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View all search resultsNext govt must focus on maritime issues
Navy Chief of Staff Adm
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N
avy Chief of Staff Adm.Marsetio has urged the next government to pay more attention to addressingmaritime issues since Indonesian is widely known as one of the largestarchipelagic countries in the world.
He said Indonesia was prone to hijacking, natural-resource smuggling,transnational crimes and people smuggling. "The maritime era is becomingeven more prominent," he said in his keynote speech at a national maritimeleadership seminar at the Borobudur Hotel, Central Jakarta.
Despite increased multilateral naval activities -- such as the 2014 Multilateral Naval Exercise held in the Riau Islands province ' Marsetio insisted that the current government was still focused on developments on land instead of developing the nation's maritime potential.
Currently, the Indonesian
Navy is in the middle of procuring several vessels in accordance with its
second strategic plan (Renstra), also known as the second stage of the Minimum
Essential Force (MEF), which is slated for 2015 to 2019.
The first Renstra was implemented between 2010 and 2014.
Defense University lecturer Salim Said advised the Navy to push the next government
to create a Coordinating Maritime Ministry because he felt that there were too
many maritime issues for the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to handle.
Furthermore, he said the establishment of such a ministry would be beneficial
because Indonesia's defense lay in the hands of the Navy.
Chairman of the Association of Retired Naval Officers (PPAL) Adm. (ret) Achmad
Soetjipto said he hoped the 2014 presidential candidates would highlight
maritime issues during the upcoming
presidential election campaign.
"During the legislative elections, there was very little talk about
maritime issues. I hope that the presidential candidates will bring more focus
on these issues because of their importance to Indonesia," he said. (fss)
