The State’s Geopolitics versus the Local’s Concern, a Case Study on the Land Border between Indonesia and Timor-Leste in West Sector

SRI HANDOYOResearcher, National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping of Indonesia (BAKOSURTANAL)

ICCSA 2011-GEOG-AN-MOD 2011University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain

INDONESIA

HISTORY 1999 Referendum in East Timor and people chose to be independent The UN sent the UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration

for East Timor) 2000 establishment of JBC RI-UNTAET in Jakarta (Joint Border

Committee) Agreed to study and establish the CBDRF (Common Border Datum

Reference Frame) August 2001 JBC RI-UNTAET formed TSC-BDR with its TOR 19-21 Nov. 2001 meeting of TSC-BDR RI-UNTAET in Dili discussed the

workplan 11-12 Dec. 2001 Special Technical Meeting TSC-BDR RI-UNTAET di

Cibinong 2002 meeting JBC RI-UNTAET in Jakarta TSC-BDR for the first time produced the joint workplan for the

demarcation surveys March 2002 RI-UNTAET conducted Joint Reconnaissance Survey (JRS) 20 May 2002 East Timor independent as Democratic Republic of

Timor-Leste (RDTL) Mei 2003 started the delineation surveys RI-RDTL

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF RI-RDTL LAND BORDER ESTABLISHMENT

JMC (5X)JOINT MINISTERIAL COMMISSION

JBC (2,5X)JOINT BORDER COMMITTEE

TSC-BDR (23X)TECHNICAL SUB-COMMITTEE ON

BORDER DEMARCATION AND REGULATION

SOMSENIOR OFFICERS

MEETING

BLC/BPPD

WG on Border Issues

LEGAL BASE1. Treaty 1904, between The Dutch and The Portuguese2. Arbitrary Award 1914 (idem).3. Process Verbale 18 December 1914, about demarcation of definitive

border.4. Document of Oil Poli 9 February 1915, about markers erection in

Oecussie .5. Document Mota Talas 22 April 1915, about markers erection in East

sector .

9 Articles of Provisional-AgreementRI-RDTL 8-4- 2005 signed by both Ministers of Foreign Affairs

ANNEXES:1. List of border point coordinates

(907)2. General Map 1:125.000 (1) signed

by both Ministers3. Joint border maps1:25.000 (17)4. Un-resolved segments

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1. Studying the documents of Treaty 1904 and other relevant documents. This is to make interpretations of the Treaty verbal description of the border lines.

2. Joint reconnaissance survey. This is to jointly make traces in the field of those border line descriptions.

3. Joint survey and construction of the common border datum reference frame (CBDRF). This jointly establishes a set of common border datum in both sides of the border line as the reference frame for the border point coordinates measurements.

4. Joint delineation surveys. This activities are to jointly decide the border point positions and measure its coordinates.

5. Joint demarcation surveys. This is the following activities of the joint delineation surveys to establish markers on or between the border points.

6. Joint mapping and reporting. This is to produce joint border maps, depicting the border points and lines, at scale of 1:25.000 covering both the East (main) and the West (Oecussi) sectors.

All those joint activities were carried out and based on related joint technical specifications and standard operational procedures.

JOINT ACTIVITIES

1. Length of the land border lines: the East sector of 149.1 kilometers, and the West sector of 119.7 kilometers, total length of 268.8 kilometers.

2. “Interim Report on the land Border Delineation between Republic of Indonesia and Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste”, 2004, consists of 3 volumes: Volume 1: Results of the Land Border Delineation.Volume 2: Description of Process of Land Border Delineation.Volume 3: Joint Compilation of Reference and Auxiliary Documents.

3. “Provisional Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on the Land Boundary”, 2005, covering nine Articles and Annexes:Annex A-List of 907 border point coordinates.Annex B-1 sheet of General Map at Scale 1:125.000 and 17 sheets of Border Maps at Scale 1:25.000.Annex C-Unresolved Segments.

4. 103 demarcated border markers.5. Documents and Record of Discussion (RoD) of: JMC meetings (2), JBC

meetings (2), Special JBC meeting (1), TSC-BDR meetings (23). Notes: there were no bilateral activities in 2006 and 2007 due to internal

problems in Timor-Leste.

BILATERAL RESULTS

1. Length of the land border lines: the East sector of 149.1 kilometers, and the West sector of 119.7 kilometers, total length of 268.8 kilometers.

2. “Interim Report on the land Border Delineation between Republic of Indonesia and Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste”, 2004, consists of 3 volumes: Volume 1: Results of the Land Border Delineation.Volume 2: Description of Process of Land Border Delineation.Volume 3: Joint Compilation of Reference and Auxiliary Documents.

3. “Provisional Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on the Land Boundary”, 2005, covering nine Articles and Annexes:Annex A-List of 907 border point coordinates.Annex B-1 sheet of General Map at Scale 1:125.000 and 17 sheets of Border Maps at Scale 1:25.000.Annex C-Unresolved Segments.

4. 103 demarcated border markers.5. Documents and Record of Discussion (RoD) of: JMC meetings (2), JBC

meetings (2), Special JBC meeting (1), TSC-BDR meetings (23). Notes: there were no bilateral activities in 2006 and 2007 due to internal

problems in Timor-Leste.

BILATERAL RESULTS

THE PROBLEM OF SUBINA-OBEN LAND BORDER SEGMENT

being an un-surveyed segment

Year 1966: Since the Dutch era there was traditional uses of the land, as ulayat right, along the border by the people of Lake tribe. Then happened the taking over by the people of Ambeno, Oecussi. The people of Lake tribe did not accept this and it had become a war. As a solution, there was a 1966 agreement between the District Governments of TTU and Oecussi, with the land border as claimed by the TTU people now, of which also determined in the “Agreement Statement” letter between J.T. Sonbay as the Committee Chairman of the Changes of the Nilulat Fectorate Government and Tasi Lopo as the Cheve of Bobo Meto, in Nanao, dated July the 10th, 1964.Year 1988: The border demarcation of the 27th Province of Timor Timur followed the 1904 Treaty. Those areas as limited by the 1966 case became part of the Timor Timur Province. In this case the people of TTU along the border of the Subina-Oben segment did not have any objection because they could still use the land.Year 2002: Timor-Leste has been an independent state and followed by the delineation of the land border by RI and RDTL. This had an effect that the TTU people along the border of the Subina-Oben segment lost their use of the land both for farm and cattle, therefore they claimed them. Conclusion according to Indonesian side: The land belongs to the tribe of LAKE, and it has a list of land users (333) within the area around 683 hectares

ACCORD. INDONESIAN LOCALS

ACCORD. INDONESIAN LOCALS

Timor-Leste delegation has reported in the 21st TSC-BDR meeting in Bandung (2008) and described the activities and the results of the Unilateral Field Survey in the area of Oecussi held in 1-15 June 2008 [12]. The objective of the field survey was to identify land parcels in the border area, their usage and ownership, to assess the clarification of the “social issues” referred by the Indonesian side. The survey team was led by Roberto Soares (Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros) with 5 team members and local authorities and local representatives of the population from Naktuka, passabe, and Subina. The result was listed in 68 land parcels with the owners.The information about the ownership of each parcel was collected from the local people, including the most respected members of the community. For each parcel was possible to collect the information of inheritance for three generations. It was possible to trace the ownership of the land up the grandfathers of the current owners. For some of the parcels it was identified a former “liurai” of Bobometo, named Taque Taiboko, that long time ago was responsible for the distribution of land among the people. The land parcels are depicted in as a rough sketches in the next slide. These maps do not result from an accurate survey, only the relative position of each parcel to the neighboring parcels is intended to be accurate, at it is correct the neighborhood with the border line.

ACCORD. TIMOR-LESTE LOCALS

ACCORD. TIMOR-LESTE LOCALS

THOUGHT OF SOLUTIONGovernments of RI & RDTL:•Geopoliticals: agreed with their

international land borders;•Political will: stay as neirghbors in peace

and friendship.

Problems of the Indonesian local people claim their farming lands at Subina-Oben segment “inside” the Timor-Leste territory based on the Treaty 1904.

Local peoples of RI & RDTL:Own strong social capitals: the values of living in

peace being heritage from their ancestors in the past history in harmony, family relations, feeling of trust and tolerance, and togetherness.

Both Governments persuade and facilitate both locals to meet and talk.

Objectives of the goal:•The border line segment of Subina-Oben should stay as agreed.•Cooperation arrangement to use the mentioned lands for farming and cultivation.

Thank You for Your Attention