TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia must make the most of the state visit of the new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Jakarta recently.
Duterte’ follow-up visit shortly after attending the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vientiane, Laos, should not become treated as just an ‘introductory visit’.
In fact, the visit should also bring benefits for the two nations.
There are many important issues that can be raised by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and his Filipino counterpart, among others the Indonesian nationals who were detained in the Philippines for using forged Philippine passports to go to Mecca for hajj pilgrimage, a Filipino citizen who is now on a death-row in Indonesia, also security issues especially in the border areas between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
In the security issue, for example, the Abu Sayyaf militant groups and their affiliations continue to terrorize Sulu Sea and areas near Sulawesi.
The groups do not only hijack vessels but also take hostage of the crew of and demand ransom money. Even a number of Indonesians are still being detained until now by the group.
This condition is certainly alarming and should be immediately addressed.
As a matter of fact, this region is an important shipping lane, especially for vessels from Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Every year, it is recorded that there more than 100,000 vessels crossing in the region, carrying around 55 millions tons of cargo and 18 million people.
Besides the Abu Sayyaf group, the Moro Islamic Liberal Front (MILF) also often wreaks havoc in this area.
The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia have indeed agreed to coordinate to secure the region.
The three countries have also had a series of talks and agreed on a number of issues, including on measures to strengthen communication and sharing of intelligent information.
Unfortunately, we have yet to see the real implementation of the agreements.
We remain hopeful that Indonesian can capitalize on Duterter’s visit to renew talks on cooperation on security issues so that the two countries can immediately secure the area.
Indonesia can also lend its assistance to the new Philippines to help pushing for the peace process in Southern Philippines. Indonesia can also become a mediator in the talk between Manila and the Abu Sayyaf group.
In fact, Indonesia once did it in assisting the Philippines in the talk between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which ended up peacefully.
Furthermore, what should not also be forgotten are border areas between the two countries.
Indonesia must continue to promote cooperation to build areas around the border areas.
Besides, as a President, Duterte has not a bigger authority.
The Philippines now assumes the chairmanship of the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area Initiative) - a sub-regional economic cooperation initiative established in 1994.
Given the fact, we hope Duterte’s visit will bring many benefits both for Indonesia and the Philippines.
(*)