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s Indonesia'€™s geography consists of thousands of islands with a vast sea territory, sea transportation is vital to the nation. This industry must be managed in a careful and thorough manner so as to ensure the safety of passengers and goods.

However, from year to year, shipping accidents frequently occur. Recent incidents include a disaster involving the KM Marina ferry, carrying 118 passengers, and a collision between a Danish cargo ship and a tanker in western Indonesia, with some crew still missing.

Although investigations into those accidents have not yet been completed, previous cases suggest that likely causes could include four factors: overloaded vessels (loading ships excessively); ships that do not meet operating standards (substandard); poor supervision of the implementation of regulations; and bad weather.

These common causes can be classified into three major challenges, namely low awareness and capability in implementing shipping safety, lack of infrastructure and equipment and natural hazards.

In responding to these issues, it is imperative for the government to consider several interrelated legal and policy strategies to improve its maritime safety systems in order to promote safe shipping operations. These strategies are the strict implementation of national and international regulations, effective law enforcement, human resources (crew/personnel) capacity building, infrastructure or equipment development and sustainable political and economic supports.

There are many national and international regulations relating to maritime safety that are required to be implemented firmly and consistently in Indonesia.

The applicable regulations include Law No. 32/2014 on oceans, Law No. 17/2008 on shipping, Law No. 6/1996 on Indonesian waters, Law No. 17/1985 on the ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions, International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions, UNCLOS and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conventions.

Furthermore, other technical rules and guidance are importantly regulated by government regulations and the IMO Code such as Government Regulation No. 5/2010 on navigation, Government Regulation No. 51/2002 on ships and the International Safety Management (ISM) Code.

Some principles contained in those legal frameworks include Indonesia'€™s different maritime zones, national ocean policy, sea transportation management, the requirements of a seaworthy ship, maritime safety and security, protection of the marine environment, working standards for crew/seafarers and standards for maritime telecommunication facilities.

The implementation of the above principles is essential to enable Indonesia to meet its national and international legal obligations regarding maritime safety.

Second, given the existence of so many national and international regulations as indicated above, Indonesia should focus on the establishment of effective law enforcement, rather than prescribing more regulations. The emphasis of this strategy is to develop and strengthen the shipping judicial system through two approaches: accountable proceedings from the examination to execution phase, and close public supervision.

As for accountable proceedings, there are at least six agencies that engage in various activities related to maritime safety: the harbor master, the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the Maritime Security Board (Bakamla), the Directorate General of Marine Transport and the Shipping Court.

These agencies are also responsible for contributing to preventing the recurrence of shipping incidents through their respective duties e.g. fact finding, formulating policy recommendations and providing public reports. At the same time, to strengthen the work of the shipping judicial system, the public should be invited to conduct close monitoring. In fact, the involvement of community-based organizations or public institution e.g. universities, research organizations, NGOs and media is effective in minimizing corruption or the abuse of power.

Continuous capacity building for crew or personnel is another strategy worth considering. As the human factor is the major contributor in up to 80 percent of marine accidents in Indonesia, it is vital to improve the quality of human resources.

It is therefore imperative for the government to enhance training programs as one of the requirements in meeting recent international standards outlined in the International Convention on Standards for Training, Certification and Watch-keeping (STCW Convention); establish more maritime/shipping training centers in order to increase the number of qualified seafarers and personnel; and continuously support training and certificate examination programs for Indonesian crew or shipping companies.

The fourth strategy is infrastructure and equipment development. This strategy holds a significant role in addressing major challenges in maritime safety such as low awareness of shipping legal compliance and ineffective law enforcement. By developing more high quality maritime facilities (such as ports, patrol vessels, telecommunications equipment and navigational aids), the safe operation of shipping is likely to be enhanced.

Besides developing it, the maintenance of shipping infrastructure is also essential to optimizing all the government'€™s resources. A lack of maintenance is a typical problem in infrastructure management in Indonesia.

There are a number of requirements to expedite shipping infrastructure development, including available funding; maritime industry operations e.g. naval technology and shipyards; and a friendly operating environment for shipping businesses and investors, which includes legal certainty, political stability and evidence of the government'€™s willingness to meet the sector'€™s needs.
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The writer is a PhD candidate at Flinders University'€™s School of Law, South Australia, and an alumnus of the IMO-International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) in Malta.