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PHNOM PENH, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) — A Cambodia’s National Defense Ministry official said Saturday that there was another small fire between Thai and Cambodian troops in Veal Veng district in Pursat province.

Maj. Gen. Chhum Socheat, spokesman of Cambodia’s National Defense Ministry told reporters that the clash happened at about 10 p.m. on Friday night but “we are still investigating the reason and who started the fire first.” He said he also learned from the troops that the fire has resulted in the death of one Thai solider and injury of a few others.

But no one was reportedly killed or injured from the Cambodian side, he said. Keo Sokunthear, vice police chief of Pursat province told reporters that as many as 20 Thai soldiers were trying to trespass Cambodian territory on Friday night before fire exchanged.

He said no Cambodian soldiers had lost lives in the fire, but one Thai soldier was killed and a few others might be injured, but he could not give the actual number.

On Sunday last week, Thai and Cambodian troops also exchanged a fire at the border area, east of Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, a place of the border dispute between the two countries since July 2008.

The President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has fixed the time-limits for the filing of Memorial and Counter-Memorial in the case relating to the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh/Myanmar).

During consultations held with the President of the Tribunal on 25 and 26 January 2010 on the premises of the Tribunal, the representatives of the parties agreed on the following order and time-limits for the filing of the written pleadings:

1 July 2010: Time-limit for the filing of the Memorial by Bangladesh;
1 December 2010: Time-limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorial by Myanmar.

They further agreed that, should the Tribunal find it necessary to authorize the presentation of reply and rejoinder, the time-limits for the filing of these pleadings should be as follows:

15 March 2011: Time-limit for the filing of the Reply by Bangladesh;
1 July 2011: Time-limit for the filing of the Rejoinder by Myanmar.

By Order 2010/01 of 28 January 2010, the President, taking into account the agreement of the parties, fixed 1 July 2010 as the time-limit for the submission of the Memorial of Bangladesh and 1 December 2010 as the time-limit for the submission of the Counter-Memorial of Myanmar. The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision.

The text of the Order is available on the website of the Tribunal at http://www.itlos.org .

History of proceedings

The proceedings were instituted before the Tribunal on 14 December 2009. By a letter dated 13 December 2009, filed in the Registry of the Tribunal on 14 December 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh notified the President of the Tribunal of declarations issued by the Union of Myanmar on 4 November 2009 and by Bangladesh on 12 December, respectively. In its declaration of 4 November 2009, Myanmar stated that it “accepts the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the settlement of dispute between the Union of Myanmar and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh relating to the delimitation of maritime boundary between the two countries in the Bay of Bengal”. In its declaration of 12 December 2009, Bangladesh stated that it “accepts the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the settlement of the dispute between the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Union of Myanmar relating to the delimitation of their maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal”.

Based on these declarations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh stated that “[g]iven Bangladesh’s and Myanmar’s mutual consent to the jurisdiction of ITLOS, and in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS Article 287 (4), Bangladesh considers that your distinguished Tribunal is now the only forum for the resolution of the parties’ dispute. […] Bangladesh respectfully invites ITLOS to exercise jurisdiction over the maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar, which is the subject of Bangladesh’s 08 October 2009 statement of claim”.

In light of the agreement of the parties, as reflected in their respective declarations, to submit to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for adjudication their dispute relating to the delimitation of their maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, and taking into account the notification of Bangladesh filed on 14 December 2009, the case was entered in the List of cases as Case No.16.

The press releases of the Tribunal, documents and other information are available on the Tribunal’s websites: http://www.itlos.org and http://www.tidm.org

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

www.bakosurtanal.go.id

ATAMBUA [Fajar]– Batas wilayah Indonesia khususnya di Kabupaten Belu yang berbatasan dengan negara Timor Leste sangat rawan pelanggaran batas wilayah. Buktinya, Senin (25/1) lalu, warga Timor Leste, Romeo dos Santo (23) asal Maliana-Distrik Bobonaro memasuki wilayah Indonesia secara ilegal.

Warga Timor Leste ini berhasil ditangkap Satgas Pamtas RI-RDTL di Silawan, kecamatan Tasifeto Timur. ”Senin kemarin, kami berhasil tangkap satu pelintas batas ilegal dari Timor Leste,” ujar Komandan Satgas Pamtas RI-RDTL, Letkol (Inf) Arman Dahlan kepada koran ini, Rabu (27/1) kemarin.

Ia mengatakan, Romeo dos Santos yang ditangkap merupakan warga Maliana, distrik Bobonaro-Timor Leste. Selain memasuki wilayah Indonesia secara ilegal, Romeo dos Santos saat ditangkap mengemudikan sepeda motor Yamaha Yupiter MX dari wilayah Belu lewat jalan tikus tanpa surat resmi. “Saat ditangkap pelaku membawa serta motor, yang di duga hendak dibawah dan diselundupkan ke Timor Leste,” ujarnya.

Barang bukti berupa sepeda motor tersebut kata dia, langsung diamankan dan telah diserahkan ke Polres Belu guna proses hukum selanjutnya. Warga Timor Leste ini kata dia, masuk ke Belu secara ilegal dengan tujuan kredit sepeda motor di Atambua. Sepeda motor ini kemudian hendak dibahwa ke Timor Leste. Sayang, niat warga Timor Leste ini berhasil digagalkan Satgas Pamtas.

Ketika ditanyai soal keamanan perbatasan, ia mengatakan hingga saat ini pihaknya terus melakukan pengamanan sebagaimana yang diamanatkan, dan hingga saat ini masih kondusif tanpa masalah yang luar biasa. “Perbatasan masih kondusif dan kami akan terus mengamankan perbatasan,” ujarnya.

Kapolres Belu, AKBP, Sugeng Kurniaji membenarkan pelaku dan barang bukti telah diserahkan kepada pihanya. Namun pelaku telah dideportasi ke Timor Leste, sedangkan barang bukti berupa motor sementara diamankan lalu diserahkan kepada dealer.

“Barang bukti berupa sepeda motor Yamaha Yupites MX dan beberapa barang bukti lagi diamankan. Bagi warga Belu atau dealer yang merasa kehilangan sepeda motor merk tersebut, silahkan menghubungi kami,” katanya. (r7)

Cincin Merah di Barat Sonne

Andi Arsana, salah satu penggiat Border Studies, baru saja menerbitkan sebuah buku populer: Cincin Merah di Barat Sonne. Buku ini berkisah tentang banyak hal terkait geospasial dan batas wilayah dengan bahasa yang populer. Hal-hal teknis terkait teknlogi gepspasial, hukum laut dan teknologi informasi diungkap dengan bahasa yang mudah dimengerti. Dalam buku ini ada bab dengan judul “Hukum Laut” ada juga “Global Positioning System” dan “Sistem Informasi Geografis”. Namun jangan berharap di sana ada formula matematika karena semua ditampilkan dalam bentuk kisah sederhana yang menarik. Pembaca mungkin akan belajar banyak hal-hal berat tanpa merasakannnya.

Tidak saja tentang kelautan dan ilmu geospasial, buku ini mengungkap banyak dimensi perburuan ilmu pengetahuan dengan baik. Ada cerita tentang kenyataan mengharukan menjadi peneliti Indonesia, ada juga banyak hal-hal konyol yang diceritakan dengan sederhana namun sarat makna. Singkat kata, buku ini berisi banyak hal yang patut dibaca.

Calon pembaca di luar Indonesia dapat membeli buku ini dari Beyond Borders dengan mengisi formulir di bawah ini:

TEHRAN, Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:36am ESTTEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian and Iraqi commanders expressed hope after a meeting on Monday the two neighbors would resolve “misunderstandings” over their joint border, Iranian media reported. Earlier this month the two countries’ foreign ministers said Tehran and Baghdad had begun talks, after a small contingent of Iranian troops moved into an oilfield inside Iraqi territory in December and Iraq vowed it would not give up an inch of land.

The dispute is over an inactive oil well in a sensitive area along the nearly 1,500-km (900-mile) joint border. The seizure of the well, which Iraq claims as part of its Fakka oilfield in southeastern Maysan province, triggered protests from Baghdad and jitters on world oil markets. Tehran called the incident a “misunderstanding.”

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said Brigadier-General Hossein Zolfaqari, who headed Iran’s delegation at Monday’s meeting of senior border guard officials, said it was important to have close cooperation between the two countries. After talks in the Iranian border town of Qasr-e Shirin, he expressed hope that “existing misunderstandings” would be resolved through the implementation of border agreements dating back to 1975, IRIB said, without giving details.

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency quoted the head of Iraq’s delegation as saying “problems and misunderstandings in the marine and land sections” of the border must be resolved quickly. It gave his name as Brigadier General Mohsen Abdolhossein. The resolution of border issues would help “bring the expansion of ties into a new phase,” he said, according to Fars.

The Iranian media reports did not say whether the two sides reached any concrete agreements at Monday’s meeting. Iraqi officials said in December a dozen Iranian soldiers had moved 100 meters into Iraqi territory and raised the Iranian flag over the disputed well. Iraq later said the Iranians had moved away from the well but were still on Iraqi soil.

The well was drilled in 1979 and provided about 3,000 barrels a day at the time, but has been inactive since 1980 due to the war between the two countries in the 1980s. Fakka is part of the Maysan oilfield complex, which has reserves of about 2.5 billion barrels. Iraq tried unsuccessfully to auction it off to foreign oil firms last year.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Anggota Komisi I DPR RI, Fayakhun Andriadi mengkritik Undang Undang Nomor 43 Tahun 2008 tentang Batas Wilayah Negara yang tidak mencantumkan sama sekali titik-titik koordinat perbatasan RI, sehingga aparat negara di perbatasan bingung.

“Ini kelemahan serius dari undang-undang tersebut, sehingga sejak beberapa waktu lalu kami dari Komisi I mendesak untuk adanya revisi, agar implementasi UU ini dapat meyakinkan di lapangan, karena ada dasar hukum yang jelas bagi aparat untuk mengamankan wilayah perbatasan kita,” tegasnya kepada ANTARA di Jakarta, Minggu.

Ia mengatakan itu, merespons informasi, Presiden segera keluarkan Perpres tentang sebuah badan yang bertugas mengelola dan memberdayakan pengembangan wilayah perbatasan.

“Sampai saat ini, kami menemukan aparat yang tidak yakin di mana letak batas wilayah negara, dan karenanya mereka menjadi tidak `pede` (percaya diri), khususnya di lokasi-lokasi yang terjadi sengketa dengan negara tetangga, termasuk di Blok Ambalat,” ungkapnya.

Atas nama rekan-rekannya di Komisi I DPR RI, Fayakhun mendesak UU Nomor 43 Tahun 2008 direvisi, dengan dilengkapi koordinat-koordinat batas wilayah.

“Ini penting, agar kita punya dasar hukum yang jelas jika beradu argumentasi dengan pihak lain atau klaim negara tetangga atas wilayah tertentu,” tandasnya.(*)

Komentar

Ide pembentukan UU No 43/2008 ini sebenarnya bukanlah untuk memuat koordinat batas wilayah yang pasti, tetapi memuat ketentuan tentang wilayah negara. Batas wilayah negara adalah sesuatu yang bilateral atau trilateral sifatnya. Oleh karena itu, batas yang sudah disepakati ini dituangkan dalam perjanjian dengan negara lain. Perjanjian inilah yang memuat koordinat titik-titik batas. Dalam pasal 6 ayat 2 UU No. 43/2008 sebenarnya sudah dijelaskan bahwa “Batas Wilayah Negara sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1), termasuk titik-titik koordinatnya ditetapkan berdasarkan perjanjian bilateral dan/atau trilateral“. Pasal ini sesungguhnya sudah menjelaskan bahwa UU No. 43/2008 ini tidak bisa berdiri sendiri dengan memperlakukan perjanjian batas wilayah internasional sebagai bagian integral dari undang-undang ini. Hal ini telah juga dijelaskan di pasal 25 yang menyatakan “Perjanjian internasional sebagai hasil perundingan mengenai Batas Wilayah Negara serta Batas Wilayah Yurisdiksi di laut menjadi bagian yang tidak terpisahkan dari Undang-Undang ini.“

SINGAPORE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — Malaysia and Singapore are holding the Meeting of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Technical Committee (MSJTC) for further discussion in the implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judgment on Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Friday.

According to a statement by the MFA, both sides reiterated their commitment to honoring and abiding by the ICJ’s judgment and fully implementing its decision by continuing the discussions pursuant to the Second MSJTC Meeting held in Putrajaya, Malaysia in 2008.

Both sides were pleased with the progress made by the Joint Technical Committee and agreed that the next meeting would be held in one to two months in Malaysia.

In May 2008, the ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca is under Singapore’s sovereignty, and Middle Rocks remains part of Malaysian territory. The Court did not rule definitively on South Ledge, merely declaring that it belongs to the state in the territorial waters of which it is located.

Malaysia and Singapore have established the Joint Technical Committee to delimit the maritime boundary in the area around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks, and to determine the ownership of South Ledge.

On Wednesday morning, a Singapore-registered tugboat capsized off Pedra Branca and 11 crew members were reported missing. Singapore has since conducted a search and rescue operation and recovered four bodies. Seven people are still missing.

Dhaka – Bangladesh [Earthtimes] and Myanmar on Friday began talks on the demarcation of their disputed maritime boundary, officials saidThe lack of a clear boundary caused tension between the two neighbours over offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal in 2008.

“We have discussed the processes of delineating the maritime boundary,” Bangladesh’s Additional Foreign Secretary Md Khurshid Alam said after the first day of the two-day talks in Chittagong. Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint is leading Myanmar’s delegation at the talks, which are due to resume Saturday.

This is the first such meeting since Bangladesh lodged a complaint with the United Nations arbitration court in October 2009 to resolve the dispute with neighbouring Myanmar and India over territorial waters. Bangladesh, however, kept open the option of bilateral discussions to settle the disputes.
Myanmar and Bangladesh resumed talks on maritime boundary demarcation in 2008 after a gap of 22 years, but failed to resolve the dispute.

The earlier dialogue took place against the backdrop of movements of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries following Myanmar’s alleged intrusion into Bangladesh’s territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The tension was defused through diplomatic efforts initiated by Dhaka. Both sides agreed at that time that neither of the sides would pursue oil and gas exploration in the disputed areas of the mineral-rich bay until their boundaries are demarcated according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials say Bangladesh, India and Myanmar cannot exploit the full benefits of their oil and gas reserves in the Bay due to claims and counter-claims to the offshore gas blocks. Out of Bangladesh’s total of 27 offshore gas blocks, Myanmar and India have made overlapping claims on at least 18 blocks in the complicated maritime geography, they said.

Indonesia and its ten neigbors

The 2009 will end shortly and this is a good time to look back a while, reviewing what have happened in the last one year. This article focuses on maritime issues in 2009, based on which Indonesia can prepare its ocean related policies/activities in the future.

Earlier this year Indonesia made a significant progress in its maritime boundary negotiation with Singapore by signing an agreement for a short segment of territorial sea boundary in the Singapore Strait. This is the second boundary agreement with Singapore after the first one signed in 1973. The agreement, which is also the second maritime boundary agreement in the twenty first century for Indonesia, was achieved after a five-year intensive negotiation. It was regarded as a reasonably short one considering that a boundary negotiation may take decades to finish. An earlier agreement with Vietnam in 2003, for example, was negotiated for about 25 years.

Apart from the good achievement, Indonesia still has homework to do regarding maritime boundaries with Singapore. The 2009 agreement still needs to be ratified in order for the agreement to be legally binding for Indonesia. Furthermore, pending boundary segments in the western and eastern sides of the Singapore Strait have yet to be completed. The negotiation for particular segment in the Singapore Strait will not only involve Singapore but also Malaysia. A decision made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning sovereignty over three geographical features in the strait (Pedra Branca, Middle Rock, and South Ledge), is expected to facilitate maritime negotiation among the three States (see also: Beckman and Schofield, 2009).

In March 2009, Indonesia deposited the list of geographical coordinates of points of the Indonesian Archipelagic Baselines to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General. Baselines are reference from which territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf are measured. They are also important in delimiting maritime boundaries with neighboring states. In short, baseline is vital in defining Indonesia’s territory and jurisdictions.

Some may opine that this deposition should have been done earlier considering that Indonesia is one of the pioneers of the archipelagic state concept, which was recognized by the international community in 1982. However, this deposition may still be viewed as a good achievement, by which the whole archipelago is now fully enclosed by a completed baseline system. Furthermore, the new baseline system meets legal and geospatial criteria required by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (Schofield and Arsana, 2009).

In the same month, March 2009 Indonesia presented its submission of continental shelf limits to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The presentation is a follow up to a submission made in June 2008 concerning the outer limits of Indonesia’s continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from baselines for the seabed area to the west of Sumatera. Should the submission be recommended by CLCS, Indonesia can then define final and binding outer limits of its continental shelf in the area. Subsequently, Indonesia will enjoy sovereign rights to utilize natural resources therein (see: Arsana and Schofield, 2009).

In June 2009, the Ambalat case, the one that first sparked in 2005, for once again caused tension between Indonesia and Malaysia. Without judging any party, this tension is an indication that border does matter. The absence of maritime boundaries in the Sulawesi Sea between Indonesia and Malaysia, among others, is the reason behind this dispute (Arsana, 2009). This also reminds both parties to keep the already good work in negotiating their maritime boundaries. As already indicated by both parties, negotiation would be the preferred way to solve the dispute, instead of submitting the case to a third party such as ICJ or International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). I believe that the Indonesian negotiating team has been doing their best in achieving the best solution for parties in question. The efforts require positive support from media by issuing news and facts that enlighten public.

In general, cases and the building of tension between Indonesia and its neighboring States in relation to maritime boundary dispute is a clear message how sensitive pending maritime boundaries could be. Indonesia has yet to finalize the delimitation of maritime boundaries with India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Palau and Timor Leste. Previous extensive experience in accomplishing around 17 maritime boundary agreements should be good reference for Indonesia in continuing the effort to finalize its pending maritime boundaries.

In August 2009, Indonesia succeeded in hosting the World Ocean Conference in Manado that produced the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD). In addition, there was also a meeting on Coral Triangle Initiative involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. Indonesia is the initiator of the program whereby President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono. This is a positive action taken by Indonesia in leading the way toward safeguarding the region’s marine and coastal biological resources for the sustainable growth and prosperity of current and future generations.

In the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) Indonesia called for prioritizing ocean issues in the negotiations. The negotiating team tried its best to propose part of the MOD text be included in COP15’s result. Unfortunately, the ocean-related issues do not explicitly appear in the Copenhagen Accord. However, there are still hopes since the issues are retained in the mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer, and capacity development. For Indonesia, with two third of the area are ocean, acknowledgement of ocean related issues by the COP15 is crucial.

Another good news related to maritime issues is the plan to establish the National Board of Border Management pursuant to the Law No 43/2008 on National Territory. Indonesia is now very close to have a national board dealing with border management. This board will coordinate the activities related to land and maritime boundaries in Indonesia. Even though it is relatively late, the establishment of the board is a good step toward better management of border area. The board is hoped to he established early in 2010.

To sum up, several maritime/ocean issues that Indonesia has encountered in 2009 enrich its knowledge and experience to prepare for a better-managed ocean in 2010 and beyond. Being an archipelagic State, ocean is undoubtedly important for Indonesia. That is why being concerned with the maritime issues is indispensible. If there are important roles that Indonesia should play in the international arena, maritime sector should one of them.