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.