Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has sealed two foreign-owned resorts on Maratua Island and Nabucco Island in East Kalimantan, for lacking the required permits, according to reporting from Tempo.
“We took action because, after inspection, we found out that one of the foreign-owned resorts has its permits expired, while the other has no permits,” The Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Surveillance, Pung Nugroho Saksono, said on Maratua Island on Thursday (19/9/24.)
Pung explained that PT MID managed the resort on Maratua Island, while PT NMR managed the resort on Nabucco Island.
According to Pung, the resorts, which are located in the outermost islands of Indonesia, are owned by Malaysian citizens. The ministry sealed off these resorts to avoid another territorial dispute like the one over the Sipadan and Ligitan islands, says Tempo.
“It was managed by foreign investors who claimed they would build resorts that would employ Indonesians. Slowly, the Indonesian employees were expelled, and when Sipadan and Ligitan were filled with all foreigners, diplomacy failed,” he said.
Pung claimed that the ministry continues to surveil and take action to avoid a repeat of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands seizure. He also urged the Malaysian citizens who own the resorts to immediately process the permits and follow the rules set by the Indonesian government, reports Tempo.
According to Pung, the foreign-owned resorts currently still employ Indonesian citizens. However, the local workers may be dismissed in the future if the government doesn’t take any action to secure the islands.
Source: Tempo
