaching similar agreements for the eastern sea border, later," Wirajuda said.

The eastern sea border is divided into two segments. The first segment includes an area between Changi and Batam, while the second encompasses a region between Bintan and South Ledge/Middle Rock/Pedra Branca.

Minister George Yeo said both governments would discuss the two segments immediately but had not set any deadlines to finalize the negotiations. (ewd)

Singapore, Indonesia sign maritime border treaty
Channel NewsAsia Indonesia Bureau Chief Sujadi Siswo 10 Mar 09;

JAKARTA: Singapore and Indonesia have signed a maritime border agreement, which extends a sea boundary between the two neighbours.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday after four years of talks, with both sides hailing it as an important milestone in bilateral relations. But it still has to be ratified by their respective parliaments before the treaty can come into effect.

Doing the honours in Jakarta were Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo and his Indonesian counterpart, Mr Hassan Wirajuda – both of whom had initiated the talks in 2005.

"It is not often that foreign ministers would begin talks on border delimitation and end up being able to sign them because it usually takes time. This is the essence of good relations where we work towards win-win outcomes. This agreement is an important milestone in our bilateral relations," said Mr Yeo.

The new sea boundary is an extension of an existing maritime treaty signed in 1973. It lies off the western part of Singapore near Tuas and Indonesia's Nipah Island which is part of the Riau Islands.

It is also in compliance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both countries are signatories of.

Indonesia, an archipelago, shares its border with ten countries. It said Tuesday's agreement will further strengthen bilateral relations between Jakarta and Singapore.

The Indonesian foreign minister said: "Border diplomacy is one of the priority areas of Indonesia's diplomacy."

Both countries will refer the treaty to their respective parliament for ratification. Jakarta will seek ratification from the new parliament after the elections next month.

However, buoyed by the successful completion of this treaty, talks will soon start on the eastern sea border between the two countries.

The first involves an area off Indonesia's Batam Island and Singapore's Changi area. The other is located between Indonesia's Bintan Island and South Ledge near Pedra Branca, which Singapore and Malaysia have competing claims.

The successful completion of the border agreement within a relatively short period of time, without a third-party resolution, is certainly a remarkable achievement.

Both countries are now determined and optimistic that the remaining part of the sea border can be settled with the same spirit of friendship and compromise.- CNA/so

Singapore and Jakarta sign border accord
Agreement covers the western segment of the maritime boundary
Salim Osman, Straits Times 11 Mar 09;

JAKARTA: Singapore and Indonesia yesterday signed an agreement demarcating the western segment of their maritime border.

The agreement - the result of eight rounds of talks - sets down a borderline drawn between Indonesia's Pulau Nipa and the western part of Singapore.

The pact will have to be ratified by the Indonesian Parliament to come into effect.

The last maritime border pact between the two countries was signed in May 25, 1973.

Talks on the latest agreement began in 2005. Reports then indicated concern among Indonesian officials over reclamation works by Singapore.

Foreign Minister George Yeo, who signed the treaty on behalf of Singapore yesterday, hailed it as 'an important milestone in bilateral relations'.

'Once the agreement is ratified, we look forward to the negotiation of the eastern borders, which I hope will be marked by the same spirit of friendship and compromise on both sides,' he said at a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda after the ceremony.

Mr Yeo added that the legal certainty and clarity provided by the treaty would help both sides step up security in the area.

'We've already had coordinated patrols against piracy by security forces from both sides...With this new border agreement, (cooperation) will be even better,' he said.

Indonesia's military chief, General Djoko Santoso, who was also at the ceremony, told reporters: 'This agreement gives us a certainty over our fixed maritime territories so that the security enforcement in the sea and air will be more effective.'

Indonesian Foreign Minister Wirajuda too welcomed the treaty for strengthening bilateral ties.

'The agreement just signed certainly reflects the adherence of both Singapore and Indonesia to the principles contained in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,' he noted.

Mr Wirajuda said his government would present the treaty to Parliament for ratification after the country's legislative elections next month.

Both sides, he said, will now look towards settling the eastern segments of their borders. There was no indication when talks on these would start.

One segment covers the area between Indonesia's Batam and Singapore's Changi.

Another section involves Indonesia's Bintan, as well as South Ledge, Middle Rocks and Pedra Branca.

Mr Wirajuda said that talks on Bintan and the rest will have to await the outcome of negotiations between Singapore and Malaysia following the ruling last year by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The ICJ had granted Singapore sovereignty over Pedra Branca and awarded Malaysia the Middle Rocks outcrop.

Who owns South Ledge is still being worked out by the two sides. The ICJ's view is that it belongs to the country in whose waters it sits.

Mr Wirajuda said yesterday that while he could not provide a timeframe for the next phase of maritime border negotiations, he was optimistic that it could be reached in five years.

'The treaty we have signed today took us five years to complete,' he noted. 'The border delimitation with Vietnam took us 33 years to complete.'

'That is why I appreciate the goodwill and cooperation of both delegations for being able to conclude an agreement in five years,' he said.

Later in the day, Mr Yeo opened the new chancery in Jakarta, which ranks among Singapore's biggest missions in the world.

The size of the mission, he said, was a reflection of the close and multifaceted relationship between the two sides.

Indonesia, Singapore sign maritime border pact
Treaty seen as boost to anti-piracy efforts in Malacca Strait
Business Times 11 Mar 09;

(JAKARTA) Indonesia and Singapore signed a treaty setting out part of their shared maritime boundary yesterday, in a move touted as a boon for anti-piracy efforts in the strategic Malacca Strait.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said that the legal certainty provided by the treaty would boost anti-piracy efforts in the Malacca Strait, where recent joint patrols by the two nations have been credited with causing a drop in the number of attacks.

'We've already had coordinated patrols against piracy by security forces from both sides . . . With this new border agreement, (cooperation) will be even better,' Mr Yeo said.

'This agreement gives us a certainty over our fixed (maritime) territories so that the security enforcement in the sea and air will be more effective,' Indonesian armed forces chief Djoko Santoso said.

More than 30 per cent of world trade and half the world's oil shipments pass through the Malacca Strait, which is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Indonesia's navy has warned that the effects of the global financial crisis could lead to a rise in piracy in the Strait.

The agreement legally defines the western part of both countries' sea boundary and was the result of nearly four years of negotiations, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told reporters. 'On the future negotiation on (the) eastern maritime segment, we're equally optimistic that it will be successful as well,' he said\. \-- AFP

Indonesia and Singapore Agree on Western Coastal Border
Tempointeraktif.com 11 Mar 09;

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Indonesia and Singapore have agreed on the Western coast borders separating the two countries. The maritime border agreement was signed by the foreign affairs ministers of both countries, Hassan Wirajuda and George Yeoh, at the Indonesian Foreign Affairs’ Pancasila Building in Jakarta, yesterday.

The two ministers agreed that the agreement can strengthen cooperation between the two countries. “We hope this can generate bilateral cooperation,” Wirajuda said at the press conference after signing the deal. “It can also be the start for negotiations on an Eastern maritime border agreement,” George Yeoh added.

Wirajuda said negotiations on the Western border agreement would be a learning experience for the next agreement. However, he could not confirm when all borders between the two countries would be discussed. “This involves many aspects and can be complicated. We cannot, at this time, determine how long it will take,” he said. He cited the negotiations on the Vietnam border which took up 32 years.

The Indonesia-Singapore Western maritime border is located between the Indonesia’s Nipah Island and that of Sultan Soul, belonging to Singapore. According to the Justice and International Agreement director-general Arief Havas Oegroseno, negotiations took five years to complete. The western borderline is joined in the middle border, located between the islands of Batam and Singapore.

Havas confirmed that Singapore’s reclamation did not affect the maritime border decision. “We don’t want it to be used as reference,” he said. In the agreement, the frontier begins with Nipah Island, with the line stretching from Greater Karimun Island. The line was determined in 1960 and was revised by Government Regulation No. 37/2008. Meanwhile, Singapore is using basic coastal line, therefore the reclamation did not affect anything. “From the very beginning, we did not want the reclamation to become the basic point,” Havas said.

After the signing of the agreement, Indonesia and Singapore still has one more maritime border to be discussed, namely the Eastern segment. The Eastern segment is divided into two, the First East, consisting of Batam and Changi; and the Second East, covering Bintan-Pedra Branca and Southledge. The subsequent negotiations will focus about the First East because this area only involves the two countries and its length is relatively short. “The next will be the Second East, because we must await the results of negotiations between Singapore and Malaysia,” Havas said. In the Second East zone, Singapore also share borders with Malaysia.

After the agreement is signed, Havas hopes a legal certainty can be established to refer to all border-related measures. “Operations involving security patrols would be more clear because there will be legal certainty, not based on assumptions as in the past,” he said.

Indonesian military (TNI) welcomes the border agreement. “The agreement provides legal certainty in maritime and air control, so operations will be easier,” commented Indonesian Armed Forces chief, Gen. Djoko Santoso, after attending the signing of the agreement. He said the agreement. This can improve coordination of operations with Singapore especially in dealing crimes at the border zones. So far, both countries, together with Malaysia and Thailand, carry out joint-patrols to secure the Malacca Strait.

In anticipation of this Indonesian-Singaporean border agreement, the TNI has constructed checkpoints at Nipah Island. “That will be the Indonesian Navy’s guard post. Its construction has been completed and is now operational,” Djoko said.

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