GOVT ADVISED TO INTENSIFY COMMUNICATION WITH M'SIA ON AMBALAT

Jakarta, June 4 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government should intensify its communication with Malaysia to find the best possible solution to the Ambalat issue, a noted community leader said.

"The government of Indonesia has to intensify its talks with Malaysia in an effort to overcome the problem involving Ambalat," Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the Center for Dialog and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC), said here on Thursday.

Syamsuddin, who is concurrently chairman of Muhammadiyah Islamic organization, said the government should immediately find a solution to the Ambalat problem in accordance with existing procedures.

He said if the government was really certain that the Ambalat block belonged to Indonesia, various efforts should be made to maintain it, or else it would be lost like Sipadan and Legitan islands.

But if the Ambalat block is disputed, Syamsuddin said there was no other way of solution besides intensification of diplomatic dialog between the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to intensify its negotiations with Malaysia over the Ambalat issue.

The president made the request at a meeting with National Defense Forces (TNI) leaders and related officials at the presidential office on Wednesday, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS told the press after the meeting.

Widodo said the president chaired the meeting to discuss various issues related to domestic security, including the intrusion of several Malaysian warships into Indonesian waters in the Ambalat block.

"The president asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to speed up its negotiations with Malaysia over the Ambalat issue," Widodo said, adding that negotiations between Indonesian and Malaysian teams about the two countries' maritime borders had been going on since 2005.

He said in the negotiations, Indonesia had brought up questions relating to its maritime borders with Malaysia in the Malacca Strait, Johor, South China Sea, and the Ambalat area.

According to the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, the two countries' teams had already met at least 23 times and in July this year they were to hold their 24th meeting.