Indonesian lawmakers may scuttle Singapore defence pact

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

JAKARTA, May 24 (Reuters) Indonesia's parliament may refuse to ratify a defence pact with Singapore if its provisions are against Indonesia's interests, a lawmaker from the country's largest political party said today.

Indonesia's defence ministry will present the defence pact to parliament next week for ratification, but lawmakers have not seen an official copy, said Hajrianto Tohari, a member of the parliamentary commission on foreign and defence affairs.

Under the defence pact signed by the leaders of the two neighbours in April, Singapore's air force and navy will be able to train in Indonesia.

''We will not hesitate to refuse to ratify the pact if it is against Indonesia's interests, especially as far as politics and sovereignty are concerned,'' said Tohari, a legislator from the Golkar party, told Reuters.

''Our main concern is our country's honour and sovereignty.'' The governor of Riau Islands province, south of Singapore, has objected to any war exercises by the Singapore military there as part of the defence cooperation pact, the Jakarta Post reported on Thursday.

''We earlier supported the exercise because we were under the impression that it was not going to be dangerous and would involve only light training,'' Ismeth Abdulla told the Post.

''Then we learned that war equipment would be used during the exercise,'' he said.

CONCERNS Tohari said parliament would take into account concerns expressed by the governor.

The defence pact was negotiated with an extradition treaty between Indonesia and Singapore. The two agreements were signed as a package.

Singapore said this week the extradition treaty would only come into effect once problems over the defence pact were resolved.

Jakarta hopes the extradition treaty will help it prosecute fugitive business executives, believing some Indonesians who owed money to authorities following the 1997-98 financial crisis have taken refuge in Singapore.

A large number of wealthy Indonesians live in Singapore and are key clients for luxury property developers and private banks.

One third of Singapore's high net worth individuals -- those with net financial assets of more than 1 million dollars -- are of Indonesian origin, Merrill Lynch and Capgemini said in a report last year. These 18,000 Indonesians have total assets worth 87 billion dollars, the report said.

Singapore, which wants to attract wealthy individuals to boost its banking sector, said it has strict money laundering laws to curb such economic crimes.

REUTERS CM RAI1244

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