At the risk of sounding like a broken record,
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has shown his persistence to his
Singaporean counterpart, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, by bringing up talks
about extradition and asset recovery of Indonesian criminals taking shelter in
the city state.
After a
bilateral meeting held at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java on
Tuesday, Yudhoyono said that Lee was open to the possibility of another round
of talks on an extradition treaty. The previous deal, inked by both parties in
2007, failed to take effect after Indonesian lawmakers rejected its
ratification.
"I
told Prime Minister Lee that cooperation on extradition and defense was
suddenly discontinued due to escalating political tensions here, particularly
in 2009,” Yudho-yono said at a press conference after the meeting.
"I
told him this is the right time to talk about it again because it will bring
real benefits to Singapore, Indonesia, and the region.”
Yudhoyono
said that it was not possible at the time to ratify the treaty in Indonesia
because of numerous comments and critics.
"But
this time, we should start over with good intentions,” he said.
"Singapore’s
response was actually good, and they were open to it whenever we are ready to
renegotiate. My hope is that there’s strong enough political support from our
side, so we can reach what we have been expecting.”
In
2007, Indonesia and Singapore signed an extradition treaty that would enable
Indonesian law enforcement officers to go after dozens of graft suspects who
had sought refuge in Singapore. An additional agreement on defense would have
granted both countries the right to conduct military training in each other’s
territories.
However,
Indonesia’s lawmakers rejected the ratification of the treaty, arguing it
favored Singapore and could compromise Indonesia’s security and sovereignty.
In
September 2011, Singapore’s Minister of State for Home and Foreign Affairs,
Masagos Zulkifli, said the 2007 deal was final with Singapore having ratified
it.
Zulkifli
stressed that Singapore would never renegotiate the deal since it would set a
bad precedent for the country in the eyes of the international community.
While
it is unlikely that any progress will be made toward achieving the type of
extradition treaty that Indonesia longs for with Singapore, efforts to
cooperate on the freezing and seizure of criminal proceeds, particularly from
corruption, will remain open as the issue was not included in the previous
extradition treaty.
"Singapore
is known as a clean country with an outstanding anticorruption record; thus, it
will definitely be good if this treaty can be renegotiated,” Yudhoyono said.
"The
world will also learn that Singapore can play an important role bilaterally and
regionally in such cooperation.”
Singaporean
officials refused to comment on the meeting, which was the second bilateral
“retreat” after an initial sit-down in Singapore in 2010.
House
of Representatives’ foreign affairs, defense and intelligence commission
chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said there was an urgency to renegotiate the treaty as
Indonesian corruption suspects’ money-laundering activities in Singapore had
become alarming.
"However,
our stance is clear that any treaty or deal related to extradition and asset
recovery should have no strings attached to any defense agreement,” said
Mahfudz of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Bagus
BT Saragih
The
Jakarta Post
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