DETENTION OF GRANITE-CARRYING VESSELS BY INDONESIAN NAVY

DETENTION OF GRANITE-CARRYING VESSELS BY INDONESIAN NAVY:

(Update on status): 1.

Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether his Ministry has received any update on the status of the 13 granite-carrying vessels bound for Singapore which were detained by the Indonesian Navy for allegedly carrying sand and whether Singapore is still freely importing granite from Indonesia.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Speaker, Sir, Indonesia has not banned the export of granite. However, there have been supply disruptions in recent weeks due to the detention of several barges and tugboats carrying granite bound for Singapore since February.

When I met Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda in Nuremburg last month on 15th March, he told me that an inter-departmental team from Jakarta had visited the Riaus to investigate the detention of the tugboats and barges. Minister Hassan assured me that the Indonesian team's verification process would be transparent. I agreed with him that transparency is important. Transparency in such matters is good for trade and investment and in the national interest of Indonesia.

On 5th March 2007, MFA sought clarification on the detained barges through a Diplomatic Note and subsequently followed up with two reminders on 12th March and 26th March. DEPLU (the Indonesian Foreign Ministry) replied on Thursday, 5th April 2007, last week via a Diplomatic Note giving us the inspection results. According to the Note, 22 tugboats and barges were

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detained in February and in March. However, only seven were alleged to have violated the land sand ban by carrying land sand or a mixture of land sand and granite chips. The rest were detained on charges of violating various other Indonesian laws, shipping regulations and customs regulations. DEPLU informed us that these cases will now be taken up through the legal process in Indonesia. We are studying DEPLU's response and will seek further clarification from the Indonesian Government, if necessary.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Sir, may I seek the Minister's comment on the article by Asiamoney magazine entitled "The Singapore Sandstorm" which said that, despite Singapore's extraordinary advances, it is still vulnerable and Singapore being the triple 'A' rated First World State can still be bullied by its big developing neighbours and that Singapore is a little more than a 10-stone weakling, defenceless against having sand kicked in its face. Could the Minister reassure this House on the steps taken by the capable team of civil servants and Ministers to ensure that Singapore, the little red dot, with no natural resources, is not a weakling nor defenceless against having sand kicked in its face?

**Mr: George Yong-Boon Yeo: ** Mr Speaker, Sir, I think we are used to being called names and described sometimes in comical idiomatic ways. The responses to some of the disruptions we have faced had been discussed in this House and I believe Minister Mah Bow Tan will be talking in greater detail about them in answer to the following question. It is true, Mr Speaker Sir, that we are not a "200-pound Hulk". Maybe we are small, but we are not without capabilities and our gongfu is not bad. If sand is kicked in our face, the person may end up with a mouthful of sand in his own mouth.

Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister how long

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more have we to wait and is there any other action or alternative that we can take?

Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo: In particular, which is the hon. Member referring to - the granite?

Er Lee Bee Wah: About those detained barges.

**Mr:

**Mr:

**Mr: George Yong-Boon Yeo: ** The process is now in the open. It will be taken through legal channels in Indonesia. Three of the barge owners are Singaporean. If they want our help, we will help them in whatever way we can. It is good that the matter is now transparent. I am sure that they will get their own lawyers. If charges will be pressed, they will defend themselves and the matter should be properly resolved in this way, according to the laws of Indonesia.

**Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): ** Sir, I would like to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs how he has taken this whole episode of the Indonesian reaction to the sand and granite ban on exports, and obviously it is coming against us. Is it a diplomatic failure on the part of Singapore or on the part of ASEAN in which we are supposed to be good neighbours and we help them along?

**Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo: ** Mr Speaker, Sir, this is primarily a bilateral matter. If any country, in effecting a ban on exports, does so in a way which contravenes the WTO or ASEAN's economic agreements, then we can invoke dispute mechanisms within those agreements. But I believe that it is within Indonesia's rights, for environmental reasons, to ban the export of sand, and it has done so for environmental reasons. I know there have been Indonesian legislators and officials who have talked

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about various motives for banning the export of sand, but the official reason given to us was for environmental reasons and we have got to take it at face value. As to what we can do in response, well, the key is that we must be diversified and we must have our own strengths. The ban of sand and the disruption of granite supply have caused some disruption to the construction industry, caused some inconvenience to Singaporeans, but I think we are able to cope, and Minister Mah Bow Tan has explained in some detail in this House how we have been able to cope.

But if you look at our bilateral relations with Indonesia on the whole, it is a big account and we are mutually dependent in so many ways. There are specific problems here and there and it is best we manage them as discrete problems rather than linking everything together. So for example, I have informed this House before that on the Extradition Treaty and Defence Cooperation, we are negotiating these in parallel. The negotiations are ongoing and I hope they can be resolved in a reasonably short time. We are helping Indonesia in developing the Special Economic Zone in Batam, Bintan and Karimun; we are helping them on Avian Flu in Tangerang near Jakarta; we are helping with the haze problem in the province of Jambi; and in so many areas we are cooperating. So it is important to set these problems in context.

Mdm:

Ho Geok Choo (West Coast): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to comment on the recent blast of the granite quarry in Karimum. How will it affect the supply to our construction industry and the measures taken by our Government with regard to other sources of supply? Also, beyond the possibility of sabotage, what long-term plans or strategies would our Government be looking into where sand and granite from Indonesia are concerned?

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Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo: I do not know much about the explosion at the granite quarry in Karimun apart from what I have read in the newspapers and from some reports which I have received from Jakarta. The Indonesian police is investigating into the matter and it is best that we leave it to them. If the Singapore owner requests our assistance in the Foreign Ministry, then, of course, we will help them. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked earlier, Mr Speaker, Sir, whether, in fact, the problem we are now having with Indonesia reflects a certain diplomatic failure. Well, I think that is for others to judge.