Newsletter No. 672
News-Analysis
July 11, 2007

 

WAITING FOR ABE -- THE JAPAN-INDONESIA ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

A trickle of press reports suggests that negotiations for the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) are more-or-less complete, and simply waiting to be signed. METI Minister Akira Amari and Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu held talks in Cairns on the 5th on the sidelines of a two-day trade ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Furthermore, Japanese and Indonesian legal consultants met from July 3rd to 5th at the Japanese foreign affairs ministry building in Tokyo and turned a “record of discussion” signed in June into a legal document.

Prime Minister Abe is planning a visit to Jakarta from August 19th to 21st as part of an Asian tour which will also take him to India and Malaysia.

Will he actually survive in office that long? We’ll know at the end of this month.

MITSUBISHI WINS CONTRACT FOR JAKARTA POWER PLANT

Indonesia's largest power producer PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced today that it has selected the Mitsubishi Corporation as the winner of a project to double power generating capacity at its Muara Karang gas-fired power plant. The project is valued at about US$430 million. Mitsubishi won its bid over outfits such as Siemens and Mitsui. Muara Kurang is located in North Jakarta.

KNIFE-WIELDING PIRATES IN THE MALACCA STRAITS

We hear a lot about the security threat from pirates in the Malacca Straits. Japan and many regional governments seem to be taking this issue seriously, with bilateral cooperation strengthening in this field. I must admit that I’m a bit of a skeptic: How much of an “international security threat” do these pirates really pose?

The Japan-initiated Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) has just issued a quarterly report on the results for January to March 2007. They found 18 reported incidents of piracy in all of Asia in this period, and only one which they deemed “very significant.”

Some of these attacks occurred in Indonesian waters and have targeted Japanese ships. Kyodo News describes two of these events as follows:

1) “In one case in April, pirates tried to attack the Japanese-operated chemical tanker Shoko-maru near Karimun Island in Indonesian waters. Up to six pirates came in two boats, waving steel pipes and knives. Fortunately, the shipmaster managed to raise the alarm and the pirates, who managed to get into the engine room, fled. No one was injured, but some engine parts were reported missing.”

2) “A Japanese-operated LNG tanker [was] near Karimun, also in April. The LNG carrier had departed Niigata and was heading toward Singapore when pirates boarded near Karimun. A crew member found four men in the steering room. One of the intruders was armed with a knife. The master of the tanker raised the alarm, mustered the crew and kept watch on deck. The robbers reportedly fled.”

I think that it is beneficial to have multilateral security cooperation in Southeast Asia, but I also can’t help wondering if the whole “piracy in the Malacca Straits” issue isn’t blown a little out of proportion. I have heard this issue mentioned, for example, as a reason why Japan must increase its MSDF budget and “protect vital sea lanes.”

Do a bunch of raggedy guys brandishing knives and steel pipes really warrant that kind of attention?

NEW AID PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

MOFA announced on the 6th a raft of new aid projects for Indonesia. Primo Alui Joelianto, Director General for Asia Pacific and African Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs, met with Japanese Ambassador Shin Ebihara in Jakarta and signed these agreements. The aid projects were as follows:

-- The Project for Promotion of Sustainable Coastal Fisheries (US$8.9 million)

-- The Project for Water Supply in Gunungkidul Regency of Yogyakarta Special Territory (US$5.3 million)

-- The Project for the Expansion of Radio Broadcasting Coverage in the Remote Areas (US$3 million)

-- The Project for Rural Water Supply in the Province of Nusa Tenggara Barat and Nusa Tenggara Timur (US$2 million)