Researcher says US overflight clearance could benefit Indonesia

National security researcher Ulta Levenia Nababan has assessed that the overflight clearance requested by the United States could provide advantages for Indonesia. She said such cooperation would make it easier for Indonesia to monitor the movements of American aircraft transiting national airspace. “With this access, it becomes more orderly, faster, and aircraft movements are better monitored by our defence systems,” Levenia said in a podcast broadcast by the official account of the Ministry of Defence during an interview with the Head of the Defence Information Bureau, Rico Ricardo Sirait, on Tuesday. According to Levenia, overflight clearance is a common practice among many countries and generally requires time due to several bureaucratic stages. She assessed that American aircraft may have previously transited Indonesian airspace. However, without a clear cooperation framework, it would be more difficult for the government to conduct comprehensive monitoring. “The American side may have been passing through all this time, we do not know. But with this framework, it becomes more legal, more orderly,” she said. Through this cooperation, Indonesia would have a clearer framework to monitor United States aircraft traffic. “It means we can put the ‘wild lion in a cage’. So, we know where this person will move,” she stated, using an analogy to illustrate the importance of oversight. Furthermore, Levenia noted that every military cooperation agreement generally provides benefits for both parties. She estimated that Indonesia could also potentially gain other benefits from the cooperation, including opportunities for access to more advanced technology or primary weapon systems. She said the current document is still a Letter of Intent (LoI), which is non-binding. A Letter of Intent is a written document expressing an initial commitment between two parties before they enter into a final, legally binding contract. The document outlines the main points of agreement to guide further negotiations. “Whether it will then be elevated to a Memorandum of Understanding, a more binding form of cooperation, depends on both parties,” she said.