Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam
In a bid to address security concerns over Indonesia's frontier the government will investigate the growing trend of foreigners buying islands in Riau Islands province, an official said Thursday.
Sea Security Coordinating Agency (Bakorkamla) commander Vice Adm. Djoko Sumaryono told The Jakarta Post in Batam the sale of islands to foreigners violated existing regulations.
It showed the inability of the local provincial administration to effectively maintain security in its region, he said.
Presidential Decree No. 78/2005 on coordination in the management of small islands on the nation's frontier areas obliged the local administration to safeguard the islands, he said.
"Claiming ownership of parts of the beach is not allowed, let alone owning islands. I have instructed the small islands empowerment director at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to investigate the rampant selling of islands in the Riau Islands," Djoko said.
"If the local administration is found to be incapable of safeguarding its areas we will take over security matters there."
Djoko expressed his concern over the rising trend of island sales in the province to foreigners, including Singaporeans, from local residents. Such incidents were allowed to occur because of the weak authority held by the provincial, mayoralty and regental administrations in fulfilling their function.
Djoko said the most recent Riau Islands sale concerned Segayang Island in Galang, Batam, where small resort facilities had been owned by a Singaporean since 2000. On the 20-hectare island several bungalows had been rented to Singaporean tourists. The business had been operating over the last five years without any permits or consent from officials of related offices.
It was later discovered that Segayang Island, located 50.4 kilometers south of Batam, had been sold by local residents to a Singaporean national for Rp 55 million (US$5,789). The sale of another island was still in the negotiation phase, Djoko said, adding that it was on offer for Rp 100 million.
Djoko said that based on the presidential decree the regional administration was to name all the islands. A name plate for each island should be created and a red and white flag raised to signal that regulations were in place there, he said.
"Bakorkamla will, together with representatives of other related institutions, study the cases. It cannot be left just like that. It shows the weak control of the regional administration over existing islands," Djoko said while in Batam to introduce his agency to the local administrations.
He said the task of allocating names to the islands had been entrusted to the provincial administration, which would later submit an inventory on the number of islands to the Home Affairs Ministry before sending it on to the United Nations.