Makassar, South Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said he was ready to represent Indonesia in talks with Malaysia to settle pending border issues, if requested by the government.

"If the government asks me to become negotiator, I will be ready at any time," he said at his residence here on Tuesday.

He said as an Indonesian citizen he had to be ready because the problem had to do with the national interest in the economic, political and social fields.

He said basically the conflict could be settled in a more civil manner.

"To settle the conflict indeed the government needs to be firm. But it does not mean that we have to resort to force," he said.

He said the root cause of the problem needed to be seen proportionately before it could be settled.

He said Malaysia was wrong in that it had jailed and handcuffed the Indonesian fisheries officers.

"In this case Malaysia has indeed made a big mistake because it has directly acted against the Indonesian fisheries officers without clear reason," he said.

On the other hand, the coordinates of the area where the Malaysian fishermen were caught had also to be clearly determined.

"This means the fisheries officers also have to be able to account for their decision that the Malaysian fishermen had trespassed Indonesian territory," he said.

Three Indonesian fisheries officers were arrested by Malaysian marine police after they had caught seven Malaysian fishermen illegally fishing in the Bintan waters causing an uproar on the Indonesian side.

The officers were later released and so were the Malaysian fishermen. The two countries` foreign ministers met in Kota Kinabalu on Monday to discuss the settlement of their border disputes.

Kalla is known to have helped settle several conflicts in the country in the past.(*)

Editor: Heru
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