Land grab allegation figment of the mind, says Indonesian MP

What land grab?

Indonesian MP Drs Ramadhan Pohan showing a border marker stone
at its original location at Camar Bulan on Friday during a visit to Kalimantan
to investigate land grab claims by another parliamentarian.

JAKARTA: The issue of Malaysia intruding into Indonesian territory has been described at best as hallucination by a member of the Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR).

Drs Ramadhan Pohan, a DPR member, made the conclusion after surveying the disputed area and seeing for himself that the border marker stones built by both Malaysia and Indonesia's militaries were intact and there was no border intrusion by Malaysia.

"There were no signs of the alleged three thousand Malaysian troops in Camar Bulan. Just trees.

 The politician who made the allegation must be hallucinating," he told a joint news conference with Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi here Monday to clarify the issue of the Malaysia-Indonesia border dispute at Camar Bulan and Tanjung Datu between Sarawak and West Kalimantan.

The Malaysia-Indonesia border dispute was allegedly raised by DPR deputy chief commissioner TB Hasanuddin from Parti Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P).

Hasanuddin was alleged to have claimed that Malaysia had occupied illegally 1,500 hectares of land in Camar Bulan and 800 metres of beach at Tanjung Datu in West Kalimantan.

Ramadhan also showed several photographs he recorded with his mobile phone during his survey of the area. Four members of the house also joined in the visit last Friday.

"I hope politicians will disseminate news based on facts and not hearsay without conducting investigations," he added. BERNAMA