Guard Post Window Damaged In Protest Demo Outside Malaysian Embassy In Jakarta

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- Issues concerning the Malaysia-Indonesia border in West Kalimantan which were played up by the Indonesian media caused a group of Indonesians to stage a demonstration outside the Malaysian embassy here Wednesday.

However, the protest went out of control resulting in a glass panel at the guard post at the entrance to the embassy to be damaged while nine Indonesian policemen who were part of a team for crowd control and guarding the embassy were injured.

The group calling itself Forum Betawi Rempug (FBR) numbering some 650 people hurled hard objects at the guard post and perimeter ligthing and also at the policemen.

They began gathering there at about 1pm local time and dispersed about an hour later after venting their anger over news reports that Malaysia had seized 1,000 acres of land belonging to Indonesia along the Malaysia-Indonesia border in West Kalimantan.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and his Indonesian counterpart Dr Marty Natalegawa following the 11th Joint Commission for Bilateral Commission Cooperation Meeting between the two countries in Kuala Lumpur, at a joint press conference, had said that the removal of markers at the border there, either by mischievious individuals or natural disasters, could easily be replaced by their joint survey team.

They added that the coordinates had been established during colonial times.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin Syed Hassan said the embassy would be sending a diplomatic note to the Indonesian government over the incident.

He said in the note, the embassy would also be asking the Indonesian government as to how it could help the embassy avoid such incidents from recurring.