A

s a result of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982, the area of sea under Indonesian sovereignty and jurisdiction multiplied.

The country has 6.3 million square kilometers of sea and 5.2 million sq km of air space under its territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction that it must defend from various threats, either to its resources, environment or national unity and security.

Therefore, efforts to increase Indonesia’s capabilities to defend itself, particularly in its seas and air space, are not intended to threaten its neighbors, but only to protect its own resources, environment, security and national unity.

This point is made all the more important by the fact that Indonesia is sandwiched between two major oceans, the Pacific and the Indian, and between several semi-enclosed seas — the Andaman Sea, the South China Sea, the Celebes Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Timor Sea — as well as between two continents, Australia and mainland Asia.

It should also be noted that for the purposes of submarines, Indonesian seas consist of shallow waters in the west, deeper waters in central areas (particularly the Strait of Makassar and waters in Nusa Tenggara) and very deep waters in the eastern regions.

The eastern regions of Indonesia are among the most sensitive for Indonesia’s national unity and security. This is partly due to the regions’ deeper waters that could be easily be used by foreign adversaries seeking to subvert Indonesia’s national unity.

In addition, the eastern regions of Indonesia share long and contentious histories, filled with political controversies and issues that are of concern for the national unity and territorial integrity of Indonesia.

Under such conditions, it is crucially important for Indonesia to develop and increase its capabilities for detecting foreign equipment and submarines in its waters, especially at greater depths, and for taking measures to overcome such potential threats.

The presence of hostile foreign submarines would be a major threat to Indonesian security, therefore, the development of submarines and submarine technology could be an effective means for protecting Indonesian waters.

However, Indonesia’s defense technology within its maritime zones is still very limited compared to that of its neighbors and other countries.

For instance, Indonesia now has only two submarines, which are set to be decommissioned in 2020, and is still in the process of ordering three submarines from South Korea.

Meanwhile Singapore has six operational submarines, Australia six, China 70, India 13, Pakistan eight, Japan 18 and Vietnam six. Indonesia’s southern neighbor Australia is now planning to build 12 extra submarines in cooperation with France, The Jakarta Post reported last December.

Indonesia must therefore study the capacities of various submarines produced in and for different countries and to compare their respective capabilities and operational requirements as well as their shortcomings and advantages.

Equally important is the need to study the knowledge and technologies developed and produced by other countries to meet these challenges.

It is crucial, too, for Indonesia to increase its capabilities for detecting underwater equipment and devices from the surface as well as from the air and improve its mechanisms and the capabilities to counter them.

I suspect there has been significant foreign underwater activity intended to monitor the activities of the Indonesian Navy, foreign submarines and other ships.

Recently a significant number of whales became stranded along Indonesia’s coast line, far from their normal route from the Southern Ocean to the Pacific.

Indonesian scientists are perplexed by finding stranded whales as far from their routes as Probolinggo, near Surabaya in East Java, and Mentawai near West Central Sumatera.

The suspicion is that the whales’ navigation systems have been affected by the signals from submarines along the whales’ typical routes, which are generally through the Sawu Sea, East Nusa Tenggara, and the Moluccas Seas.

We should also be keen to know more about China’s capacity to detect and “seize” an American underwater drone placed in the South China Sea, some 80 kilometers northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines. As reported last December, China removed the device and returned it to the United States.

Somehow, I feel that similar instruments may have been operated in Indonesia’s deep waters. It has been reported that the US Navy already has about 130 underwater drones, each weighing around 60 kilograms and able to stay underwater for roughly five months (the Post, Dec. 21, 2016).

I wonder whether other countries, including some neighbors, have the capabilities to deal with submarines or underwater defense technology devices in the manner exhibited by China in the South China Sea, and whether cooperative relations could be developed in this area.

In conclusion, while the need to protect our interests on the surface of the earth, either on land or at sea, should be advanced, the development and protection of our submarine areas and its air space must be promoted and emphasized for the sake of national security and well-being.
_____________________________

The writer is a professor of the laws of the sea. The article was based on his presentation at the Underwater Defense Technology workshop in Singapore.