Sea territory an agenda item for regional elections

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-- Law No. 22/1999 has been superseded by Law No. 32/2004.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