source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambalat
Indonesian and Malaysian claims
The dispute over the Ambalat stretch of the Celebes Sea began with the publication of a map by Malaysia in 1979 showing its territorial waters and continental shelf. The map drew Malaysia's maritime boundary running in a southeast direction in the Celebes Sea from the eastmost point of the Indonesia-Malaysia land border on the eastern shore of Sebatik island, thus including the Ambalat blocks, or at least a large portion of it, within Malaysian teritorial waters. Indonesia has, like the other neighbours of Malaysia, objected to the map.
Indonesia on the other hand, has never officially announced the exact locations of its maritime territorial limits. Indonesia declared the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan, which both it and Malaysia once claimed and which Malaysia included as part of its territory in its 1979 map, to be its archipelagic basepoints in June 2002. This effectively put the entire Ambalat area within its internal waters. During the International Court of Justice case over the sovereignty of Sipadan and Ligitan, Indonesia argued that the Indonesia-Malaysia maritime boundary continued as a straight line along the 4° 10' North after it left the eastern land boundary terminus on the eastern shore of Sebatik Island. This would also have put the entire Ambalat Block within Indonesian territorial waters.
Effect of the Sipadan and Ligitan case
In late 2002, the ICJ awarded the two islands to Malaysia based on "effective occupation". The decision however did not touch on the issue of the Indonesia-Malaysia maritime boundary in that area of the Celebes Sea.
Indonesia amended its baselines to take into consideration the ICJ decision, removing the islands as basepoints, and redrawing its baseline in 2008 from the eastern shore of Sebatik Island to Karang Unarang and three other points to the south-east. This results in the Ambalat Block no longer being entirely inside Indonesian internal waters. And with Sipadan and Ligitan becoming Malaysian territory, Malaysia, which has not officially declared its baselines, could make the islands its basepoints and this could theoretically put Malaysia in a better position to claim the Ambalat area.
However, any determination of the ownership of Ambalat would require the maritime territorial limits of two countries to be determined via negotition.
Both countries have awarded exploration contracts to oil companies for the area. Indonesia has awarded concessions to ENI of Italy for what it called the Ambalat Block in 1999 and US company Unocal for East Ambalat in 2004. Petronas, the Malaysian petroleum company, meanwhile awarded a concession over what Malaysia called Block ND 6 and ND 7 in February 2005. A large portion of Ambalat overlaps Block ND 6 while a large part of Ambalat East overlaps with Block ND 7.
Each country delivered protest notes to each other. Several demonstrations against this policy sparked in Indonesia within several months as well.
The dispute between the two South East nations amounted to a minor skirmish between the two navies several times. In March 2005, Indonesia accused a Malaysian navy vessel, KD Renchong, of ramming into its military ship, KRI Tedung Naga. The incident caused minor damage to both vessels. A few days after the incident, Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono alleged that the Malaysian government had sent an apology regarding the incident. The Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak however denied making any apology. Subsequently Kompas agreed that their report is inaccurate and retract the story and Malaysia agreed not to take action on their misreporting.
The Malaysian navy had chased Indonesian fishermen out of Ambalat as well. Indonesia further accused Malaysia of 35 violations of disputed territory.
Tanggapan:
Ckckck....
Untuk saat ini yang terpenting adalah bergerak cepat dan tepat melalui jalur diplomasi dalam penyelesaian Blok Ambalat. Karena dengan begitu akan jelas status kepemilikannya. Yang perlu diperhatikan adalah bagaimana pemerintah Indonesia mampu meyakinkan dunia tentang kepemilikan Blok Ambalat. Jangan sampai terulang seperti kasus Sipadan & Ligitan. Ambalat milik Kita Bung!
Untuk masyarakat jangan mudah terpancing provokasi yang dilakukan Malaysia. Kita ini bangsa beradab! Namun jika pada saatnya telah terbukti bahwa Ambalat milik Kita dan Malaysia tetap berulah tidak ada salahnya TNI AL memberikan sedikit kado (baca: rudal) untuk kapal2 Malaysia. Perang?! Why Not! Jika Kita memang benar!
