Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Golkar Party faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) has asked the government to be more sensitive in border issues, according to Paskalis Kossay, a member of parliament of Golkar.

"It`s funny : a protest note to another nation was only sent after public pressure, and after our sovereignty was disturbed or provoked, like the recent detainee `barter` case between Indonesia and Malaysia," Kossay, a Papuan native, said here Monday.

Kossay said, as a citizen hailing from a border area, he had followed closely the government`s slow responses in border cases that happened in several parts of the country`s marine and land territory.

"It`s really concerning to see the SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) government`s attitude which seems to lack the proper sensitivity towards issues concerning Indonesia`s sovereignty," the former deputy speaker of Papua`s Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) said.

He pointed at the recent arrest of Indonesian fisheries officers by Malaysian police as an example of the government`s inertia and lack of sensitivity about the nation`s dignity.

On August 13, three Indonesian fisheries officers were arrested and later taken to Malaysia by a Malaysian police boat crew who had intercepted their boat on their way to Batam Island while escorting a Malaysian fishing boat that had been caught poaching in Indonesian waters.

The Malaysian police later freed the Indonesian fisheries officers after the release of the Malaysian fishermen by the Indonesian authorities.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, however, denied that there was a "barter" between the two governments to release their respective prisoners.

"So, there was indeed a synergy but the process does not at all involve a barter. What happened was a mutual respect process," the minister said.

On the trespassing case where Malaysian fishermen stole fish in Indonesian waters, the minister said the Indonesian government would always exercise its sovereignty over its territory, and would never compromise on even one inch of its territory.
(Uu.F001/HAJM/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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