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Shipping ministry needed for next maritime journey
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Some boats on a blue ocean parking near an island in Belitung, Indonesia. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he two candidates for the 2019 presidential election have so far aired a score of plans to win the public’s vote. Unfortunately, maritime issues are hardly found in their campaigns.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said nothing on whether the vision of a global maritime axis — sometimes also dubbed the global maritime fulcrum — will be carried on or not. This initiative was launched by Jokowi when he was running in the 2014 presidential election. It was said that one of the winning factors of the former Jakarta governor in the election was the maritime issue.
On the other hand, twice-presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of the Indonesian Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus), seems to lack any maritime perspective at all.
During his campaign as the presidential candidate in 2014, he did not say much on the subject. Perhaps there were no aides briefing him on key domestic maritime problems like ailing shipping businesses, underpaid seafarers and so on.
