JAKARTA - Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that issues related to the Sabah-North Kalimantan border (Kaltara) were also discussed during the Malaysian cabinet meeting held in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
"Yesterday, some of our media (Malaysian media) made reports based on news from neighboring media, regarding three villages in Indonesian territory, which are now said to have partially entered Malaysian territory. The Cabinet discussed this matter," said Fahmi as reported by ANTARA, Friday, January 23.
Fahmi, who is also a spokesman for the Malaysian government, said the process related to the Sabah-Kaltara border issue is a long-running process through discussions between the two countries.
According to Fahmi, the Malaysian government has asked the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) to explain this matter.
The Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) - as previously reported - on Friday issued an official news statement stating that 'Malaysia has given 5,207 hectares of land to Indonesia as compensation for the entry of three villages in the Nunukan area as part of Malaysia, near the Sabah-Kalimantan border', is not appropriate.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) Dato' Sri Arthur Joseph Kurup stated that negotiations regarding marking and measurement in the Outstanding Boundary Problem (OBP) area were carried out harmoniously between the two countries, and were not based on the principle of reciprocity, compensation, or profit-loss calculation.
The finalization of this land border measurement was carried out through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries on February 18, 2025, after going through a comprehensive and transparent technical negotiation process for more than 45 years.
He conveyed the commitment of Malaysia and Indonesia to accelerate the resolution of land border issues in the Sabah-North Kalimantan (Kaltara) sector was agreed upon during the state visit of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to Malaysia on June 8, 2023.
The news related to this border issue is quite crowded to be discussed by the public in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Responding to this, the Malaysian Indonesian Journalists Association (ISWAMI) asked media in Indonesia and Malaysia to present accurate and balanced narratives regarding the process of resolving the Sabah-North Kalimantan land border so as not to trigger public misunderstanding.
ISWAMI also hopes that the governments of the two countries will provide adequate guidance to their respective national media so that border issues can be understood in full and do not create negative speculation in the community.
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