JAKARTA - Indonesia's parliament is to summon President Megawati Sukarnoputri to explain the loss of two islands to Malaysia, reports said today.

Parliament wants Megawati to elaborate on the loss of Sipadan and Ligitan islands following a World Court decision last December, the Jakarta Post and the state Antara news agency reported.

"The president as chief executive still needs to make a clarification to the House and it is not enough that it is the relevant ministers who did the explaining," one legislator, Mashadi, was quoted by Antara as saying.

No date has been set for her appearance.

Resettlement process

After a decades-long legal dispute the International Court of Justice ruled that Sipadan and Ligitan off eastern Borneo belong to Malaysia.

It said Kuala Lumpur had asserted authority over the islands since the 1930s while Indonesia did not protest at Malaysia's actions until 1969.

Indonesia, smarting from the loss, has announced plans to resettle people on 88 uninhabited border islands to stop neighbouring countries claiming them.

Indonesia, the world's most extensive archipelago, has 18,108 islands, of which about 6,000 are inhabited. - AFP