KUALA LUMPUR: The settlement of the maritime territorial disputes in the Sulawesi Sea and the southernmost part of the Malacca Straits, which resulted with the inking of bilateral instruments between Malaysia and Indonesia earlier this month, was resolved three years ago.
The Foreign Ministry said the long-standing Malaysia-Indonesia maritime territorial disputes were finalised during the 34th Technical Meeting on the Determination of Maritime Boundary between Malaysia and Indonesia that took place from Nov 17 to Nov 18 in 2018.
In a statement today, the ministry stressed that the government has never taken lightly matters pertaining to the sovereignty of the country, including the demarcation of the nation's maritime border.
"The regional maritime border line connecting points 8, 8A, 8B and 8C in the Malacca Straits treaty with points M, B1, B, C and P in the Sulawesi Sea treaty was finalised during the 34th (Technical) meeting of the Malaysia and Indonesia Maritime Border Delimitation Negotiation Team which took place on Nov 17 and 18 in 2018.
"During the official visit by Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) to Jakarta on Jan 8 and 9 this year, it was agreed that the treaties would be finalised based on the agreement reached during the 34th Technical Meeting.
"The same matter was deliberated again between the prime minister and Indonesian president Joko Widodo during the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Labuan Bajo on May 9," the statement said.
As a follow-up to the agreement, the ministry on May 27 circulated a Cabinet Memorandum to all agencies involved in the negotiation on the Malaysia-Indonesia maritime border.
"All relevant agencies, in principle, agree with the recommendation that the Malacca Strait and Sulawesi Sea treaties are to be signed as partial solutions to maritime demarcation issues between Malaysia and Indonesia.
"This Cabinet Memorandum was tabled during the Cabinet meeting, which concluded with all Cabinet members approving the recommendations made.
"Based on the decision made by the Cabinet, the treaties were signed when the Indonesian president visited the country early this month," the statement read.
The ministry, in the same statement, also addressed issues surrounding the alleged existence of a five-page document titled "Nota Memorandum Daripada Menteri Luar Negeri Penyelesaian Isu Sempadan Maritim Malaysia-Republik Indonesia" (Memorandum Note from the Foreign Minister on the Settlement of the Malaysia-Republic of Indonesia Maritime Boundary Issues).
"The ministry would like to clarify that such a document was neither prepared by the ministry nor those involved in the negotiation team on the Malaysia and Indonesia Maritime Border Delimitation," the statement said.
It was recently reported that Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that the country's sovereignty would continue to be protected following the signing of instruments with his Indonesian counterpart related to the maritime borders recently.
He gave his assurance that the question of "being compromised" from the treaties did not arise as it only involved the ones agreed to by both parties and those under dispute, such as the Pulau Sebatik in Sabah.