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Indonesia plans to establish independent coast guard soon
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said recently that the government was planning to establish a coast guard independent of the military to ensure security for international maritime traffic in the country’s waters
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aritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said recently that the government was planning to establish a coast guard independent of the military to ensure security for international maritime traffic in the country’s waters.
“We held two meetings to discuss the possibility of establishing the body, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has appointed Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister [Djoko Suyanto] to lead the execution of the plan,” he said after a discussion at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Jakarta.
Fadel said the implementation of the plan would also involve the Transportation Ministry, the National Police and the Navy.
Former coordinating economic minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti said the country needed to ensure security in its waters as 50 percent of the world’s shipping tonnage passed through them.
“According to an International Maritime Organization report, 3,000 boats and ships passed through the Malacca Straits daily,” he said during the discussion. He added that 60 percent of ships carrying energy supplies for developed countries in East Asia, such as Japan, also passed through Indonesian waters.
He expressed concern that currently, Indonesia was still using naval warships to safeguard its waters, including to catch foreign or local fishermen operating without permits.
“The Navy’s warships should be used for defense purposes, not to capture fishermen,” Dorodjatun said.
He added that when he was Indonesian ambassador in Washington, the US and Japan had offered their assistance to Indonesia to establish a coast guard. He added that other countries were willing to donate vessels.
“Those countries understood the strategic importance of Indonesian waters,” he said.
Dorodjatun added that what happened in Indonesian waters would strongly influence the survival of other countries, saying that ocean streams determined the seasons.
“The seas influence the rainfall and the coming of the dry season,” he told the discussion.
He said that in the future, Indonesia should have a protocol to regulate maritime traffic passing through the country’s waters because if not properly managed, accidents could happen and adversely affect the country.
“If an oil tanker broke up in the sea, the oil would contaminate the water and kill many fish species. That would badly hurt Indonesian fishermen,” Dorodjatun said.
He cited the example of the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker that spilled an estimated 40.9 million liters (250,000 barrels) of crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. Many claim the incident was one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters in history.
At the end of the discussion, Dorodjatun suggested the government establish an effective sea transportation system, including equipping ferries with GPS navigation and building offshore fueling stations.
“With offshore stations, fishermen would no longer need to find land-based fuel sources, which are quite far from their houses. This would improve their efficiency and productivity,” he said. (rdf)
