Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Natuna itself has never been in dispute China recognized Indonesian sovereignty on the island what is disputed is the EEZ zone because it overlap with China claim
China is right when she said it was traditionally Chinese fishing area . The original population of Natuna are Chinese until 1970 when the government start he transmigration project to resettle Malay from overcrowded island of Java and Sumatra.
There are even petition from local Chinese to China back in 60's to incorporate Natuna into Chinese territory. But China decline because it is weak and under embargo. It need all the friend they can get. Plus in 60's China and Indonesia are allies. So count your blessing
Indonesia plan to station 1 regiment of F 16 is meaningless gesture Indonesia is the most corrupt government in Asia . She has no way to match China and she need all the help from China to revive their flagging economy, Nobody want to invest in Indonesia because of red tape, corruption and rent seeker everywhere. Nothing get done in Indonesia .
the infrastructure are leftover from Colonial time. China is the only game in town
What they need are to sit down and discuss joint fishing right in the area
China coast guard function is to protect Chinese fisherman as such their action is justified
Natuna Islands
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Introducing Indonesia to the South China Sea issue
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Tunchinmang Langel Abstract Indonesia was largely not a part of the whole South China Sea issue until China started demarcating its nine-dash line policy which overlapped Indonesia's Natuna Islands Exclusive economic zone (EEZ). With this paper we will look into how a neutral nation and the largest Southeast Asian country found itself from one end of an impartial spectator and self-appointed honest broker in this regional dispute to beginning to transform itself into a "global maritime nexus". To understand the significance of Natuna one has to go back and re-read the past histories of Indonesia and China, without which the very idea of why such a tiny island is even being placed at such a high pedestal will not be understood. Although contemporary researchers and scientist will point out to the vast reservoirs of unexcavated reserves of potential oil and gas fields lying dormant in the EEZ area of Natuna Islands as one and only primary reason. However, contrary to popular beliefs the roots lie deep in the past. Introduction
Indonesia’s Natuna Islands which lie closer to Kuala Lumpur than Jakarta itself was and is
known to be an island of peaceful calm, where unnecessary trouble does not rise about from thin air. The men are humble fishermen trying to make ends meet by going to the sea and bringing back their daily catch. Until the Chinese policy of claiming almost the whole of its backyard, especially the South China Sea, changed for the worst, Indonesia was just a watchful eye or an idle witness to the entire South China Sea kerfuffle. If we go back a little into history, we will find that the Natuna archipelago has been the subject of an Indonesia-China dispute before as well. The majority of Natuna residents were ethnic Chinese unt8il 1970s. Anti-Chinese riots occurred in Indonesia in the 1960s, early 1980s, and again in 1998, leading to a sharp decline in the ethnic Chinese population on Natuna from an estimated 5,000-6,000 to somewhere over 1,000 currently. There are stories and allegations that ethnic Chinese residents of Natuna Island held meeting (never publicly confirmed) with Deng Xiaoping (China's premier from 1978 to 1992) and they asked Deng to either back their bid for independence from Indonesia, or bring their island under Chinese suzerainty.
The Indonesian government in the 1980s started to relocate ethnic Malay Indonesians to Natuna, and the official reason given was of
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importing skills and relieving population pressures on the overc
rowded main island of Java”,
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people of Malay ethnicity now number approximately 80,000 in the Natuna Islands group
