Border incident with Malaysia due to lack of coordination: House

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 23:31 PM
Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta |

The House of Representatives Commission I on Foreign Affairs says the recent border fiasco with Malaysia is mainly because of the lack of coordination between the country’s own institutions.

The incident revolves around the arrest of three Indonesian officers patrolling the Riau Island waters despite them having official documents from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

“This lack of coordination caused each institution to make its own decision, and it seemed that these decisions overlapped one another,” the commission chairman, Mahfudz Siddiq from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), told reporters at the House in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The lack of coordination was apparent too in the differences of perception between the Foreign Ministry and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry over what really happened to the latter’s officers apprehended by Malaysian authorities in Riau Island waters, said Mahfudz.

“The facts clearly show that the officers experienced violence during their detention, however, the Foreign Ministry thought otherwise because it did not receive a comprehensive explanation from the officers,” Mahfudz said.