A Canadian company that specializes in the marketing of islands worldwide is under fire in Indonesia for purportedly trying to sell three islands in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
Indonesian State Secretary Hatta Radjasa told media that none of Indonesia’s territory was for sale despite a website of Toronto-based Private Islands Inc., advertising offers for three islands in the western part of the Asian country.
The Indonesian government has asked for an investigation while Private Islands Inc., which specializes in the marketing and sale of islands worldwide, has removed reference of the “sale” of Indonesian islands from its website.
In its place, the section now boldly reads – “Island Properties for Lease in Indonesia
Indonesian law does not permit private ownership of an island. Shares of a resort business, however, can be sold to anyone.”
Hatta told reporters earlier this month at the Presidential Palace that investors might lease or develop resorts on those islands, but any claim or attempt at ownership of Indonesian territory would constitute a “serious violation” of the law.
“There is no way that any of our islands can be sold. Perhaps those people who rent them do not understand that.
“Such ownership would obviously constitute a serious violation [of the law]. No island can be put up for sale,” he said.
An Indonesian government source told The Asian Pacific Post that the controversy may be rooted in the company’s website mistakenly identifying the islands for sale.
“Some section of their website clearly state Indonesian law does not allow islands for sale..other sections didn’t…that’s what we have been told,” he said.
“We will see if that is the case when the investigation is concluded”
Indonesia is often referred to as the world’s largest archipelago with 17,000 or so islands which span more than 5000 km.
Three islands in the Mentawai archipelago, West Sumatra, were advertised for sale at www.privateislandsonline.com., Indonesian media reported.
The 15-acre Macaroni island was on sale for US$4 million, 24-acre Siloinak island was up for $1.6 million and Kandui island, measuring 26-acres in size, was advertised for $8 million.
“Varying degrees of investment from full-purchase to joint venture may be considered. Siloinak island is priced extremely well, and all details will be discussed upon inquiry,” read the closing sentence of the sale information on the website then.
Indonesian lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the sale of Indonesian territory would constitute sacrificing national sovereignty, and should not be allowed to happen.
“Land can be sold and purchased through the [2008] Agrarian Law. However, although an island is physically land, in a legal sense its sale is not the same,” Todung was quoted in local media as saying.
While part of an island can be sold as land, the entire island cannot.
He said that under the Agrarian Law, only Indonesian citizens could own both the land and the right to develop on it.
“Investors can develop [resorts] in the context of foreign investment, but they cannot own the land,” he said.
Meanwhile in Padang, West Sumatra, Yudas Sabaggalet, the Mentawai archipelago deputy regent, said there was no such arrangement to sell any of the islands in his region.
The website advertising islands for sale, he claimed, was based on “invalid information”.
“Only one of the three islands offered is really an island. The other two are names of resorts on Siberut Island,” he said.
Yudas said he did not understand how anybody could confuse the resorts as islands, and how they could be up for sale to the public.
The ads promoted Macaroni and Kandui as islands, he said, when they were both just resorts on North Pagai Island and Karangmajat Besar island respectively.
Siloinak, however is in fact an island.
One report said residents on an five-hectare Stabok Island off Madura, East Java, are worried about rumors that their island home has been sold to a foreign private investor and have said they have nowhere else to go.
The residents of Sapekan village on Sitabok Island told Metro TV that they have lived on the island for a long time and had no other homes to go to.  Most of the 32 families living on the island work as fishermen and seaweed farmers.
According the village head, Sitabok was ‘sold’ four years ago, but the sale had not yet been made official by the local government.
Measurement of the land was carried out privately with no government officials present, residents said.
The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fishery, Freddy Numberi, admitted there were flaws in the permit mechanism because developers tend to build their resorts first before they apply for permits from the regional government.