Sea territory an agenda item for regional elections

I Made Andi Arsana, Sydney

The local leadership elections currently taking place are one of the most important current issues in Indonesia.

This article will not dwell on the politics behind the elections or issues of democratization, but instead look at the powers of local governments as regards maritime territory.

A candidate standing in a local election needs to fully understand the rules governing maritime territory, aside from other important matters, as two-thirds of the country consists of ocean.

The first fundamental matter of which a candidate should be aware is the change in the legislation governing local autonomy -- Law No. 22/1999 has been superseded by Law No. 32/2004.

With regard to maritime territory, these two laws differ quite significantly. Law No. 22/1999 states that the jurisdiction of a regional local authority consists of inland areas and marine areas up to twelve nautical miles measured from the coastline.

The legislation is intended to govern the division of authority between the central government and local governments -- not necessarily to carve up territories.

This has now been further explained by Law No. 32/2004. It is worth emphasizing that the power provided is only to manage resources, not to fully possess a maritime territory. This is different from the situation regarding land territory.

Law No. 32/2004 also deals explicitly with traditional types of fishing. It says that such fishing shall not be restricted by the division of maritime territory. In other words, fishing conducted by traditional fishermen can be carried out regardless of the existence of a maritime boundary between two or more regions. However, a governor or regent has to be aware of the definition of "traditional fishermen" to avoid potential interregional conflicts.

A few weeks ago, a national daily reported that Maluku province was demanding special maritime autonomy. The province argues that Maluku, geographically dominated by maritime territory, deserves special powers to manage this territory. Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Freddy Numberi, has positively responded to the demand. What a good news!

This, once again, reminds us that it is essential for local governments to secure power over their maritime territories as it strongly affects their ability to utilize natural resources. As a part of an archipelagic country, a regency/municipality, the main holders of autonomy, should be entitled to optimally exploit their maritime resources.

Law No. 32/2004 also states that each province is entitled to manage maritime territory of up to 12 nautical miles (NM) measured from the province's outermost point. A regency, on the other hand, can claim one third the maritime area of that of a province.

This principle is crucial as in defining maritime territory, it is quite possible that a province will not be able to claim the full 12 NM. Bali and East Java, for instances, cannot claim 12 NM of maritime territory in the Bali Strait as it is less then 12 NM wide. It is different in the case of South Kalimantan, which can easily claim 12 NM in the archipelagic waters south of Borneo island.

Unfortunately, there are no technical regulations as yet that can be used for interpreting the rules set out in Law No. 32/2004. Consequently, no official technical standards have been set to govern the division of local authority powers in the maritime sphere. However, there are guidelines for Law No. 22/1999, and these may prove to be of help. Given that these guidelines refer to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, they should still be applicable having regard to Law No. 32/2004, at least until ancillary regulations have been issued.

The guidelines were published by the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP), and were written by such experts as Prof. Jacub Rais in 2003. The project was carried out by the Indonesian Government in collaboration with Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island, and funded by USAID. The fundamental issued dealt with in the guidance include the definition of adjacent and opposite provinces; the use of references for height definitions; the definition of a bay; baselines and basepoints; the cases of small islands and fringing islands; the choice of charts; and administrative aspects.

Understanding the concepts and rules governing the delineation of maritime territory is important for the candidates running in the 2005 local leadership elections. With autonomy, local leaders should be able to optimally manage and exploit the resources of their regions. Without a comprehensive understanding, governors and regents will not be aware of the limits to the maritime areas they can exploit. How can they optimize the exploitation of resources without an awareness of territory? So, if you happen to attend an election meeting, don't forget to ask the candidate in question about his or her strategy as regards maritime territory.

The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Geodetic Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, and is currently studying the technical aspects of maritime boundary delineation at the University of New South Wales, Sydney