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ndonesia is well placed to harness its potential as a maritime power under the enhanced emphasis on maritime affairs championed by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, a Dutch lawmaker said on Friday.

Frank van Kappen, a senator in the Dutch First Chamber, said that Indonesia'€™s considerable potential as one of the most powerful nations in Asia is due to the fact that Indonesia sits beside several international '€œsea lines of communication'€, which are crucial maritime routes used for trade, naval and logistical purposes.

'€œIndonesia straddles the sea lines of communication, thereby making it a very strategically placed country. Other countries are merely allowed to pass through them, but not own them,'€ van Kappen told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a lecture he gave at the Erasmus Huis cultural center.

The lecture, entitled '€œThe Changing Nature of International Conflict and Its Geopolitical Consequences'€, was succeeded by a panel discussion involving veteran diplomat and maritime law expert Hasjim Djalal and University of Indonesia law expert Hikmahanto Juwana.

Hasjim commented on the importance of clearing up uncertainty over Indonesia'€™s maritime borders with its neighboring countries in order to prevent potential conflicts.

'€œThe position of Indonesia has been beneficial to outsiders. The challenge now is how to harness that fact for Indonesia'€™s benefit,'€ Hasjim said at the event.

Indonesia currently shares 10 maritime borders with neighboring Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Timor Leste, Australia, India (with the Andaman and Nicobar Island chains), Papua New Guinea and Palau.

Recent Indonesian maritime border disputes include the ongoing Ambalat block dispute in East Kalimantan with Malaysia.

In February, Indonesia noted that China'€™s controversial '€œNine-Dash Line'€ map of the South China Sea claimed part of the waters surrounding the Natuna Islands in the Riau Islands province as their territory. The two nations have not brought the issue to international attention.

Furthermore, during his lecture van Kappen also elaborated on the importance of law enforcement institutions, as well as politicians and businesses, adapting to technological and social changes.

Adding to van Kappen'€™s remarks, Hikmahanto Juwana commented on Indonesia'€™s capacity of adapting to the socioeconomic changes needed to face the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

'€œVan Kappen elaborated that the principal drivers of change are demography, resource scarcity, climate change and fundamentalism. Can the Indonesian government be able to handle these factors effectively to survive the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community?'€ he asked. (dyl)