JAKARTA - THE implementation of a defence pact between Singapore and Indonesia has been put on hold indefinitely.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told the country's Parliament on Monday: 'We've decided for the time being to put it aside. There's no deadline.'
Yesterday, he repeated his statement and said talks on implementing the agreement would resume after a cooling of diplomatic tension over the issue.
'We don't know how long this would take, but we'll continue if the situation becomes conducive,' he said.
He added that while Singapore insisted that the negotiations on the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) had been completed, Indonesia said otherwise.
'The DCA talks have yet to be completed as there are still no rules of implementation,' he said.
Responding to Dr Hassan's remarks, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said last night that it 'respected' the Indonesian government's decision, but that Singapore remained fully committed to the pact.
The statement said: 'We respect the Indonesian government's decision to put aside the two agreements for now.'
It added: 'We are aware of the complex dynamics of Indonesia's domestic debate over the Extradition Treaty and Defence Cooperation Agreement, and that the Indonesian government may need more time before tabling the two agreements to Parliament for ratification.'
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed in October 2005 to conclude a DCA as a package deal with a bilateral Extradition Treaty (ET).
Both the extradition treaty and defence agreement were negotiated as a package and signed by the two leaders in Bali on April 27.
But three out of four Implementing Arrangements (IAs) related to the defence pact that were supposed to have been signed a month later were held up, following requests for postponement by the Indonesians.
However, in July, Singapore said Indonesia had asked for substantive changes to the DCA, and that the introduction of new elements afterwards would effectively unravel the entire package.
Since then, objections by legislators here have added hurdles to the ratification process.
These objections were both fundamental in nature - the defence agreement undermined national sovereignty - and specific.
They focused on details over the use of the Area Bravo training zone in the South China Sea and the frequency of military exercises to be held by Singapore there.
Recently, Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono claimed that Singapore was deliberately stalling on the DCA because it had second thoughts on ratifying the extradition treaty.
But Singapore's MFA said that was not true.
'Singapore remains fully committed to the agreement between Prime Minister Lee and President Yudhoyono in October 2005 to conclude the ET and DCA as a package,' it said yesterday.
'We also remain fully committed to the package of the ET, DCA and its associated four Implementing Arrangements, which was agreed to by the two governments on 23 April 2007.'
