Diplomacy Back in Action for Indonesia

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that diplomacy was now back in action to overcome international disputes.
"Diplomacy is back in action. Now is no longer the time for the use of violence (to settle problems)," he said on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers of ASEAN and Japan at the ASEAN secretariat here on Saturday.
He made the statement in response to the process of negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia in the Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) on April 7-8 in Bogor, West Java, which has so far reached no agreement yet.
"I did not say that this is an easy matter. I do not know how long it will finish. But the important thing is that now is time for peaceful means (for settling problems)," he said.
He said the two countries had agreed on an observer from Indonesia but no deadline was set for the Indonesian observer to be placed on the Thailand-Cambodia border.
"The observer is a means in nature while our main goal is assuring stability on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. It is indeed more ideal if our observers are there in the field but for Indonesia the most important thing is the border is safeguarded and political process continues," he said.


Indonesia on February 14 received a mandate from the United Nations Security Council to become a facilitator in the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia after early in February the two countries’ soldiers exchanged fires at the border near Preah Vihear shrine the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 to belong to Cambodia but the area around it is still disputed by the two countries.
Cambodian foreign minister Hor Nambong earlier was reported to be disappointed by the Thai government’s stance he considered complicating the negotiation because it had insisted on an approval from the parliament over the results of the JBC earlier meeting.
"The two delegations in the meeting in Bogor could exchange argument. That is better than exchanging fire so that the situation now is better than in February," Marti said.
He said all foreign ministers of ASEAN would be in Bangkok for an informal ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting that would probably discuss the East Asia Summit.
ASEAN was established in 1967 now consisting of ten countries namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with population reaching 580 million.