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|Date: 9 June 2009|
|Jakarta, - The Ambalat Block in Sulawesi Sea is part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), the Indonesian Military (TNI) said.|
|"Whoever enters the area (without permission) violates the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia," TNI Headquarters spokesman Commodore Sagom Tamboen told ANTARA on Friday (5/6).|
He said the TNI had never stated that the Ambalat Block was an area in a disputed status. "The Ambalat Block is part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia based on the international law of the seas," he said.
Therefore, the Indonesian military would continue to carry out safeguarding operations in the area.
In the meantime, Indonesia has so far sent 36 protest notes to Malaysia about border violation committed by Malaysian patrol boats in Ambalat waters.
"The 36th protest note was sent to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (4/6)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said here on Friday.
The latest protest note was conveyed after the foreign ministry had obtained details on the realities on the ground from the Indonesian Navy, he said.
The navy, he said, had given a chronological report that included such details as the dates of the incursions or activities of the Malaysian patrol boats in Indonesian territorial waters.
By sending the protest notes, the Indonesian government wanted to make it plain that Ambalat was an area subject to Indonesian sovereignty, he said.
The first note of protest was delivered by Indonesia to the Malaysian government in 1980.
But apart from sending the protest notes, the Indonesian government was continuing to use diplomatic channels to settle the Ambalat problem with Malaysia through negotiations, he said.
"The government has again reminded Malaysia to soon prepare its team for negotiations on border problems," Faizasyah said, adding that officials of the foreign ministry were continuing to coordinate with Malaysian counterparts to settle the border incidents," he said. (ANTARA)