Despite pressure from powerful international countries, Indonesia had managed to secure itself additional marine territory, expanding the archipelago considerably through persuasive diplomacy, said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

“Through persuasive arguments, Indonesia has not only maintained its existing territory but widened it to 6.2 million square kilometers by expanding our marine territory from the shoreline from 3 nautical miles to 12. All of this occurred through diplomacy, we did not use a bullet to defend our territory.”

Delivering his annual lecture at the University of Padjajaran in Bandung to commemorate the 80th anniversary of former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja (1978-1988), Hassan said Indonesia was indebted to Mochtar, who struggled for the birth of landmark 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provisions for Indonesia. Mochtar, also a professor at the same university, attended the anniversary celebrations Wednesday despite his ailing health.

The 1982 UNCLOS regulations allowed archipelagic states to draw straight lines around the border of its most outlying islands and dry reefs, provided that within those lines were the main islands of the archipelago.

Mochtar was a member of the Indonesian delegation in the first and second Conference on Laws of the Sea at the United Nations in Geneva in 1958 and 1960. The provision, that proposed assigning greater sovereignty to archipelagic nations, was met with challenges from developed countries as it threatened their ability to explore for resources

in water territories surrounding archipelagoes. The provision was finally adopted in 1982 during the third conference and the UNCLOS was born.

“The archipelagic states are now being acknowledged by the world. This a significant change from the past, where our water territories served as international areas to benefit other states,” Hassan said.

He said as Indonesia’s marine zone borders 10 different nations, diplomats have treated border diplomacy as a top priority and engaged in thorough discussions over the years. Not all diplomatic efforts have gone without controversy, though.   

“Indonesian diplomacy come under fire when we lost the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands to Malaysia after a judicial decision by the ICJ (International Court of Justice). But it should be noted that since then, Indonesia has never claimed those islands as part of its exterior territory [under the UNCLOS baselines],” he said.

“Despite the loss, Indonesia has recorded many successes in closing lengthy border discussions, a testament to our negotiators not giving up despite intense pressure from more developed nations.”

Indonesia had recently aligned its western-maritime borders with Singapore after a five-year negotiation that saw the city-state renounce its reclaimed shore land on the basis of establishing a solid border. Indonesia is currently still at odds with Malaysia over the Ambalat maritime area and with the Philippines over its southern border.          

Hikmahanto Juwana, lecturer of international law at the University of Indonesia, said developing countries had not yet obtained benefits from the existing international law, most of which had been skewed to serve the vested interest of  more powerful countries.

“International law is too Europe-centric and does not benefit developing countries. The military forces of the United States have frequently conducted exercises in the water territories of other countries.

We have to be strong enough to challenge them under a newly-defined international law,” said

Hikmahanto.  

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