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What next after signing of Indonesia-Singapore Defense Cooperation Agreement?
Singapore claims that based on Article 51 of UNCLOS it has the right to conduct military exercises in some part of the Indonesian archipelagic waters.
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Done deal: Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (right) and his Singaporean counterpart S. Iswaran show the documents of Jakarta-Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) Realignment Agreement as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second right) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong look on Jan. 25, 2022, Bintan island, Riau Islands. (Courtesy of/Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau)
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fter 15 years of tough negotiations and rejections, on Dec. 6, the House of Representatives finally ratified the Indonesia-Singapore Defense Cooperation Agreement. The DCA is part of the “package deal” between Indonesia and Singapore, which also consists of two other strategic treaties: The Flight Information Region Realignment and the extradition treaty.
The DCA has been a pending issue between the two countries. The House’s ratification marked an end to a long controversy, which saw the House reject the agreement in 2007 due to fears of violations of Indonesia’s sovereignty.
What is more important now is how to make sure that the implementation of the DCA will benefit both parties.
In fact, the content of the recently ratified DCA is similar to the one that triggered a controversy in 2007. One of the core issues on why it took so long for Indonesia and Singapore to finally reach an agreement is a different interpretation about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Article 51, considering the question about whether Singapore has traditional military-training rights as part of “other legitimate activities” in some part of Indonesian archipelagic waters.
In 1995, Indonesia and Singapore struck a deal on a military-training area, which granted Singapore’s armed forces some locations within Indonesian jurisdictions in Tanjung Pinang and the southern part of the South China Sea for military drills. However, the agreement was evaluated in 2003, because Indonesia accused Singapore of breaching the treaty by involving third states in their military exercises without Indonesia’s consent and conducting activities beyond the designated areas.
In 2007, Indonesia and Singapore concluded a DCA negotiation. It designated the Singapore Military Training Area in some parts of Indonesia's archipelagic waters. However, the House refused to ratify the DCA, saying the involvement of third parties in the military exercise might recur.
Singapore claims that based on Article 51 of UNCLOS, it has the right to conduct military exercises in some part of the Indonesian archipelagic waters. Looking back at some of the commentaries and negotiating history of UNCLOS, indeed, the military exercises were discussed in the formulation of Article 51. And in fact, Article 51 was a joint proposal of Indonesia and Singapore as a result of quid-pro-quo negotiations.
