Defense Minister Prabowo: FIR Doesn't Lose The State

Defense Minister Prabowo/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto revealed about the agreement to adjust the air space for the flight information region (FIR). According to him, the agreement does not harm the country, on the contrary, it is beneficial.

"I don't think there is any loss. We need friendship and cooperation with Singapore. Our neighbors are close. So I think this is mutually beneficial. Singapore has always been a friendly country with us," Prabowo said at the DPR Building, Thursday, January 27.

However, Prabowo did not explain in detail the technical details of the agreement. Because he said, the Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, had more control over the material.

"I think it might be more powerful for an explanation, I think the Minister of Transportation," he said.

Most importantly, Prabowo said, the government had succeeded in taking over the FIR after decades.

"But what is important after so many decades is that we now have a framework for an agreement and we have really accommodated the interests of the two countries," he said.

It is known, Indonesia and Singapore agreed on an agreement regarding the flight information region (FIR). President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the scope of Jakarta now covers all airspace in the waters around the Riau Islands (Kepri) and the Natuna Islands.

"Meanwhile, with the signing of the FIR agreement, the scope of Jakarta's FIR will cover all of Indonesia's territorial airspace. Especially in the waters around the Riau Islands and Natuna Islands," Jokowi said in a press statement broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Tuesday, January 25. In addition to the FIR agreement, Indonesia-Singapore also agreed on an extradition treaty. The Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and the Singaporean Minister of Defense also signed a joint statement regarding the commitment to a defense agreement. Recently, the retroactive period was extended from 15 years to 18 years in accordance with Article 78 of the Criminal Code," said Jokowi.