Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD and Home Minister Tito Karnavian on Tuesday visited Miangas Island, the northernmost island in Talaud Islands regency, North Sulawesi, whose waters extend to the maritime border Indonesia shares with the Philippines.
“Here we are reiterating, symbolically, that we are a sovereign nation. Do not play with Indonesia’s borders,” Mahfud said at the launch event. The agency had a programme budget of around Rp 10.5 trillion this year from the state budget. Tito said developing border areas was in line with President Joko Widodo’s mission to develop remote villages and regions to make development more equitable, “especially on [outlying] islands”.
While lauding the government's expanded approach, experts have underlined that outlying areas were susceptible to a wide range of problems. Dedi Dinarto, an associate at public policy advisory firm Global Counsel who focuses on Asia and Indonesia in particular, said the Gerbangdutas was a solid programme that aimed to reach outlying areas that were usually left behind other regions on major islands.
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