Originally posted by Dr Who:
Why does Indonesia view us with suspicion?
because they tot we kapo their sand : their islands in Rhio sinking.
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From : http://www.singapore-window.org/sw04/040515af.htm
Singapore maintains all reclamation is within its territorial waters but Indonesia fears it could lose out if the city state were to redraw its borders based after the reclamation.
In February Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri travelled on a warship to the small island of Nipah on the maritime border with Singapore to reinforce her country's claim to it.
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http://www.littlespeck.com/region/CForeign-SEA-030802.htm
Nipah Island, one of 83 border islands serving as points of reference for Indonesia's sea borders, is at the centre of Singapore's current dispute with Jakarta.
Nipah lies dead in front of the main reclamation work and is now almost submerged.
Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri points out that if the island sinks completely the international boundary between Indonesia and Singapore will change - to Singapore's advantage.
Though the two countries have an existing agreement on marine territory, they have not yet settled their continental coastlines and economic exclusive zones (EEZs).
The Convention on the Law of the Sea states that marine territory is measured based on the coastal base line.
Jakarta is concerned that in the future, some Riau land could thus be claimed as Singapore's on the basis that if Singapore gets wider, its territorial line will also get wider
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Ai yoh, so like that how?
thats old news liao lah.
anyway, Jakarta is right on the first point (maritime boundaries).
but wrong on the second, that some islands could be claimed by us if our maritime boundaries gets wider.
reason is simple. theoretical boundaries are not the only judge of a country's borders.
u must have a historical claim to it, and u must be able to effectively control it. if geographical proximity was all it took to assert territorial sovereignty, there'll be no end of trouble liao.
they're worried about the marine borders... bringing the part about Sg able to claim some islands is just exaggeration and alarmist. probably to whip up domestic sentiments.