Maritime issues must be given more attention

Maritime issues must be given more attention

Philips J Vermonte
CSIS

The end of the Cold War and the event of Sept. 11, 2001 have
substantially changed the landscape of international politics.
Issues such as trade liberalization, democracy and environmental
protection have become prominent. Since the fall of the Soviet
Empire in 1990, ideological and military rivalry between great
countries seemed to have ceased. However, the Sept. 11 terrorist
attack has brought them back. State-centric issues, such as
military and security issues are dominating the international
relations debate. But on top of that, non-state centric issues
have also become increasingly important. As a consequence, it
requires us to look at them with new approach.

As far as the security and military issues are concerned, the
old threat such as state war can never be abandoned. But, it also
needs to be highlighted that a new form of security issue has
emerged. So-called non-traditional security issues, such as sea
piracy, human-trafficking, illegal small arms trade, and
smuggling of goods have significantly risen. It is immediately
apparent that these new issues are basically maritime-based.

For Indonesia, a country with huge and porous borders, these
issues pose serious problems. According to the International
Maritime Bureau (IMB), Indonesia is a country with the highest
number of piracy attacks, specifically in the past three years.
Unfortunately, there has been no sign of improvement. For
example, IMB's statistics have shown that in the year 2001, the
total number of worldwide piracy incidents was 335. And 91 of
them occurred in Indonesia's water territory. In that year, the
IMB also recorded that there were two piracy incidents in the
waters of Aceh involving the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

This year, the IMB reports that Indonesia continues to record
the highest number of piracy attacks. In the first nine month of
2002, it is recorded that there are 72 incidents in Indonesia.
Moreover, the number of piracy attacks worldwide also rises
significantly. It increases from 253 reported attacks in the nine
months of 2001, to 271 for the corresponding period in 2002.
Speculation was also high that arms were smuggled to the troubled
area of Maluku through sea from Mindanao in the Philippines.
Another issue that relates to the lack of capability to protect
the border is that Indonesia loses approximately US$1,362 billion
a year from "illegal fishing" that occur frequently. Apparently,
illegal arms trafficking, piracy and illegal fishing are caused
by the fact that our porous borders are not adequately safe
guarded and patrolled.

This is the challenge that needs to be confronted in the
coming year. However, it is unfortunate that the interest in the
issue of defending and utilizing our maritime potential has
always been marginal. In fact, Indonesia attained international
recognition over our status as an archipelago country through
long diplomatic struggle. From 1957 through the Juanda
Declaration, Indonesia had declared that "for the purpose of
territorial unity, and in order to protect the resources of
Indonesia, all islands and the seas in between must be regarded
as one total unit". Due to the lack of interest, it is fair to
say that the archipelago concept had not received adequate
response from the government at that time. With the rise of the
Indonesian armed forces and its determination to advocate the
idea of 'national integration' - one of the core ideas of the New
Order government - when Soeharto came to power in the late 1960s,
the archipelago doctrine got more exposure. And finally through
the 1982 Law of The Sea Convention, Indonesia has won full
international recognition on the concept of archipelagic state.
The Convention recognizes "the rights of the archipelagic state
over its continental shelf and the Economic Exclusive Zone of
Indonesia (EEZ) areas".(Dino Patti Djalal, 1996).

Having said that, it is so unfortunate that we could not
protect what we have successfully gained from our long diplomatic
efforts. Worse, Indonesia so far cannot even maximize huge
potency provided by the size of its maritime boundaries. Huge
resources that can be utilized are there, ranging from fisheries,
biotechnology and maritime industry. According to Euro Asia
Management (1998), Indonesia is one among few countries that have
a big potential to develop maritime tourism covering all aspects:
business tourism, seaside tourism, culture tourism, cruise
tourism, echo tourism and sport tourism.

Ironically, as it is mentioned above, the interest on the
maritime issue has never been high. The main reason for this is
that we no longer have the zeal of being a maritime nation.
Therefore, it is the right time to re-orient our thinking about
our maritime resources. From the strategic perspective, it is the
time to strengthen the skill and the capacity of our Navy and Air
Force so that the two will be well equipped to defend our sea
boundaries and the air above. It is actually not only about the
issue of safeguarding our territory per se. By shifting the focus
from the Army to the Navy and the Air Force, our security sector
reform, which is carried out under the spirit of democratization,
might be enhanced. With the new strategic challenge from the
maritime-based security issues, obviously a new strategic
thinking is required. It will affect the whole course of our
defense posture that has been heavily dominated by the Army. From
an economic perspective, the huge, but under developed, maritime
resources can be projected as another "prime mover" of our
economy.