Ancam Gugatat Australia, Masyarakat Laut Timor Geram Pulau Pasir Diekploitasi

Illustration. Sand Island tourist attraction in Meko Hamlet, Witihama District, East Flores, NTT. (ANTARA-Aloysius L)

NTT - The holder of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Timor Sea, Ferdi Tanoni, threatened to sue Australia for the ownership of Pasir Island at the Australian Commonwealth Court.

Pasir Island is known to be about 120 kilometers from Rote Island, NTT.

"If Australia does not want to leave the group of Pasir Island, we are forced to bring the case about the rights of our indigenous people to the Australian Commonwealth Court in Canberra," said Ferdi Tanoni in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), quoted from Antara, Friday, October 21.

Ferdi, who is also the Chairman of the West Timor Care Foundation, said that Australia's claim to the Island of Pasir triggered many reactions from the people in Indonesia.

According to him, so far, although he has always been urged to leave the group of Pasir Island, the Australian government seems indifferent. In fact, lastly there was oil drilling activity in the area of the island.

"In fact, the area is absolutely the property of the indigenous peoples of Timor, Rote, and Alor," he said.

This, he continued, was proven to be the graves of Rote's ancestors and various other artifacts in the Sand Island cluster.

On the island, it is also used as a location to rest fishermen after overnight to catch tripang and fish in the waters of Pasir Island.

Pasir Island is often used as a transit point by Indonesian fishermen from other areas when they sail far south of Indonesia, such as to the waters of Rote Island.

However, said Ferdi Tanoni, since there was a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indonesia and Australia in 1974, Australia immediately claimed that Pasir Island belonged to him. This is detrimental to Indonesia which is proven by the many findings.

Ferdi Tanoni assessed that so far Australia has done everything like its own, even though the scope of Pasir Island is the absolute right of the indigenous peoples of Timor, Rote, Sabu, and Alor.

Therefore, Ferdi Tanoni urged the Ministry of State Secretariat to immediately issue an initiative permit for the making of a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on Optimizing the Settlement of the Montara Case as instructed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in February 2022.