Indonesian and Malaysian defense ministers Tuesday highlighted the importance of organizing more informal meetings to help settle future problems.
“From now on, we need to organize more informal meetings as an alternative to settling things in
the future,” Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono told journalists.
Sudarsono said he encouraged military communities from both Indonesia and Malaysia to visit each other more frequently so they could strengthen ties, which would be useful when both countries faced future conflict regarding national defense.
“I even strongly suggest that retired generals contact each other and see if they can contribute to settling problems in the future,” he added.
Sudarsono made the remarks following an hour-long meeting in Jakarta with his Malaysian counterpart Malaysia, Dato Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Tuesday’s meeting was aimed at discussing a heated dispute over Ambalat waters and the need to conduct cooperation between the two countries’ defense and weaponry industries.
Sharing Sudarsono’s remarks, Hamidi said more informal meetings were expected to help abate future conflicts.
“Perhaps we focus too much on organizing formal meetings to deal with problems, and forget that these informal meetings are actually just as good as those formal ones for finding resolutions,” he added.
“Besides, this is what our founding fathers used to do in the past,” Hamidi said.
Commenting on the dispute in Ambalat waters, Sudarsono said the navies of the two countries were in great need of field commanders who were capable of cooling the tempers of their subordinates.
“These field commanders should be able to manage the tempers of their subordinates so that we can avoid any possible clashes on the field,” he said.
Hamidi further said the field commanders should also be able to recognize the countries’ borders.
“Country borders on the waters are the hardest ones to locate. Thus we need navy commanders who have mastered the locations in order to always have them in mind,” he said.
The dispute over the Ambalat block on the northernmost area of East Kalimantan has been a concern for the past two years.
The focus of the area is its reserves of natural oil and gas amounting to 670 million cubic feet and
40 TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet) respectively.
According to the Indonesian navy patrol, the Malaysian navy has been provocative by crossing borders and preventing Indonesian fishermen from throwing nets in disputed locations they claim to be Malaysian territory.
Hamidi said he had ordered the Malaysian navy not to be so easily provoked by any situation while guarding the disputed area.
In fact, he added, the ministers had agreed to organize joint patrols in the area in an attempt to abate tension.
No comments:
Post a Comment