92 Indonesian islands `vulnerable to being claimed by foreigners'

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta Post 25 May 09;

Indonesia's 92 outer islands from Aceh to Papua, are at risk of being claimed by foreign countries, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has warned.

LIPI researcher Ono Kurnaen Sumadiharga said the fate of 92 outer islands could be similar to that of the Sipadan and Ligitan islands that were handed over to Malaysia in 2002, as the government failed to take action to protect them.

"If the government takes no action, 92 outer islands risk a similar fate to the Sipadan and Ligitan islands," Ono, also an oceanography professor at the University of Indonesia, said Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Indonesia lost a long-standing battle with Malaysia over the Sipadan and Ligitan islands when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the islands in the Sulawesi Sea to Malaysia.

Ono said among the vulnerable islands were some islands near Biak in Papua and Natuna in the Riau Islands.

"First, foreign fishermen might only moor their ships in the uninhabited outer islands. They could then reside there and raise their countries' flags before claiming the islands as their own," he said.

He said aside from a lack of physical activities, the government officials also very rarely visited the outer islands. Ono was also concerned about the risk outer islands becoming over populated from the infl ux of illegal migrants in the area.

"In case of Sangihe regency in North Sulawesi, many residents speak the Tagalog language, the Philippines' most widely spoken language," he said.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah refuted the claim, saying the government had registered all outer islands in the country's map.

"The possibility of foreigners claiming Indonesia's outer islands as their property is very slim since we have registered them *the outer islands* in our national maps," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"What we are concerned with is illegal fishing practices."

He also insisted cases similar to that of Sipadan and Ligitan islands would never happen again in Indonesia.

"We have finished negotiating border issues with other countries. We use the outer islands as a basis to determine our sea borders with other countries," he said.

Ono said the government needed to increase patrols around the outer islands and place Indonesian Navy offi cers there to prevent foreigners entering the uninhabited islands.

He said the government could also cooperate with private investors to manage the outer islands as tourism areas.

Earlier, the Aru Islands administration in South Maluku admitted it had intensifi ed patrols around its outer islands to prevent intruders from illegally entering the area.

Maluku has 18 outer islands, mostly uninhabited.

Eight outer islands are located in the Aru Island regency and the other 10 are in Southwest Maluku.

Indonesia has about 5.8 million square kilometers of sea and about 17,500 small islands, many of which have remained unnamed and uninhabited.

The government has also admitted the rising sea level brought about by climate change could also cause 2,000 of the country's islands to disappear.