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Problematic landing station belonging to Malaysia's Sacofa in Natuna demolished
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo congratulates Indonesian Military personnel participating in a training session of the military's Quick Response Team (PPRC) in Tanjung Datuk, Natuna Islands, on May 19. (Courtesy of the Presidential Office/File)
I
ndonesia on Tuesday began to demolish a landing station that Malaysian telecommunications infrastructure company Sacofa Sdn Bhd had built on Anambas Island, one of the Natuna islands in Riau Islands province.
The facility, which was built in 2002, was connected to a submarine cable the Indonesian Military (TNI) viewed as a security threat and a violation of Indonesian sovereignty.
The chief of the team sent to demolish the "Sarawak Gateway" landing station, First Adm. Semi Djoni Putra, said the facility violated a 1983 law that ratified an Indonesian-Malaysian agreement on laying submarine cables and a 1985 law that ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
(Read also: Malaysian firm’s station deemed security threat)
"The firm holds principle license, but their operations are illegal and do not contribute to our national interest. On May 4, we summoned them, asked them to dismantle [the landing station] but they did not respond," Semi said.
Heavy equipment destroyed a land facility that consisted of six rooms, namely a guard room, a store room, a battery room, an equipment room, a generator room and a diesel tank room.
Last month, TNI commander Gen. Gator Nurmantyo asserted Sacofa’s server and fiber optic cable infrastructure projects in the area must cease operations. The Foreign Ministry has said the 1982 agreement that was ratified in 1983 only allows Malaysia to build underwater facilities.
Anambas Information and Communications Agency head Jefrizal said he supported the move as residents had been questioning the existence of the Malaysian facility for years. Locals had been barred from entering the complex by foreigners who controlled the site. (bbs)
