Indonesia Growing Cooperation with Singapore, Who Owns the Game?
Summary
- Indonesia and Singapore agreed to once again bring into force the 2007 Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) – an agreement that had once failed to be ratified due to massive rejections in Indonesia mainly because of sovereign risk.
- The DCA, which serves Singapore's need of military training ground, is bundled with the Extradition Treaty and the Flight Information Region (FIR) realignment agreement which serves Indonesia's interests. However, this did not dampen the controversy. Some Indonesian observers and politicians consider the bundling agreement a losing game.
- The FIR realignment agreement is considered insignificant to the existing situation. Indonesia claims to have taken over the Natuna FIR but has delegated flight services in certain areas to the Singaporean authorities.
- Brighter cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore saw in other sectors: tourism, energy, and even carbon trading.