Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Demonstrators held a noisy protest outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, chanting slogans and asserting Indonesia's claim to a disputed area off the coast of Malaysia's Sabah state and Indonesia's East Kalimantan province in the first territorial dispute since Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office last October.
Indonesia has sent four F-16 fighter planes and three more warships to join the four already stationed in the oil-rich waters off Borneo Island. The Royal Malaysian Navy has also deployed two warships to the area, further adding to the tensions. Though both governments continue to insist that the dispute over conflicting claims as to who controls the resource-rich offshore area will be resolved diplomatically, the buildup of military forces in the waters continues to be a cause for concern.
After a cabinet meeting chaired by Yudhoyono on Sunday, Indonesian air force chief of staff Rear Marshal Djoko Suyanto said the additional military strength "isn't aimed at provocation", but that the fighters were sent to strengthen patrols maintaining sovereignty over Indonesia's territorial waters.
This latest military buildup came after a report last Thursday that a Malaysian navy Beechcraft had apparently breached Indonesian airspace over the Sulawesi Sea in the fifth such incident in less than two weeks. According to Colonel Marsetio, commander of the Indonesian navy's Eastern Fleet Command's Combat Task Force, "The aircraft was flying close to our warships near the Ambalat Island, and was three miles into our territory according to map and visual observation."
In a telephone conversation on Monday morning between Malaysian Premier Abdullah Badawi and Yudhoyono, who was about to leave Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah military airfield to visit Sebatik Island, just west of Ambalat, where the disputed area lies, the two leaders agreed that both their foreign ministers would meet in Jakarta on Wednesday to try to defuse the long-running maritime row.
Sebatik is just off the land border between East Kalimantan and Sabah and is split between both countries. To the east lie the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands, which were disputed for years before Malaysia was given sovereignty over them by the International Court of Justice in 2002.
The visit to Sebatik by the president, who was accompanied by Indonesia's former military commander in chief and current coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Widodo A S; Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro; Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris; Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi; and current military chief General Endriartono Sutarto, was aimed at seeking direct reports on the situation in the border areas, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said.
Yudhoyono told a local radio station during his visit that he had agreed with Prime Minister Badawi to reduce tensions. "Our hope is that this problem can be solved through diplomatic channels with a fair solution in respect to Indonesia's sovereign and territorial rights," the president said.
Oil concessions add fuel to the fire
On February 16 Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas awarded oil-exploration rights in two exploration blocks in the disputed Ambalat area to its own exploration arm along with Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch/Shell. However, Indonesia already had granted a concession to US-based oil giant Unocal Corp in November to pump liquefied natural gas (LNG) from deepwater blocks in that area.
Jakarta has warned Royal Dutch/Shell not to meddle in the offshore oil concessions. Arif Havas Oegroseno, director for political, security and territorial agreements with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told local media that a letter had been sent to Shell Malaysia and Shell in the Netherlands warning that "the waters around the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands are our territory, and we regard giving this award as violating our sovereignty".
"We have warned Shell, do not enter our waters," he said. When asked about the International Court of Justice's decision to award sovereignty over the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands to Malaysia, Oegroseno said the judges had stated that the interests of mapping Malaysian sovereignty over the two islands did not have a direct influence on the delineation of the continental shelf. "In other words, the maritime region still belonged to Indonesia," he said.
Malaysia claims that the waters around the islands are part of its territory, though Indonesia says Malaysian waters extend only 19 kilometers from Sipadan and Ligitan. The Malaysian claim is erroneous, according to Jakarta, as it is based on a self-made and outdated 1979 map of the area that is not recognized by the Indonesian government or most other Southeast Asian countries.
Badawi calls for diplomacy
After his call to Yudhoyono, Badawi said he hoped the dispute could be managed in a "cordial manner". He added that, "to prevent any undesirable incidents which may create tension in the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia, both of us agreed for the matter to be discussed at the diplomatic level". But back in Jakarta, leading legislators were beginning to push for a hardline stance, with Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Agung Laksono urging stern action, including the use of military force if necessary, to "solve" the dispute.
"We will support such moves as we believe the people will also support such a move," Laksono said. The Ambalat block is well inside Indonesian territory and undeniably part of Indonesia, he added.
Separately Theo Sambuaga, chairman of Indonesia's powerful Commission I on Political and Security Affairs, urged the government to recall its ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, and demonstrators protested outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.
Ties between the two predominantly Muslim nations already are being severely tested by a Malaysian crackdown on an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants, some 400,000 of whom come from Indonesia. Malaysia's controversial operation to round up, whip and even deport the illegal workers has attracted widespread condemnation by rights groups and the governments of affected Asian countries.
Though Malaysia needs the Indonesian workers to support vital industries such as construction, it wants their stay legalized, as does Jakarta. Many Indonesians who fled Malaysia last week after an amnesty for illegal workers expired have sought shelter on Sebatik Island, where both countries have military garrisons.
Indonesia flexes its muscle
On the territorial dispute, Abdul Razak Baginda, a Malaysian analyst from the Malaysian Strategic Research Center, told Reuters, "Indonesia was once the Big Brother in the region but has never been the same since the fall of Suharto. This [dispute] is the first time it is getting a chance to assert itself."
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak expressed his own view: "I think the new president is flexing his muscle." This suggestion, however, may be somewhat at odds with Indonesia's readiness to attempt to resolve the spat diplomatically.
On Friday, Marty Natalegawa, the main spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government will "utilize all options to convey our position on Ambalat", but would not bring the dispute to The Hague. "It is not on our agenda," said the spokesman, who explained that the government would try to settle the dispute through diplomatic channels.
Even Yudhoyono himself has said, "We want to settle this in a good manner... It should be settled well without falling into the trap of confrontation, especially armed confrontation."
Nonetheless, Jakarta is unlikely to be the first to back down. If the undoubted goodwill between both leaders and the ongoing high-level talks fail to produce a compromise, the only other option may be to return to the International Court of Justice, particularly given the strong national sentiment in Indonesia's fractured parliament and the fact that anti-Malaysia sentiment has already surfaced on the streets in Jakarta.
Former People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais has urged the government to make all efforts to continue the fight for Ambalat. "If the government is softhearted and weak, they [Malaysia] will really put pressure on us. So the ball is really in the government's court," Rais said in Makassar, South Sulawesi, where a small "Front for Crushing Malaysia" center has been set up to defend the country should tensions continue.
The Indonesian military is clearly ready to assume battle positions in the unlikely event that this recent bout of gunboat diplomacy leads to shots being fired in anger. On Monday the navy's main spokesman, First Admiral Abdul Malik Yusuf, was quoted as saying: "We will not let an inch of our land or a drop of our ocean fall into the hands of foreigners."
[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has worked in Indonesia for 19 years in journalism and editorial positions. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis in Indonesia.]