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arlier this month, a television program, Mata Najwa, aired an investigative program entitled “The Borders”. One can easily see after watching the program that border issues remain one of the most important problems in Indonesia, the solution of which should be prioritized. We may live in a borderless world but borders, in fact, do matter and still dictate the relationships between countries.

People might still remember the incident that took place in the waters off Tanjung Berakit in the Singapore Strait involving Malaysian fishermen, an Indonesian patrol boat and Malaysian marine police officers in August 2010.

A similar incident took place in the northern part of the Malacca Strait on Apr. 7 that easily made its way into national headline news. Even though the two incidents occurred in different places and at different times, they were in fact similar. Both were consequences of pending maritime boundaries between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Of its 10 neighbors, Indonesia has agreed on various maritime boundary segments with India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, and Australia even though they have yet to be finalized. Meanwhile, no maritime boundaries have been settled with the Philippines, Palau and Timor Leste.

It is worth recalling that maritime boundaries delimit seabeds, water columns or airspace above the ocean. While territorial sea boundaries divide all three, the continental shelf boundary divides only seabed. For example, the 1969 boundary agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia in the northern part of Malacca Strait divides only the seabed while sovereign rights over water column has yet to be determined.

Practically speaking, utilization of oil and gas has been clearly arranged between the two countries but not that of fishery resources. This is similar to what happened between Indonesia and other countries such as India, Thailand and Vietnam, with which Indonesia has only settled seabed boundaries. It seems that there is still a long way to the division of water columns, also called exclusive economic zones (EEZ) with the three countries.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s unilateral position on EEZ is clearly depicted in Indonesia’s official map. Indonesia has claimed a larger area of EEZ (water) compared to the continental shelf (seabed) it currently possesses. This may be a source of consternation with its neighbors. Even though it is not easy to make a prediction, it seems that the nation’s boundary segment with Malaysia in the Sulawesi Sea (around Ambalat) can be agreed upon in the near future, at least partially.

If no boundaries for water columns have been settled how can an activity be justified, such as border crossings? Before a final maritime boundary line is agreed, parties usually make overlapping unilateral claims . Activities of one party in the overlapping area will be considered as an infringement (border crossing) by other party. In other words, in areas where boundaries have yet to be settled, border infringements are in fact an activity crossing a unilaterally-claimed line.

While Indonesia ideally treats all its maritime boundaries with its neighbours equally, it is undeniable that the nation’s maritime boundaries with Malaysia seem to be the most attention-grabbing.

Incidents involving fishermen and officials from both countries are by no means new. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia have been intensively negotiating their maritime boundaries and have officially met at the negotiating table more than 20 times since 2005, when the Ambalat case first appeared.

Considering how sensitive the issue can be, it seems that maritime boundaries with Malaysia remain the first priority for Indonesia. This includes maritime boundaries in the Malacca Strait (EEZ), Singapore Strait (territorial sea), South China Sea (EEZ), and Sulawesi Sea (territorial sea, EEZ and continental shelf).

It has to be noted that settling maritime boundaries is by no means easy. While the nation’s 2009 territorial sea boundary with Singapore was finalized with “only” five years of negotiation, the one with Vietnam (2003) took around 25 years to finish.

As suggested by Foreign Minister Natalegawa, Indonesia is ready to negotiate its maritime boundaries at any time but certain of its neighbors are not. Every country has its own priorities and border issues are not always at the top of the list. Accordingly, it is not easy to predict how long it will take for one segment of negotiations on a maritime boundary to be completed.

In addition to its maritime boundary settlement with Malaysia, Indonesia has also made progress with Palau (Pacific Ocean) and the Philippines (Sulawesi Sea). A number of negotiations have been conducted between Indonesia and its two neighbors in the last two years. Meanwhile, a maritime boundary negotiation with Timor Leste is waiting for the finalization of the land boundary. However, it is not impossible to start a negotiation on maritime boundaries between Indonesia and Timor Leste, especially for certain segments where Indonesia and Timor Leste’s coast are opposite each other. Three locations requiring delimitation are the Ombai Strait, the Wetar Strait and the Timor Sea. Considering that Timor Leste has a lot of fundamental issues to deal with, it is hard to see maritime boundaries being negotiated anytime soon.

Maritime delimitation with Australia is final but it is certainly not problem-free. The issue is no longer how to draw lines but how to manage existing boundaries making sure that border crossings are minimized or even eliminated is the priority.

In addition, resource utilization should be optimized with attention given to effective conservation efforts. An important issue with Australia is the difference between seabed and water column boundaries, generating area where seabeds belong to Australia and water columns belong to Indonesia. One can imagine how complex the resource management can be.

With many pending maritime boundaries between Indonesia and its 10 neighbors, disputes and incidents should be well-anticipated in the following year. There’s a lot of homework to be done in 2012 on maritime boundaries issues.

The writer is a lecturer in geodetic engineering at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.