Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/
ROLE OF ARCHIVES IN THE TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY DISPUTES
Sumrahyadi The National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI), Jakarta Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract This study descriptively discusses the role of archives in the territorial boundary disputes. Territorial boundary, nowadays, become complicated problems not only in some districts or provinces but also among some countries. In many cases, districts or municipalities as well provinces claim other areas or regions to increase their income or to explore resources for their wealth. Similarly, in some countries, they claim other areas or islands as their belonging. To anticipate the possibility of law from other countries, they should be supported by records and archives as sources of authentic information and legal evidence. From the experience of losing Sipadan and Ligitan islands to be part of Malaysian territory and other national cases, once again, we need to document all activities well and provide records and archives as authentic evidence as a proof of the existence of areas or islands. Keywords: Islands, Borders, Territorial boundary, Archives.
INTRODUCTION Territorial or regional boundaries became a hot topic for regions or countries that bordered directly with other regions or countries, both in the form of the land, sea or even the island became a conflict-prone area. If the border or island has high economic value with a source of income for a particular region or a source for increasing regional sources of revenue, especially for border disputes between provinces or between regencies/cities. For regional scale, for example, the case of Spratly Island’s ownership claims between several countries in Southeast Asia and countries in East Asia, where each of them tried to control each other even started using military force. Similarly, mutual claims were also made by Japan and China against an uninhabited island suspected of containing natural wealth in the form of oil and natural gas. What's interesting is that the two disputing countries named the island by two different names. Japan called the island Senkaku Island, while China called it Diaoyu island where the two countries threatened each other with military force. For example, China deployed ships the largest patrol
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Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/ from the East China Sea with sophisticated technology and capable of transporting helicopters (okezone.com, December 14, 2011). The dispute of territorial border also aroused in the Southeast Asian region, for example, the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, which mutually maintain areas where there are places of worship, with each country trying to defend with military force. The seizure of an area of approximately 4.6 Km2 at the site of the Preah Viehar Temple site is designated as an area belonging to Cambodia, but access to the temple is Thai territory. Military force occurred several times when the fighting on February 4 - 7, 2011 had killed 18 people (Kompas, January 25, 2012: 11). Even among other ASEAN member countries, conflicts over territorial conflicts and island disputes such as Batu Puteh Island are disputes between Malaysia and Singapore, or Sabah is a dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines. The claim of the territorial border also happened between Indonesia and the neighboring country of Malaysia. After a few years ago Indonesia was defeated in defending two islands (Sipadan and Ligitan), which were declared by the International Court of Malaysia as the territory of Malaysia because the documentary evidence presented by Malaysia was more complete than the evidence from Indonesia. Similarly, the case of Karang Unarang and the Ambalat region which had heated up a few years ago, and finally the Camar Bulan area and Tanjung Datu area of West Kalimantan which had been stirred up. Only later was there an explanation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that there was indeed a shift and natural destruction (abrasion) and there was no intentional shift from the two warring parties, and once again it was emphasized that it was not annexation by Malaysia. The border agreement was entered into between the UK and the Netherlands in 1892, then in 1915, and 1928 and finally in 1978 governing the border area between the two regions (Kompas.com, 25 January 2012). The above delineation shows that border dispute cases not only involve Indonesia and Malaysia, but there were certain regions or islands that involved in areas of dispute, for example, the Nipa Island case between Indonesia and Singapore, Sekatung Island (Natuna area) and Kondor Island between Indonesia and Vietnam, Kisar Island between Indonesia and East Timor Leste, and later what became warm again was Palmas Island (Miangas) between Indonesia and the Philippines. So prone to boundaries between countries, that the former Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, General TNI Djoko Santoso explicitly stated that approximately 92 outermost islands, which became the basic point in setting the territorial borders of the Republic of Indonesia, 12 of them had potential conflicts with other nations (Kompas, January
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13, 2010: 5). Some of the 12 islands mentioned above include Rondo Island, Sekatung, Berhala, Nipa, Marore, Miangas, Marampit, Fani, Fanildo, Brass, Batek, and Dana Island. The geographical location of the 12 outer islands is illustrated in the following Map.
(Source: National Border Management Agency, the Republic of Indonesia, BNPP)
Figure 1. Territorial Boundary Outer Islands
Considering the importance of the issue of the border region, thus the government must form a special Non-Ministry Ministry called the National Border Management Agency (BNPP). This institution is expected to function as the spearhead in managing borders not only by monitoring regional boundaries such as the possibility of shifting stakes but also concerning other issues. Indeed, this border case once again not only involves the international world but regionally in certain regions such as some of the examples above or even nationally became an interesting topic, especially after the era of regional autonomy was touted. Each region is trying to increase its regional revenue by trying to control or claim other regions. For example, Banten via Tangerang claims around 22 islands in the Thousand Islands become its territory because of its geographical location adjacent to Tangerang. Then, finally, the conflict over the Berhala Island between Jambi Province and Riau Islands Province (formerly, part of the Riau Province), which was then decided by the Ministry of Regional Affairs to be part of Jambi as the owner. It seems that there will be many cases of border disputes both between countries, between provinces or between districts/cities. Referring to the above cases that need to be examined is the border, especially with other countries and regions that have the potential for conflict, because if conflict is only
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Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/ between provinces or between regencies nationally it is not too much of a problem anyway but it is still part of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia, but if conflicts between countries if not supported by documents and written evidence, some islands or territory of Indonesia will be controlled by other countries. Therefore to maintain the territorial integrity of the province, district, city or even the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, especially in border areas and island ownership, archival support, for example, for data collection on the number and naming of islands in Indonesia needs to be supported by authentic evidence in the form of archives and reported to the world body as proof of legal ownership. Evidence of the agreement between Indonesia and other countries regarding territorial boundaries, continental shelves, sea boundaries, and other boundaries remains in place so that the evidence is not lost. Thus, the archive support is needed to maintain ownership of a certain area. Based on this, this study will explore in-depth the border cases and regional conflicts that were won because the archive support is more complete and accurate. Once again, this study focuses on archival support as recorded information in dealing with border dispute cases. The analysis is carried out with a literature review that looks at several issues with the availability of complete and accurate records so that the case of a claim for ownership can be won. In the next part of this article, the theoretical basis for territorial dispute cases will be discussed in Section 2. Section 3 highlights the method of the study, followed by the discussion and findings in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 concludes the paper.
THEORETICAL BASIS Definition of Island Understanding and definition of the island still seems to be a heated debate so that the data on the number of islands owned by Indonesia is also changing, for example, according to Gayo (2008), the number of islands in Indonesia was 18,510, while other versions said there were 17,508 islands, and the latest data based on a geographic and topographic survey in 2010 led by the Geospatial Information Agency (Kurniawan et al., 2017) stated that there were 13,466 islands in Indonesia. The number 17,508 based on previous data is due to burnt included as an island. Burnt is, basically, a dune or coral reef that appears during low tide and sinks during high tides. The understanding of the island according to the United Nations is objected that is still visible during high tides (Kompas, February 8, 2012). Meanwhile, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is part of the United Nations, said that
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Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/ the island is a land area that is formed naturally, surrounded by water and always above water at high tide. Referring to the definition of the island mentioned above, once again that formally the number of islands owned by Indonesia is as many as 13,466 islands and this has been reported to the United Nations as an international organization for international recognition.
Territory, Border and Territorial Boundary What is interesting is that the three terms mentioned above appear in Law Number 43 (2009) concerning Archives regarding the protection of archives maintained which among others relate to population, territory, islands, borders, international agreements, contracts of work, and strategic governance matters. The definition of territory as stated in the Head of National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) Regulation No. 18 of 2011 concerning Procedures for Making Lists, Filing, and Reporting and Submitting Archives is a space which is a geographical entity along with all related elements to it whose boundaries of the system are determined based on administrative aspects and/or functional aspects. Similarly, the ANRI Head Regulation, what is meant by borders is an imaginary line separating two or more political regions or jurisdictions such as a State, State or sub-national region.
Thus, the border region or specifically referred to as the territorial boundary is a geographical area that faces the neighboring country, with residents residing in the region united through socio-economic relations, and socio-cultural with a certain administrative area coverage after there is an agreement between the bordering countries (Hafil Fuddin, 2006) (http://dellimanusantara.com). These boundaries can, basically, be determined between two or more countries, or certain political power territories using natural boundaries or man-made boundaries. Naturally formed boundaries such as rivers, mountains, and others, while man- made boundaries can be dividing bridges or dividing walls or even stakes agreed between regions of interest. Delamination agreements, which are the precise determination of boundaries between countries, for example, are supposed to be documented and as authentic evidence in the event of a dispute or conflict.
Archive as an Asset Ownership of an island or a certain area is an asset that is owned by a certain area or a country. Therefore, the existence of archived information about it needs to be maintained. This is in line with what was stated by Saffady (2011), which said that an asset is a valuable object, while the
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Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/ archive contains the information needed and in some cases used by organizations that create and maintain it, thus all recorded information is an asset, not a burden. It is systematic record management as one aspect of asset management that can be effectively sought from organizational assets to support mission, tasks and operational activities. With the above understanding that an island or land area is a State asset that needs to be supported by asset documents which are all managed by using a reliable archiving system. By looking at several cases of disputes over the territorial boundaries above, it can be said that our weakness is the lack of attention to the asset documents as proof of ownership of a particular region or island. So it is not excessive if many disputes that occur because the documents are not supported by ownership assets will be won by the plaintiff. Furthermore, Saffady (2011) said that in government, information recorded in the form of archives protects the rights of citizens, ownership of property, taxpayers, and others. Proof of ownership does not mean only individually but also the ownership of the State in a certain territory. Parker (1999) in "Managing Your Organization's Records" said that there are four advantages of managing records properly and correctly, one of which is the availability of complete evidence of the possibility of legal risk over the possibility of other parties' demands, this is evidenced by the release of the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan because indeed the authentic documentary evidence owned by Indonesia is not as complete as that of Malaysia
RESEARCH METHOD This study uses descriptive-analytical methods in the sense of describing directly from data or theoretical concepts that exist in literature books, from the internet, legislation or other supporting data. Then the data and concept of the theory are analyzed by comparing theories and concepts about boundaries, boundaries, and concepts about islands which are then linked to the possibility of presenting archives as authentic evidence of possible conflicts and border disputes. The data collection technique is fully carried out by examining documents from existing laws and regulations, literature books concerning issues discussed, from articles in the mass media or news in newspapers or the internet as well as other secondary sources. From the results of this literature study, it is then processed and analyzed in-depth by comparing it to the facts on the ground and anticipating that the case should not be repeated.
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DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Archive Support as Authentic Evidence Nationally, cases of border conflict after the era of regional autonomy, both between Provinces and between Regencies, increasingly occur and are generally won by a region if supported by documents as more complete authentic evidence. For example, the Thousand Islands remains the territory of DKI Jakarta even though around 22 islands were claimed by Banten, because it turns out that DKI Jakarta has more complete documents than Tangerang (Banten), one of which is that there is a Law stating that the Thousand Islands is part of the Regency now the Administrative region of DKI Jakarta Province. The basis is Law No. 34 of 1999 concerning the Province of DKI Jakarta, while Banten through Tangerang claims after the Act was born. Like other domestic border conflicts, the case of the Thousand Islands is also due to economic reasons where the islands can be exploited for the benefit of the business world which is certainly expected to increase its regional income. The Thousand Islands even though the name is a thousand but it turns out the number is only about one hundred more even according to the data now live 108 islands from the previous 130 islands (Glimpse of the Thousand Islands, December 18, 2010), with a population of around 25,000 inhabitants Likewise the case of Segama Island in Lampung Province, where the Regency claiming ownership of the Island has more complete documentary evidence so that it is won legally, and the impact is that the regional income was originally only 2 billion after winning the claim on the island, so the regional income increased to 20 billion. Meanwhile, in the case of Berhala Island, which was, actually, a long-standing dispute, it was a conflict between Riau Province and Jambi Province, then Riau Province, which split into 2 provinces, namely Riau Islands and mainland Riau, this dispute was continued between Jambi and Riau Islands. Finally, based on data and documents submitted from the two provinces, it was stated that the island was owned by Jambi Province with a decree from the Minister of Home Affairs No. 44/2011. But lately, the Riau Archipelago Province filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation, which was supported by historians who said that the ownership of the island by Jambi was not supported by the validity of historical legality. Because the proof of ownership of the island is only in the form of a myth or legend and the writing of articles in a geographical magazine and encyclopedia in the Netherlands whose legality is weak because it is not archived.
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With regards to the issue of Regional Autonomy where regions have the authority to regulate and manage their households by trying to increase regional income, there are rather controversial cases that affect the possibility of shifting boundaries, especially between countries. The case is the sale of sand from several islands in the Riau Islands Province to Singapore. The sand is used by Singapore to reclaim the sea to add land. The impact of the sale of sand was remarkable not only the environmental damage of the sand dredged island but the possibility of the threat of the sinking of the island especially with the problem of Global Warming where with global warming due to the depletion of the ozone layer then some of the ice at the North and South Pole melts causing ocean surface the higher the consequence is that some islands are likely to sink, including sand dredged islands, such as the Sea Bait Island of the Riau Archipelago (Media Indonesia, 15 March 2009: 21). Another impact is the possibility of shifting the territorial boundaries because the Singapore mainland becomes wider, and also the possibility of shifting Zone Economy Exclusive (ZEE). This impact is far more detrimental than the regional income obtained through the sale of sand. In addition to natural factors in the form of climate change as mentioned above, it is an abrasion factor, where there are an estimated 120 islands in the Riau Archipelago that have the potential to sink, especially in the Natuna and Anambas regions. To overcome this, prevention is needed in the form of planting mangrove trees to retain ocean waves from the possibility of abrasion. It can also be done by maintaining a stretch of coral reefs. Restrictions and supervision of beach reclamation from other islands also need attention including the construction of a tourism center which, due to its massive load, needs to be considered (Kompas, Monday, June 11, 2012: 23). Then it was further stated that the case of Nipa Island, which borders Singapore several years ago, had nearly sunk, which would have an impact on shifting boundaries and potentially losing several islands on the border. For regional scale, based on the reality and experience where some of our islands are controlled and claimed by other countries because the support of documents or archives used as authentic evidence is weak, it is necessary to provide such evidence when other countries want to control the territory. As an example of the Sipadan and Ligitan Island cases, in fact, this case has long been submitted to the International Court of Justice, namely that in the New Order era it was still in power and only a few years ago (10 years ago) it was decided that both islands belonged to Malaysia. The two islands have an area of around 68,000 square meters (Sipadan Island with an area of 50,000 m2, Ligitan Island 18,000 m2) which were originally
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Archiva Journal Volume 1, No.1 (Januari. 2020, PP 18-29) https://pusdiklat.anri.go.id/jurnal/ part of the Province of East Kalimantan. The dispute began in 1967 where the two countries, both Indonesia and Malaysia, included the two islands in their respective territories so that both islands were declared a status quo. Then Malaysia began to build a tourist resort, here it seems that Malaysia is more aggressive by trying to use the two islands for the benefit of their country, so in 1969 Malaysia officially entered the two islands on its national map. The debate between the two countries continued so that in 1976 brought the case to the ASEAN Summit (Summit) in Bali, by agreeing on the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Treaty of Amenity and Cooperation (TAC). The dispute heats up when Malaysia places forest rangers (a type of Mobile Brigade) on the two islands and expels Indonesian citizens, and asks Indonesia to retract claims of ownership of the two islands. The climax was in 1998, this issue was brought to the International Court of Justice. The discussion process took quite a long time and only on December 17, 2002, the International Court of Justice ruled that the two islands entered the territory of Malaysia from the decision of 17 judges consisting of 15 permanent judges and 1 judge each from Indonesia and Malaysia. As for some reason why Malaysia was won because firstly in terms of utilization that Malaysia has used more of the two islands, namely the construction of a tourism resort, although this is not a major consideration. Besides utilization, it is also supported by other documents such as the tendency of the population in the border region due to the lack of attention of the central government towards them so that there is a kind of social and economic gap between the border populations in the two countries. So that many people at the border feel proud and happy if they have a National Identity (NID) Card from a neighboring country in the hope that it will be easier to become a workforce in that country, of course, in terms of income is much higher. But the most compelling reason for authentic evidence submitted by Malaysia is the old English-language documents submitted to the International Court of Justice, in the form of efforts by the British government to take concrete administrative measures in the form of issuance of bird animal protection ordinances, tax collection on turtle egg collection since 1930, This evidence is burdensome to Indonesia so that it is stated that the two islands are Malaysian territory. Because we know Malaysia is a British colony, while Indonesia is a Dutch colony. Malaysia offers old and authentic documents in English, while Indonesia considers that the two islands are a series of ownership of Sultan Sulu (Chain of Title) and does not have old or incomplete documents in Malaysia over ownership of the two islands (Wikipedia).
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Regarding social and economic disparity is also felt in border communities along Kalimantan approximately 2004 Km between West Kalimantan, especially with the State of Sarawak (compare the length of the land border between North and South Korea only about 400 Km). The land border area was classified as a disadvantaged area with low capacity and quality human resources (Kompas, January 13, 2010: 5). This is due to infrastructure and communication facilities which are far behind compared to neighboring countries. Border communities will find it easier and closer to accessing daily necessities in neighboring countries than in Indonesia. It means of communication whether radio or television transmitters will be easier if you catch a network from neighboring countries. The incomplete support of other documents that can be used as authentic evidence is not yet an agreement and incomplete negotiations or agreements that determine the territorial borders of each of the 10 countries bordering Indonesia. But even so, there are some old documents stored in ANRI that can be used as authentic evidence, for example, some old treaties or treaties between the colonial state and neighboring colonial countries, such as the case of Miangas Island. Especially for the case of Miangas Island, caution is indeed needed from Indonesia, because it turns out that in the map of the tourism area at the international airport, Davao City includes Miangas Island into the Philippines. Then when viewed historically Miangas Island with its original name Isla de Palmas was handed over by Spain to the United States according to the Treaty of Paris in 1898. Then in 1906, the United States General named Leonard Wood came to the Island, apparently, he only realized that the Dutch East Indies claimed sovereignty over the island. In 1925 the matter was brought before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and it was only in April 1928 that the Court ruled that Miangas entered Dutch territory. And in a series of agreements from 1956 to 1974, Miangas was decided to become Indonesian territory (Media Indonesia, February 10, 2009). By looking at the history that must be observed is the availability of important documents as authentic evidence, if there is a lawsuit from another country, in this case, the Philippines legally and authentically Indonesia still wins and remains Miangas as the territory of the Republic of Indonesia. Last but not least is the administrative data collection of island names which are legally registered and documented as legal and have legal force. Because there are allegedly about 60% of the islands in Indonesia that have not been named and there is no official document of legal strength regarding the name and number of the existing islands (Alex Retraubun,
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Kompas, Monday 9 November 2009: 13). Therefore, it is always a debate when asked how many islands Indonesia has. While this has documented as many as 13,000 islands and in 2007, around 4,981 island names were deposited to the United Nations in New York, USA. With the data collection on naming and documenting the names of the island, it becomes legally strong because all are registered with the United Nations, so that if there are demands or lawsuits from other countries then the law becomes authentic evidence. In other words, the documentation is a form of archives as supporting and valid evidence of possible claims or claims of other countries. The official data released by the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) that the number of islands owned by Indonesia is 13,466 islands based on geographic and topographic surveys in 2010, and the results have been reported to the United Nations (United Nations Groups of Experts on Geographical Names) last year as evidence administratively authentic. Once again the documentation of the island's data collection, as well as evidence of reporting and approval or approval from the UN, is what will later need to be managed as evidence of the existence of islands and territorial borders that are abash recognized by the world.
CONCLUSION Archives relating to territorial, border and island issues are some of the types of archives which in Law Number 43 concerning Archives are termed maintained archives. Because it is related to the existence and survival of the nation and the state, so it needs special protection by the archiving agency. Conflicts between countries, provinces or regencies/cities that concern border or territorial issues will be won by other regions if it is not supported by archives or documents as authentic evidence. The bitter experience of the release of the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan should be a lesson in the need to save archives on ownership and other territorial boundaries so as not to be separated from the Republic of Indonesia. Likewise, with creators at the provincial and district/city levels, archives relating to border issues with other regions must be maintained and maintained, to avoid claims or claims from other regions. For national scale data collection on location, area and naming of islands throughout the Republic of Indonesia also need to be done as evidence to the international world. Data on the number and name and location of these islands must be reported to the body that handles the field at the UN so that all documented as authentic evidence of the existence.
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REFERENCES
Gayo, I. (2008). Buku Pintar: Seri Senior. Grasindo. Glimpse of the Thousand Islands. (2010), December 18, 2010. Hafil Fuddin, A. (2006). Daftar Istilah/Pengertian Wilayah Perbatasan. http://dellimanusantara.com. Kompas, 11 Juni 2012, p. 9. Kompas, 13 Januari 2010, p. 5. Kompas, 25 Januari 2012, p. 11. Kompas, 8 Februari 2012, p. 7. Kompas.com, 25 Januari 2012 Kurniawan, F., Rakhmawati, N. A., Abadi, A. N., Zuhri, M., & Sugiyanto, W. T. (2017). Indonesia local government information completeness on the web. Procedia Computer Science, 124, 21-28. Law No. 43. (2009). Tentang Kearsipan. Jakarta. Media Indonesia, 10 Februari 2009, p. 13. Media Indonesia, 15 Maret 2009, p. 21. Okezone.com, 14 Desember 2011, p. 3. Parker, E. (1999). Managing Your Organization’s Records. London: Library Association Publishing. Regulation of Head of National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia No. 18. (2011). On Procedures for Making Lists, Filing, and Reporting and Submitting Archives. Jakarta: ANRI. Retraubun, A. (2009). Kompas 9 November 2009, p. 13. Saffady, W. (2004). Records and Information Management Fundamentals of Professional Practice. USA: ARMA International.
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