Jokowi's visit to speed up maritime border issue - envoy

Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Herman Prayitno said besides resolving the problems of overlapping maritime boundaries, the two countries were expected to reach a consensus on the law and punishment on maritime issues.

He explained that currently, discussions were still ongoing at the technical level, before the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could be signed.

"So, we will encourage the technical team to resolve the issue on the maritime boundary so that there will no longer be any overlapping region and there will be specific laws.

"To the extent that when we enforce the maritime law there will no longer be differences of opinions," he said when met by reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat, here today.

He was commenting on the meeting between Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi here yesterday.

Herman said that Indonesia and Malaysia had so far held 26 meetings and hoped the visit of President Jokowi, as Widodo is popularly known, could further speed up efforts to resolve the maritime boundary issue between both countries.

At the media conference after the meeting with Retno yesterday, Anifah said Malaysia and Indonesia had agreed to continue negotiations to find a solution on the maritime boundary issue through the existing mechanism.

Negotiations concerning the maritime boundary between Malaysia and Indonesia also involved the Straits of Melaka, Sulawesi Sea and the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, Herman hoped Jokowi's visit could improve the existing provisions concerning foreign workers from Indonesia in Malaysia, besides resolving the problems of illegal workers in the best manner possible.