By : Agus *)
The Indonesian Military (TNI) is targeting to construct more security posts along the North Kalimantan and East Kalimantan borders with Malaysia, which are more than 1,000 kilometers long.
Mulawarman Military Command chief spokesman, Lt. Col. Purwito Hadi said in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, says that they would establish others 17 posts beside 33 posts have been had by Indonesian Military Defense. He said, the budget for scheme would be applied to 201 state budget, but the currently amount had yet to calculated.
Purwito says further, the new border checkpoints, were becoming more crucial because of an increase in the number of trespassers from both countries, which consequently raised the security threat.
This is our way to affirm the presence of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and to protect the people and the territory,” Purwito stated.
The main duty of border soldiers is to protect the border by prevented the state boundaries from being shifted. In the past, the border markers were shifted by illegal loggers from Malaysia in order to take timber from Indonesia’s forested areas. Oil palm plantations also did the same thing not too long ago.
Border security also has authority to led surveillance and investigations or to arrest those criminal who was did illegal activites.
Border security troops are placed under the command of the task force. The TNI has deployed two battalions to watch over the West Kalimantan-Sarawak border and the East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan-Sarawak and Sabah borders.
The border security posts are generally located on mountain ridges, such as in the Schwaner mountainous region, which acts as a natural border between Indonesia and Malaysia. However, they are also located at various other locales, such as the Simantobol and Simantopol posts, which are located in the middle of the jungle and far from human settlements, while the post in Long Bawan is located in the densely populated Long Bawan district.
A number of disputes in the border areas keep occurring. A recent one took place in November 2014, when the government said that three out of 10 villages in the Lumbis Ongon subdistrict, Nunukan, North Kalimantan, were declared to be part of Malaysia’s territory. The village areas were poor and had no access to the Indonesian government’s development projects, so the government concluded that accelerating development could reduce poverty
*) Author Is Brunei Darussalam’s Contributor