With the ratification, the two leaders have laid down a strong foundation for future bilateral relations between the two ASEAN neighbors that their successors will nurture.

Unless the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) suffers a shock defeat or significant decline in votes in the 2025 general elections, it is almost certain Singapore will see a power transfer from Lee to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, the current deputy prime minister. In Indonesia, a new president will be elected in February 2024 and take office in October.

Following up the signing of the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA), the Agreement on the Realignment of the Boundary between the Jakarta Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Singapore FIR and the extradition treaty the two governments signed during the Jokowi-Lee summit in Bintan in January last year, the ratification of the three pacts went through with relative ease. For Indonesia the long-awaited extradition deal will facilitate repatriation of corruption convicts hiding in Singapore. along with their ill-gotten assets.

The DCA negotiations had sparked fierce debate in this country, with many, fueled by nationalist sentiment, believing the defense cooperation scheme would constitute a loss of Indonesian sovereignty by allowing Singaporean military to train on Indonesian soil. This was also the case for the FIR, which had for decades been perceived here as Singapore’s control of certain parts of Indonesian air space.

During the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian and Singaporean governments signed the DCA and the extradition treaty, but all was lost after the House of Representatives refused to ratify the DCA in 2007, citing its perceived breach of Indonesian territorial integrity.

That the House has finally ratified the politically sensitive DCA only underlines the need for give and take in negotiations. In the end, both parties should benefit from the agreement. The House deserves credit for the ratification, in particular because the lawmakers acknowledged the treaties were of great importance for both Indonesia and Singapore.

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