Indonesia Conference Directory

Since the 1960s, Indonesia and Malaysia often argued about the Ambalat Block. The peak of the feud took place in 2002 when the International Court of Justice won Malaysia in the ownership dispute of Sipadan and Ligitan Islands in the Ambalat Block. Border disputes between two neighboring countries are actually a natural thing, especially the disputed area of the sea which is not a human habitat, whose physical boundaries are visually difficult to recognize. It becomes unnatural that the dispute then involves the mobilization of soldiers, warships, fighter jets on both sides, and often inflicts endless public anger, whereas Indonesia and Malaysia are both member countries of ASEAN. The article is set in order to reveal: why has the dispute not been completed for more than half a century? What have been done by both parties so that the Ambalat Block problem is still far from a peace agreement? What sort of obstacles are faced by both parties so that the negotiation process takes so long?