KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has secured an additional 780 hectares of land following joint remeasurement and redemarcation work with Indonesia at the Sungai Sinapad-Sungai Sesai Outstanding Boundary Problem (OBP), says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said the outcome meant small portions of three villages - Kampung Kabulangalor, Kampung Lepaga and Kampung Tetagas - located near the Tawau border in Sabah now fell within Malaysian territory as a result of boundary alignment.
“The total disputed area in the Sungai Sinapad-Sungai Sesai OBP, covering boundary markers B2700 to B3100, amounts to 5,987 hectares, and this area has been under Indonesian administrative control, as reflected on maps,” Anwar said during a special parliamentary briefing on the Malaysia-Indonesia border alignment issue in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Feb 4).
He said the area had been regarded as Indonesian since the 1915 boundary agreement, although the precise alignment was not finalised previously due to unresolved mapping issues.
“Based on the principles contained in the 1915 agreement, 780 hectares now become part of Malaysia.
“This represents an additional area for Malaysia, while the remaining 5,987 hectares continue to belong to Indonesia, as they have since 1915,” he said.
Anwar said the determination of the boundary alignment at Sungai Sinapad and Sungai Sesai was guided by the 1891 Boundary Convention and the 1915 Boundary Agreement between the former British and Dutch administrations.
He added that, to date, only the Sabah-North Kalimantan sector had been finalised, covering the Sungai Sinapad-Sungai Sesai OBP and the Pulau Sebatik OBP.
For Pulau Sebatik, Anwar said Malaysia obtained an additional 0.05 square kilometres, equivalent to five hectares.
He said joint investigation, marking and remeasurement work at Pulau Sebatik was carried out by Malaysian and Indonesian survey teams between February and November 2019.
Meanwhile, he said similar joint surveys at Sungai Sinapad and Sungai Sesai were conducted until August 2022 and October 2023, resulting in a final measured boundary length of 11.545km.
Anwar said negotiations and technical work on boundary measurement had been ongoing since 1977 and were completed in stages over 47 years, adding that efforts should be expedited to safeguard bilateral relations and ensure compliance with international agreements.
“The process took decades and was resolved progressively, but in our view it must be accelerated to preserve good relations between the two countries, in line with the relevant international conventions and agreements,” he said.
