"Border issues are one of the tough subjects that we will discuss with Malaysia. Today's meeting will discuss technical matters related to the demarcation of the borders," Director General for Cooperation with Asia Pacific and Africa Hamzah Thayeb said here on Tuesday.
He said delegations from the two countries would also discuss the measures to be taken in case a problem occur in a border area. However, Hamzah did not say which border areas would be the subject of discussions between the Indonesian and Malaysian delegations.
About issues affecting Indonesian workers in Malaysia, Hamzah said officials from both countries had stated their commitment to solve the problem together.
"Unfortunately most of Indonesian workers who are facing legal problems or being abused by their employee in Malaysia are actually illegal workers. That's why we find it difficult to locate them or provide services to them," he said.
In order to solve the problem, Hamzah said, the Indonesian and Malaysian governments had agreed to collect the data on all Indonesian workers in Malaysia.
Earlier, during a joint commission meeting in Kinabalu city, Malaysia. delegations from the two countries had agreed to speed up the solution of Indonesia-Malaysia sea border problems.
"We are quite satisfied with the talks in Kota Kinabalu, because the talks produced four scheduled meetings which will speed up the solution of the sea borer problems between Indonesia and Malaysia in the Malacca Strait, Singapore Strait, South China Sea, and in the Sulawesi Strait," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said.
The minister said the two countries had also agreed to adopt e standard operating procedures (SOP) and rules of engagement (ROE)) for the relevant authorities in the field to prevent a repetition of similar incidents.
In the meantime, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in this context the two countries had agreed to include civilian elements from both counties, namely Indonesia`s sea security coordinating agency (Bakorkamla), and Malaysia`s maritime authority agency (APMM) in the the existing general border committee (GBC) structure.
Improved SOP and ROE have become increasingly important as the talks may be rather lengthy.
Anifah also underlined the need for an information system on the origin of fishermen at sea, to enable sea security personnel to give an early warning before they could violate the sovereignty of a neighboring country.
"Intensive meetings are also necessary between the sea security personnel of the two countries so that they will know each other better as two neighboring countries," Anifah added.(*)
Editor : Nyoman Budhiana
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