Malang: The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam), Mahfud MD, has not been able to confirm a military conflict related to violations of Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries violated by Chinese coast guards. He stressed the Chinese Coast Guard will be expelled from Indonesia’s territory.
"We'll see. Basically we don't want any negotiations, if they enter, we will expel them," he said after attending the Brawijaya University Anniversary ceremony, Malang, East Java on Sunday, January 5, 2020.
Mahfud added that Indonesian navy ships had been deployed to protect Natuna’s waters. These waters belong entirely to Indonesia based on international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
"Navy ships are getting ready, they are preparing to go there. Whatever we have, we must use it to maintain our sovereignty," he said.
Mahfud stressed that his party would increase patrols around Natuna’s waters. Patrols are carried out to anticipate territorial violations committed by foreign fishing vessels in Indonesia’s EEZ.
"It has been decided, the patrols will be strengthened. Ships that are now in other places will be deployed there to dispel. We are not fighting, we are protecting our own area," he explained.
Mahfud admitted that until now he had not formed a negotiating team. He considered that if he wanted to negotiate, then Indonesia would be the same as recognizing Natuna's waters as a dispute.
"We will defend our sovereignty, because it is the constitutional duty of every state apparatus and all people to defend the region," he said.
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