KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia did not hand over more than 5,000ha of land to Indonesia as compensation for three villages in the Nunukan area near the Sabah-Kalimantan border, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic).
Calling the allegations false and misleading, the Prime Minister said the 5,207ha of land involved was neither compensatory nor reciprocal in nature, but was strictly guided by long-standing conventions and treaties governing the international border between the two countries.
“Claims that Malaysia ceded 5,207ha as compensation for three villages in Nunukan are untrue and amount to misinformation, even if not made with malicious intent,” he said during a special parliamentary briefing on the Malaysia-Indonesia border alignment issue in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He said Malaysia and Indonesia were bound by boundary agreements dating back to more than a century, with the legal basis resting on two conventions and an agreement inherited from the British and Dutch administrations.
The agreements comprised the 1891 Boundary Convention covering Sabah and Sarawak, the 1915 Boundary Agreement for Sabah, and the 1928 Boundary Convention signed in The Hague covering a small sector of Sarawak, Anwar said.
He said the disputed areas near Nunukan fell under what were known as “Outstanding Boundary Problems” (OBPs), which had not previously been finalised by either country and were not to be considered the sovereign territory of Malaysia or Indonesia pending the completion of joint verification by both sides.
The issue, he explained, stemmed from joint surveys conducted from 1977 that detected discrepancies between historical maps and physical geography, particularly in the location of river mouths used as reference points in earlier agreements.
This required updated measurements under the agreed legal framework, he added.
Under the finalised measurements, Anwar said Malaysia gained an additional 780ha of land in the Sungai Sinapat-Sungai Sesai sector, while 5,987ha remained under Indonesian administration.
He pointed out that the 5,987ha territory had been administered by Indonesia since 1915, with Malaysia never having formally claimed it.
“As a result of the demarcation, small portions of three villages, namely Kampung Kabungalor, Kampung Lepaga and Kampung Tetagas, now fall within Sabah,” he said, adding that this was due to the outcome of boundary alignment rather than any land transfer or compensation.
Anwar also informed Parliament that while negotiations on the Sabah-North Kalimantan land sector had been completed, several outstanding OBPs were yet to be finalised, as they remained under negotiation.
The areas still under negotiation, he said, included the intertidal zones in Sabah and four OBPs in the Sarawak-West Kalimantan sector.
He noted that any final agreements would still have to undergo domestic legal processes, including consultation with state governments, approval by state legislative assemblies, consideration by the Conference of Rulers and subsequent formalisation at the federal level.
Anwar urged lawmakers not to politicise the issue by making allegations that the government had betrayed national interests, particularly when it involves sensitive negotiations with a neighbouring country.
“Verify the claims first before making wild allegations and insults,” he said, referring to issues made by the opposition.
On matters involving national interest, including borders, Anwar said discussions must be conducted in a responsible manner, adding that Malaysia’s relationship with Indonesia remained cordial and strong, with negotiations still ongoing at all levels.
It was previously reported that the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry denied recent Indonesian media reports alleging that Malaysia had ceded land to Indonesia, saying such claims were inaccurate.
