TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

The Jokowi Axis: Insecurity, doctrinal change and development

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo picked an auspicious time to unveil his boldest foreign policy statement on Indonesia’s doctrinal vision for the future

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 14, 2014

Share This Article

Change Size

The Jokowi Axis: Insecurity, doctrinal change and development

P

resident Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo picked an auspicious time to unveil his boldest foreign policy statement on Indonesia'€™s doctrinal vision for the future.

His vision of developing Indonesia'€™s maritime superiority anchored in an Indo-Pacific Maritime Axis was known before. On the campaign trail, Jokowi frequently spoke of a '€œglobal maritime axis'€. But to define the doctrine in Naypyitaw on Thursday at a gathering of East Asian leaders signaled a declaration of strategic intent.

Whether intentional or not, it also fell exactly one month before the 57th anniversary of the Djuanda Declaration, which demarcated Indonesia as an archipelagic state, a concept that after decades of diplomacy was acknowledged within the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.

The features of the concept have been divulged further in today'€™s newspaper. Yet the question is what this all means and how it relates with policy in the future.

For one thing, the idea of returning to the seas addresses an historical phobia that had developed into a pervasive sense of vulnerability Indonesians harbor when looking at the world.

With a sea area of some 5.8 million square kilometers, Indonesia is fragmented into thousands of islands. There is the constant insecurity of '€œdark forces'€ lurking to disintegrate the unitary state; of illegal exploitation stealing the potential 6.4 million tons of fish that can be harvested annually; of Indonesian sand being exported; of inlets being used as havens of smuggling.

The interconnectivity brought about by this new maritime concept would see the seas as a unifying force rather than a divider of the world'€™s biggest archipelago, the sea lanes as an asset rather than a liability.

It is an underlining theme posed by the Djuanda Declaration of 1957.

The priorities of foreign challenges thus are also set. Indonesian diplomacy should focus on the increasingly unstable maritime security environment, protection of sea lanes and Indonesia'€™s strategic role as a hub between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Indonesian diplomacy will never forsake ASEAN, but 21st century foreign affairs should extend beyond the immediate focus of Southeast Asia. It signals Indonesia'€™s resolve not just to look north toward the rise of China and the challenges of the South China Sea, but also an indicator that it will increasingly look west toward the Indian Ocean and Indian subcontinent.

It will be a delicate balance, as shown last year when Australia kept a close eye as Indonesia held naval exercises with the Chinese Navy near Christmas Island.

Jokowi may be the first Indonesian president to strongly commit to a maritime security doctrine, but its path has received recognition since the term of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Indian Ocean Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) has been an area of focus in recent years. Indonesia will become IOR-ARC chair next year.

The greatest challenge to the Maritime Concept will likely be internal. The doctrine that has defined the Indonesian Military for six decades will be hard to convert.

From a land-focused military organized through a territorial-based command, the maritime focus requires a shift in outlook and spending toward the Navy.

In 2005, the Ministry of Defense set out a 20-year agenda for the modernization of equipment with emphasis on the Navy and Air Force. It set out a Minimum Essential Force (MEF) of a naval force of 274 ships with enhanced strike and patrol capabilities.

Jokowi has hinted that he will continue to augment the defense budget, which has grown in the last decade to about 0.9 percent of GDP. It is estimated that barring budgetary constraints, defense spending will grow to 1.5 percent of GDP.

Despite the increase, this is comparatively small compared with other major Asian countries, which average a defense spending of about 2 percent of GDP.

Yet it could signal a significant boost in self-reliance toward consolidating the country'€™s own defense industry.

The biggest question is whether Jokowi'€™s selection of an Army general as defense minister will ultimately hamper the prioritization of the maritime focus in procurement.

The final reasoning for the maritime doctrine has been to exploit, accelerate and preserve the economic potential of Indonesian waters.

It is an agenda that is not Indonesia'€™s alone. Various multilateral fora such as APEC and ASEAN have discussed plans for a '€œnautical highway'€ as part of their connectivity plans.

We hope the maritime doctrine will bring policy recommendations that facilitate investment in these fields.

After an impressive unveiling abroad, it'€™s up to the President to prove he has the political determination to realize this doctrine at home.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.