By Choirul Fuadi)*
CIDISS – There is always something unique when looking at the Border area. One of them is a house in two countries: Indonesia and Malaysia. The house is located in cross country border in Sebatik, in Aji Kuning Village, Sebatik Tengah District.
Quote in Radar Tarakan, the house often become hot issue when the issue of the border appears to the public. Even the house is not far from the TNI post on the border of Aji Kuning.
Maparanga, the homeowner, the house on is in the territory of two States. The house of man with three children is right on the state’s border. Half of the building houses into the territory of Indonesia, and the other half are in the territory of Malaysia.
At first glance, in the house seen, there are two bedrooms that face each other. At the front, there is a family room measuring 4 x 6 meters.
To Radar Tarakan, Maparanga revealed, if measured according to the boundary of the state, and then the terrace of the house till his family room is on the NKRI territory. While the dining room, kitchen and bathroom, is on the territory of Malaysia.
“Since the village (Aji Kuning) was made a road, which is around the 1980s, then many people open the land to build houses,” said Maparanga.
Maparanga stated, a long time ago, in Aji Kuning Village is inhabited by retired soldiers of war or veterans. By Nunukan goverment, veterans were given a place with a borrow-use system to use without a land certificate. In fact, the land that was formerly a cocoa plantation office now has become a settlement of immigrant residents.
He told that has been living in the house for 16 years. Initially, they were married in Bone, South Sulawesi and then migrated to Tawau, Malaysia. Then Maparanga was appointed by one of the residents and moved to Sebatik.
Now he works daily as a truck driver and his wife works as a tailor. Although his house is in two countries, but he said he did not want to be a Malaysian.
)* The author is CIDISS Contributor