Indonesia and Singapore are committed to keeping the Strait of Malacca open and accessible to all ships, leaders of the two countries said yesterday as they gathered for the second Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat in Jakarta.
Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said the two countries had reaffirmed their common position on the waterway that connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
“Indonesia and Singapore are directly bordering countries in the Strait of Malacca. We have a common interest in maintaining the Strait of Malacca as a free passage for all parties,” he said, according to the Straits Times. “We must preserve security and peace in the strait and, of course, protect it from pollution, accidents and theft or piracy. »
Prabowo added that Indonesia would continue to coordinate with Malaysia and Thailand to ensure that the strait “always remains open to all, safe and accessible to anyone who needs access” in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong confirmed Prabowo’s comments, saying that recent events in the Middle East, which have hampered shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, have only highlighted the importance of keeping Malacca free and secure. On this issue, he said that Singapore and Indonesia are “strategically aligned”.
“We both share an interest in respecting the rights and freedoms of navigation and maintaining maritime lines of communication open to all, including the rights of unimpeded transit passage of vessels, in accordance with UNCLOS, which is also a customary right,” he said.
Prabowo’s comments come after Indonesian Foreign Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa in April raised the idea of imposing a tax on ships passing through the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Citing Iran’s plan to impose a “toll” in the Strait of Hormuz following its war with the United States and Israel, he said a similar toll in the Strait of Malacca could generate significant economic value, if implemented cooperatively among the three states bordering the strait.
“If we divide it into three parts – Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – it could be quite significant,” he said, noting that the Indonesian section of the strait was “the largest and longest”.
While the severity of the suggestion was unclear, it immediately sparked concern across the region, including from Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Prabowo’s statement appears to negate any possibility that Jakarta will attempt to monetize the strait or push its neighbors to do so – which will no doubt reassure Singapore’s leaders.
Also yesterday, Wong and Prabowo announced a number of agreements aimed at strengthening economic relations between the two nations. The two leaders presided over the signing of 26 “tangible and concrete achievements in various fields,” the two leaders said in a joint statement. This included 18 government-to-government cooperation agreements and eight business-to-business agreements.
One of the most significant was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund Danantara and Singapore’s Keppel Electric, Sembcorp Industries and Singapore Energy Interconnections, on the expansion of cross-border electricity trade. In a joint statement, Danantara and Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said the MoU would “explore potential collaboration on the procurement of imported low-carbon electricity” and help resolve “commercial and technical issues related to the development of cross-border interconnections.”
Indonesian Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia later told reporters that Singapore and Indonesia were currently holding price negotiations for the deal and that he believed there would be “a breakthrough soon”, he said. “We want everyone to reap the benefits, achieving a win-win solution for both,” he added.