"There will be no more discussions about it," the minister told ANTARA News here on Monday when asked about the prospects of reopening the discussions on the matter after he had led the third meeting of the Committee on Defense Industry Policy (KKIP).
He said an implementing agreement was needed for the defense cooperation agreement with Singapore but "we have not made any agreement on it. So, there is no defense cooperation agreement with Singapore any more," he said.
DCA negotiations with Singapore were done seven times since July 2005 with the last carried out on December 5-6, 2006 and resulting in the adoption of 13 articles and deferment of four others.
The negotiations were held in parallel with negotiations on the conclusion of an extradition treaty between the two countries that had always been coordinated by the ministries of foreign affairs to ensure that the defense cooperation agreement would really serve the national interest.
The DCA was finally signed on April 27, 2007 by the two countries` defense ministers witnessed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singapore`s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In further developments, however, the agreement could not be implemented smoothly due to a disagreement between the two countries. especially with regard to the Implementing Arrangement on Military Trainings in the Bravo Area in the Natuna Islands.
Due to the deadlock on the implementation of several articles in the DCA, Singapore once ignored it and would not discuss it further with its Indonesian partner.
As a result, talks on an extradition agreement also came to a deadlock making it impossible for a number of alleged corrupters such as Nunun Nurbaeti and Muhammad Nazaruddin and other BLBI suspects who had fled to Singapore to be extradited to Indonesia.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said until now no progress had been made on the extradition agreement. "It still remains as it was," he said at the presidential office on Friday (June 24) after accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a courtesy call by Singapore Foreign Minister K Shanmugam.
Marty said Indonesia had re-started the process of informal communication with the parliament to review and explore the possible courses of action that may be taken in the future in connection with the discussions on an extradition treaty in conjunction with the DCA.
(T.R018/H-YH/HAJM/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
