TEMPO.CO, Samarinda - Commander of the Nunukan Military District Command in North Kalimantan, Lt. Col. Valian Wicaksono Magdi rebutted claims saying that Malaysian authorities have issued Malaysian identity cards to residents 28 villages that lies between the border of Indonesia and Malaysia in Nunukan.
Magdi explained that according to the intelligence gathered by public order and intelligence officers in the district of Lumbis Ogong, no Indonesian citizens are in possession of a Malaysian-issued identity card (ICs).
"We have checked with the our field agents, which met with district heads and local community leaders and can positively confirmed that none of the residents surveyed possess Malaysian identity cards," said Magdi from Samarinda in East Kalimantan on Friday, July 22, 2016.
Magdi admits that there are five border areas in Nunukan that has yet to be claimed by either Malaysia or Indonesia - that said, no significant activities take place in the areas in question. "This is what we refer to as a 'grey area' - areas where there exist no claimants at all," Magdi said.
With regards to development, Magdi said that the regional government is working with the central government to construct several housing projects in Lumbis Ogong, to strengthen its' claim over the area.
Magdi said that the real question that needs to be asked is the individual or groups that begun spreading rumours that residents that inhabit areas that lies between Indonesia and Malaysia have been issued Malaysian identity cards - in a bid to sway their loyalty towards Malaysia. The rumours went as far as claiming that Malaysian authorities have begun to build roads and clean water and electricity supply lines for border citizens.
"That is beyond our authority to say - but based on our own investigation, such claims are not true," said Magdi.
Previously, a spokesperson for Nunukan Regency's Ilham Zain said that the Malaysian government are attempting to 'annex' Indonesian territories that lies just beyond Malaysian borders, by providing basic necessities that are desperately needed by residents of the village of Bantul in Lumbis Ogong district - such as roads, clean water supply lines, and the distribution of Malaysian identity cards (IC).
Zain went as far as claiming that there are residents in the area that already possesses Malaysian IC to increase the ease of doing business in Malaysia.
As a note, there are five areas whose boundaries have yet to be agreed by both Indonesia and Malaysia. The last known agreement relating to the boundary of the areas were signed by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands - which relegates the areas north of Simantipan and Sinapad River to the British, while territories south of the river is to be ruled by the Dutch.
FIRMAN HIDAYAT
