Minutes before receiving Singapore`s Deputy Prime Minister Theo Chee Hean here on Wednesday, Purnomo said to ANTARA that "there is no longer discussion about it (DCA)."
He said every defense cooperation that was made with a number of parties carries an implementing arrangement. "With regard to the DCA with Singapore we never made such an arrangement. So, the DCA no longer exists," he said.
Indonesia and Singapore discussed the DCA since July 2005 for seven rounds. The last round was done on December 5-6, 2006 with 13 articles being agreed while four others had not yet been agreed upon.
The negotiations were done parallel with negotiations on extradition agreement between the two countries and had always been coordinated with the foreign affairs ministry to assure that the defense cooperation made later would really support national interests.
The DCA was finally signed on April 27, 2007 by the two countries` ministers of defense and witnessed by Indonesia`s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Later however it was found the agreement could not be implemented smoothly because it had caused controversies in both parties especially with regard to the implementing arrangement (IA) on the military training area (MTA) in Bravo Area in Natuna islands.
Due to a deadlock on the implementation of several articles in the DCA, Singapore had once ignored it and stopped discussing it further with Indonesia and as a result the negotiations on the extradition agreement had also been in a deadlock until now.
In the bilateral meeting for around 15 minutes at the office of the ministry of defense representatives of the two countries did not discuss the possibility of reviving the discussion of the DCA.
The two only discussed the development of cooperation agreements that have been made by the two countries so far especially in the field of defense.
Deputy Prime Minister Chee Hean said he was impressed by the development of Indonesia`s defense power done through its defense industry both by itself and in cooperation with a number of countries such as South Korea and Serbia. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
