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Underwater technology a pressing need for Indonesia
The presence of hostile foreign submarines would be a major threat to Indonesian security.
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Workers inspect newly installed concrete piles for PAL Indonesia’s submarine construction in Surabaya on April 15.
(The Jakarta Post/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
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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.
