Australia, Indonesia and East Timor – Part One
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
12 May 2010 The Hate/Love Triangle in the Timor Sea: Australia, Indonesia and East Timor – Part One - Dr Vivian Louis Forbes Summary This two-part Strategic Analysis Paper focuses on the Timor and Arafura Seas and, in particular, the three littoral States: Australia, Indonesia and East Timor (Timor-Leste), in terms of the manner in which they manage the maritime space and marine resources in the region. It alludes to the fables, examines and analyses the facts, exposes the fabrications and highlights the fictional issues that have come to the fore since 2002. It queries the provisions in, and failure of the entry into force of, the 1997 Treaty between Australia and Indonesia; overviews the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty between Australia and East Timor; and, focuses on the 2006 Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (the CMATS Treaty) which became effective on 23 February 2007. Part One acknowledges the neighbourly gestures, financial support and generosity of Australia towards Indonesia and East Timor and the need for Australia, within reason, to continue assistance to enhance the lifestyle of the coastal communities of Timor Island and other island communities. It then overviews the plethora of treaties that establish the lines of resource allocations. In Part Two, it discusses the issues and problems and highlights some of the rhetoric and rumbles that have clouded the geographical reality and, furthermore, the goodwill that Australia has demonstrated when negotiating maritime jurisdiction with neighbours of its northern seas. GEOGRAPHICAL REALITY Australia Australia is an island continent and, in terms of physical dimensions, the sixth largest country in the world. Australia’s maritime jurisdiction encompasses territories that are spread over a wide area of the Indian and south Pacific Oceans, including a number of islands and two sectors of Antarctica, the ice-continent. The mainland and Tasmania are also surrounded by many thousands of small fringing islands and numerous larger ones. Nearly 48 per cent of the total coastline length comprises island coastlines. The coastline of Australia is approximately 69,650 kilometres (km) in length and includes the coastlines of some 12,000 adjacent islands. (The length of the coastline of the mainland is about 37,000 km). As an island nation, coastlines play an important role in defining national, State and Territory boundaries. Australia is approximately 3,700 kilometres long, from its most northerly point to its most southerly point in Tasmania, and it is almost 4,000 km wide, from east to west. The Australian continent covers a surface area of about 7.7 million square kilometres (km 2). Although the land surface area of the majority of these islands is small, under the provisions of international law these territories enable Australia to proclaim marine jurisdiction over large tracts of the ocean and seabed that surround these islands. Australia has the sovereign right to explore and exploit the seabed and water column in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Australia has one of the largest EEZs in the world with the total area being greater than the nation’s land surface area. The EEZ generally extends to a 200-nautical mile (NM) limit from the coastline of Australia, including the external territories. The natural prolongation (continental margin) of the Australian landmass is extensive: off the north coast there are the Sahul Shelf and Exmouth Plateau; off the south coast is the Tasman Plateau; off the northeast coast is the Queensland Plateau which covers an extensive area under the Coral Sea whilst off the central east coast of Australia the width of the continental shelf is relatively narrow; and, off the west coast of the mainland the width of the continental margin varies from 100 to nearly 300NM. For example, the limiting edges of the Carnarvon Terrace and Naturaliste Plateau are each in excess of 500 km in an east- west extent from the coastline. Indonesia Indonesia is the largest ‘archipelagic state’ in the world. It consists of five major islands and no less than 35 smaller groups of islands and islets. In total, there are about 17,000 islands and islets of which about 6,000 are inhabited. An estimated population for the archipelagic State is 234,694,000 (July 2007) of which nearly 40 million live below the poverty line, Page 2 of 10 however defined, which equates to nearly 18 per cent of the population. The chain of islands straddles the Indian/Pacific Ocean interface in the equatorial region. In tectonic terms, the islands form stepping stones which link the continents of Asia and Australia. The archipelago together with Asia is atop the Eurasian Plate; the continent island is on the Australasian Plate. The two plates are separated by Convergent Boundary which is aligned along the bathymetric axis of the Sunda Trench and Timor Trough; the latter is about 3,500 metres; the former attains depths in excess of 6,000 metres. The territory of the Republic of Indonesia stretches from Pulau Rondo off the northern tip of Sumatra (Latitude 6 ° 05' North) to the southwest point of Pulau Roti (Lat. 11 ° 15' South), and from Longitude 94 ° 58' to 141 ° 00' East. This geographical extent excludes that portion of Timor Island which forms the nation state of Timor- Leste, and that part of Borneo Island which belongs to Malaysia (the states of Sabah and Sarawak) and Brunei. With an overall distance of more than 4,800 kilometres from east to west, Indonesia covers an area which is almost as great as that of Europe. However, nearly 80 per cent of the area between the above-mentioned geographical extremities consists of seas. The total land area of Indonesia covers about 1,900,000 square kilometres making it the world's 14th largest territorial entity. (See Table 1, below) East Timor (Timor-Leste) Portuguese Timor and some enclaves in West Timor were a colony of Portugal since 1702. Between 1942 and 1945 the land was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army and thereafter reverted to Portuguese administration. In November 1975, it was occupied by Indonesia and declared that country’s 27 th Province – as East Timor – until 1999. In a United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, on 30 August 1999, the East Timorese voted for full independence from Indonesia. Portugal agreed to abide with the wishes of the East Timorese. East Timor (Portuguese: República Democrática de Timor-Leste ), as a politically independent State, came into existence on 20 May 2002. In a nut shell: East Timor includes the eastern half of the island of Timor, the Oecussi (Ambeno) region, an enclave, on the northwest portion of the island of Timor, and the islands of Atauro and Jaco. East Timor’s terrestrial boundary with Indonesia measures about 228 km. East Timor declared the width of its territorial sea as 12 nautical miles (NM), a contiguous zone of 24 NM and an exclusive fishing zone of 200 NM. ( Maritime Zone Act ) The continental shelf south of Timor Island is relatively narrow. Table 1: The Littoral States: Comparative Sizes Country Land Area Coastline Cont Shelf EEZ (km 2) (km) (km 2) (NM 2) Australia 7,686,300 69,650 2,636,000 7,006,500 East Timor 18,900 760 narrow - Indonesia 1,905,000 95,000 2,768,800 5,408,000 Page 3 of 10 NEIGHBOURLY GESTURES A short discussion about Australian initiatives in promoting development in the two neighbouring countries and support for the long-term welfare of the peoples of Indonesia and Timor-Leste and in particular, for those in the Nusa Tenggara Timur Province is appropriate in this section. Australia and Indonesia Australia’s aid programme in Indonesia reflects the Government’s national interest in Indonesia’s stability and prosperity by helping that country improve governance, reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. The enormous complexity of Indonesia’s economic, political and social change agenda has been compounded by acts of terrorism on Indonesian soil, and allegedly incitement on Australian territory, since 2001. Australia is continually assisting Indonesia build its counter-terrorism capacity, including building the capacity of the Indonesian police force on counter-terrorism and trans-national crime, restricting the flow of financing to terrorists, and enhancing travel security by strengthening airport, immigration and customs control capabilities. A major problem is that of illegal migrants heading to Australia, sailing from ports of Indonesia in generally small and mostly un-seaworthy boats. Poverty in Indonesia is heavily concentrated among those with little or no formal education. A major programme in basic education is being put in place to assist the creation of a well- resourced mainstream education system. Australia supports democracy in Indonesia through an expanded programme of assistance for legal reform and human rights focusing on judicial reform, the promotion and protection of human rights and public accountability, electoral and parliamentary processes and institutions, support for community legal organisations and anti-corruption measures and fostering moderate religious teachings in madrassas . A new programme to continue support measures for economic reform is being implemented which includes financial sector restructuring and supervision, debt management, revenue enhancement and audit capacity building. The program will build on existing support for the government bonds management centre, further assist the Indonesian tax office to streamline and improve processes and help with a major restructure of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. An integrated approach to poverty reduction in eastern Indonesia is also being developed, with a focus on the Nusa Tenggara Timur Province. Initially this will include helping the Government of Indonesia develop new approaches to poverty reduction and better district level governance. Two-way trade in goods and services between Australia and Indonesia was valued at $10.3 billion in 2007-2008; Indonesia is Australia’s thirteenth-largest trading partner.