Singapore has ceased all negotiations in its controversial Defence Cooperation Agreement with Indonesia, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Wednesday.
The Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), signed by the two heads of state in Bali on April 27, 2007, was never ratified by the Indonesian legislature, among other reasons, because of the frequency and volume of military exercises proposed by Singapore and the location chosen for them that was deemed too intrusive by Indonesia.
Under the agreement, Singapore proposed to hold joint military exercises almost every week that would also include foreign third parties.
Indonesia previously complained that negotiations over Singapore's joint exercise proposal had not been finalized.
Singapore, meanwhile, had argued that the arrangement was already implicit in the agreement.
According to Sudarsono, Singapore's recent move would render all extradition talks void as well.
"That [the talks] would also cease," he said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Sudarsono said he did not know the reason behind Singapore's decision.
"You should ask them," Sudarsono said.
On Tuesday, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeoh and his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda, had signed a treaty on the maritime boundary between the two countries.
Wirayuda was reported to have said no mention was made regarding the DCA during the treaty signing. (amr)
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