| Jakarta
Post July 8, 2007 Jakarta
In a statement made available to the Jakarta Post on Friday, the ministry said that Singapore has made no new requests to Indonesia relating to the substance of the recently signed defense cooperation agreement (DCA). "Rather, it is Indonesia that refused on May 7 to sign the implementing agreements, which had been agreed to on April 23, and asked for substantive changes to the documents," the Singaporean ministry said. On Tuesday, Juwono said the DCA negotiations would be abandoned if the Singaporean government continued its focus on Bravo Area, an Indonesian territory in the South China Sea which has been designated for air force training, naval maneuvers and missile firing exercises by Singapore under the DCA. Juwono said Singapore has asked for 15 days' access to Bravo Area every month, while Indonesia, citing environmental concerns, is attempting to set the limit at between four and six months a year. Juwono believes Singapore is demanding more access to Bravo Area in reaction to Indonesia not backing down on its demands in negotiations over an extradition treaty between the two countries to which the DCA is bound. Following Juwono's comments, Singapore's Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that Indonesia had reneged on its promise. "This is the crux of the matter: Indonesia has repeatedly assured that it would not depart from what was agreed upon," the statement said. However, despite criticizing Indonesia over reneging, Singapore still seemed open to negotiations over the issue. "Singapore made a proposal to Indonesia on how to move the process forward. We are still waiting for Indonesia's reply," Singapore's Foreign Ministry said. The extradition treaty, the DCA and four associated implementation agreements were agreed upon by the Indonesian and Singaporean governments on April 27 in Bali in the presence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. |
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