Kronologi Limbang : Siri 1 : Berlaku pada 17 Mac 2009

Cerita Limbang telah lama diperkata. sejak zaman berzaman lagi. Tut tut isu nya telah selesai, sempena lawatan Dollah Bedawi ke Brunei. Baca Petikan The Star Online keluaran Selasa, 17 Mac 2009. 
Tuesday March 17, 2009 
Brunei drops claim over Limbang district, says Abdullah 
By LEONG SHEN LI
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Brunei has officially dropped its long-standing claim over Sarawak’s Limbang district after the two countries resolved various land and maritime territory disputes. “Brunei has decided to drop the Limbang issue and as a result, Limbang is part of Malaysian territory,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced to Malaysian media. The resolution of the disputes were sealed via the signing of the Letters of Exchange by Abdullah and the Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at Istana Nurul Iman here yesterday.

A new era: Abdullah (second from left) and Sultan Hassanal 

exchanging the Letters of Exchange that mark the end of 
the territorial dispute.

Looking on is Dr Rais (left) and Brunei Foreign Minister Pengiran Muda Mohamed Bolkiah. — Bernama

The other disputes include over where the maritime boundary between the two countries in the South China Sea should run, the rights to exploit potentially rich oil deposits in the disputed maritime territory, the right of movement by Malaysian vessels over Brunei waters and the demarcation of the common boundary of the two countries. The dispute over Limbang can be traced back to the cession of the territory by Brunei to Sarawak’s White Rajahs in 1890. The cession had been strongly disputed by the Sultanate which regarded the transfer as annexation by Sarawak. Yesterday, Abdullah thanked the Sultan for the resolution of the various disputes, especially that of Limbang. He said bilateral relations between the two countries would now enter a new era.Abdullah and the Sultan said in a joint statement that they had reached agreement over the maritime boundaries between the two countries in the South China Sea.

They also agreed to establish a “commercial arrangement area” where oil and gas revenue in the disputed area would be shared between the two nations. How much each country would get was not disclosed. The two sides also agreed to the existence of “unsuspendable rights of maritime access” which guaranteed the right of movement by Malaysian vessels through Brunei territorial waters provided Brunei’s laws and regulations are observed. Lastly, the Letters of Exchange also established the methods to demarcate the land boundary between the two countries. The negotiations over the agreements, which began in 1995, took 39 rounds of talks to reach the resolution. The dispute over maritime territory arose out of a 1979 map published by Malaysia which indicated that all deep-sea territorial waters off the coast of Brunei belonged to Malaysia. The latest dispute over maritime territory occurred in 2003 when Malaysia and Brunei awarded petroleum production-sharing contracts for four exploration blocks to different companies in the disputed area, close to where a 440 million-barrel discovery had been made the year before. Following the dispute, both countries agreed to stop drilling activities in the area.

dan lagi...

Tuesday March 17, 2009
Win-win situation for Brunei and Malaysia

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The resolution of the question over the ownership of Limbang will enable several projects in the Sarawak district that also benefit Brunei, to proceed, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said. He said this included the construction of a hydroelectric dam across the Sungai Limbang where electricity could be supplied to Brunei. “This will bring Sarawak and Brunei closer together,” he told a press conference at the Malaysian High Commission here yesterday.
Abdul Taib was part of the Malaysian delegation led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the signing of the Letters of Exhange which resolves various disputes between Malaysia and Brunei. On whether the resolution of the Limbang issue would bring about easier access between the district and the rest of Sarawak, Abdul Taib said the problem had more to do with finding a convenient practice for immigration and customs checks. He said the two countries had already agreed to using identity cards instead of passports and further fine-tuning of the procedures could enable easier passage of people through checkpoints on the Brunei-Malaysia border.
Limbang’s road network is cut off from the rest of Sarawak and those travelling to the district have to pass through two border checkpoints.

Ini cerita semasa kita ada kuasa. Semua yang dibuat molek dan baik belaka. Waktu itu mereka ini juga tidak terfikir ada perkara yang bakal diungkitkan kemudian berhubung isu ini apabila kuasa tidak bersama kita lagi. Lihat episod Limbang seterusnya.

Tapi yang peliknya dua hari kemudian pihak Brunei menafikannya. Lihat petikan berita daripada MySinchew.com dibawah:

Brunei Denies Limbang Story

2009-03-19 17:02

PETALING JAYA: Brunei has denied that it has dropped its claim on Limbang in Sarawak. It says the issue was not even discussed at last Monday’s (17 March) deliberations between the two countries. Both the Brunei-based papers, The Borneo Bulletin and the Brunei Times Wednesday (18 March) quoted Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Dewa Dato Seri Setia Awg Lim Jock Seng, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II, as saying claims on Limbang were never discussed during Monday's deliberations between Brunei and Malaysia. He was responding to YB Dato Paduka Hj Puasa bin Orang Kaya Seri Pahlawan Tudin's query on the contents of the "Letter of Exchange" signed between Brunei and Malaysia, which also touched on Brunei's claims over Limbang at the Legislative Council meeting Tuesday (16 March). Pehin Lim said there were certain press reports Wednesday claiming that Brunei has dropped claims over Limbang. "In actual fact, the claim on Limbang was never discussed. What was discussed was the demarcation of land boundaries on the whole," he said.

"The joint press statement issued Wednesday (17 Mar) mentioned that the demarcation of the land boundaries between the two countries will be resolved on the basis of five existing historical agreements between the Government of Brunei and the State of Sarawak, and, as appropriate, the watershed principle.
"After that a working group comprising general surveyors of the two countries will follow with the technical aspect to solve the land border issue," Pehin Lim added. His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi held a four-eye meeting at the Istana Nurul Iman on Monday and signed the Exchange of Letters to mark the successful conclusion of negotiations.

The negotiations have been ongoing for many years on outstanding bilateral issues between the two countries with regard to historical, legal and other relevant criteria involving both sides, the reports said.
The reports said that both sides noted the agreement of their respective governments on the key elements contained in the Exchange of Letters, which included the final delimitation of maritime boundaries between Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia, the establishment of Commercial Agreement Area (CAA) on oil and gas, the modalities for the final demarcation of the land boundary between Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia and unsuspendable rights of maritime access for nationals and residents of Malaysia across Brunei's maritime zones en route to and from their destination in Sarawak, Malaysia provided that Brunei's laws and regulations are observed.

In a separate report, the Borneo Bulletin said local media was not allowed into the press conference called by the Malaysian Prime Minister. “Local media representatives were earlier barred from attending the press conference. The visit itinerary didn't state it was an exclusive affair,” the report said. “The exclusive press briefing held for the Malaysian media in Brunei on Monday following the signing of Letters of Exchange (LOE) apparently generated the latest controversy over Limbang.” It said the issue about Brunei dropping its territorial claim on Limbang has caused a stir among members of the public as questions are being asked over the veracity about this claim. “Malaysian media have widely reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying that Brunei has dropped its claim on Limbang. This statement was made at a press conference on Monday at the Malaysian High Commission exclusively for the Malaysian media.” It said though no official copies of the LOE were made available, the five main points that were highlighted mostly involved the demarcation of boundaries between the two countries and that the Malaysian media quoting their Prime Minister reported that Brunei has decided to give up all claims on Limbang. “What is rather puzzling in hindsight is about why the Brunei media was not permitted to cover the press briefing. When Borneo Bulletin as well as state media persons went to cover the press conference, they were politely shunted out saying that it was 'exclusive' for the Malaysian media,” the report said. (MySinchew)

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