Private mapmaker suspected in border blunder

The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Sat, 02/14/2009 10:18 AM 

Miangas Island - Let's go to School (indira 's Site)

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has brushed off rumors of a takeover of Indonesia’s northernmost island of Miangas by the Philippines, saying Manila was fully aware Miangas was Indonesian territory. 

“Making a fuss about Miangas Island is a waste of time. The Philippine government has not even officially claimed anything yet,” Hassan said Saturday as quoted by Antara news agency. 

He was responding to a map published recently by the Philippine Tourism Authority, which showed Indonesia’s outermost island as falling under the jurisdiction of the Philippines. 

The small island, called Las Palmas in Spanish, has an area of around 3.15 square kilometers and a population of 680. 

Geographically, Miangas is closer to the Philippines than to Indonesia — 77 kilometers away from the former and 232 kilometers away from the latter. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post a private sector error might be to blame for the controversy. 

“We don’t think the Philippine government has any formal intention of making Miangas Island their property. They probably entrusted the mapmaking task to a private company that was not aware of official borders,” he said. 

He added that because Miangas used to belong to the Dutch colonial authorities, it became Indonesia territory after independence. 

“In 1976, the Philippine government signed an extradition treaty with Indonesia, stipulating that Miangas belonged to the latter,” Teuku said. 

Navy Chief Admiral Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said earlier this week the Philippine government had claimed Miangas as its own, and that it had gone as far as seeking a UN ruling on the matter, based on the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

However, Teuku said the matter had never been raised at bilateral talks between the two countries. 

He added the Foreign Ministry would investigate the map matter through the Indonesian Consulate General in Davao City. 

“We will not yet hold bilateral talks on the island. However, we will find out who’s responsible for this and demand clarification,” he said.

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