KUALA LUMPUR, 10 June 2009: Malaysian and Indonesian naval vessels should apply the rules agreed upon in a 2002 memorandum of understanding (MoU) to avert tension until the Ambalat territorial issues is resolved, retired Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) vice-admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor said today.
Ramli, who is now Maritime Institute of Malaysia (Mima) chairperson, said the memorandum on “Prevention of Incidents at Sea (Incsea)” between the RMN and the Indonesian navy spelt out the boundaries for both nations’ vessels.
“With the Incsea MoU, the naval vessels of both countries know what they can and cannot do so as not to raise tension,” he told reporters.
In this connection, he supported a proposal by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday that the naval vessels of Malaysia and Indonesia stay out of the disputed Ambalat waters until the issue was resolved.
Ramli said the important thing now was to find a solution.
The Ambalat waters, located east of Indonesia’s Kalimantan and southeast of Malaysia’s Sabah, are an oil-rich territory claimed by both countries since the 1960’s.
So far, 13 rounds of discussions at the technical level have been held between both countries to find a solution.
Ramli also said that the sixth Mima international conference on the Straits of Malacca, on the theme “Charting the Future”, would be held on 23 and 24 June here.
He said the conference’s objective was to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation among the littoral states of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore and straits users. The issues covered would be the waterway’s management as well as safety of navigation, security and environmental protection.
“The conference will feature speakers from the littoral states as well as the users of the straits and those from China, India, Japan and the US,” he added. — Bernama
robin goodfellow says
Ambalat hak milik Malaysia. Ini sudah diperjelaskan oleh makhamah keadilan antarabangsa iaitu ICJ. Mengapa pula laksamana TLDM, yang diamanahkan untuk memantau kedaulatan negara, tidak menegakkan ketuanan Malaysia di sana? Aibnya sekiranya angkatan tentera kita dipermain dan diperlekehkan oleh negara jiran.
Had Malaysian naval ships intruded into Indonesian waters? says
Singapore, KLS: Malaysian defense minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi dismissed the claim of growing tensions in the disputed oil-rich waters of Ambalat in the border region between Malaysia and Indonesia, but he did not rule out firmly the report of Malaysian naval ships had entered Indonesian territorial waters.
According to yesterday’s Indonesian press report that “it was moments away from firing on a Malaysian warship that encroached deep into Indonesian territorial waters earlier this week, but called off the attack when the intruder retreated”.
Ahmad Zahid said that he actually has discussed with Indonesian parliamentary members on Wednesday this week regarding the above issue. Those parliamentary members are the ones who incharged to look after defense matters.
He told KLS at Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore that they have resolved the problem, however, those Indonesian delegates need to get further directive from relevant authority.
He disclosed part of the discussion that they initially agreed not to report the issue bases on adverse information, the Indonesian press, however, reported this issue without their knowledge.
Asked whether the situation’s tension is growing, Ahmad Zahid, said no such serious issue.
When answering an important question of whether Malaysian naval ships had intruded into Indonesian territorial waters as claimed, he said, “probably, if there is, no specific purpose, no intention to enter their territorial waters.â€
This news says Malaysia did intrude indonesian waters. http://www.klsreview.com/HTML/2009Jan_Jun/20090530_02.html
Hafidz Baharom says
Actually the case of Ambalat was never brought to ICJ since both parties have yet to agree to do so.