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Late maritime law negotiator put forth as national hero
Mochtar Kusumaatmadja was instrumental in promoting the concept of the archipelagic state, which allowed Indonesia to exercise its right over internal waters, and was later adopted in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
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Mochtar Kusumaatmadja (center) signs the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Dec. 10, 1982. Standing behind him are Indonesian negotiators Abdullah Kamil (second left) and Hasjim Djalal (second right). (Hasjim Djalal via NUS Press/File)
T
op government officials have put forth the name of the late former foreign minister and pioneering maritime law expert, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, to be posthumously conferred the title of national hero for his role in cementing Indonesia's concept of territorial integrity in global maritime law discourse.
The endorsement by several Cabinet ministers and the West Java administration comes just months before the annual Independence Day celebrations, during which petitions to name new national heroes are granted.
Speaking at a seminar in support of the petition, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Mochtar was a skilled diplomat who had left an indelible mark on Indonesian history, having secured international recognition of Indonesia's rights as an archipelagic state.
Minister Retno said as a result of Mochtar's diplomacy, Indonesia's Djuanda Declaration was incorporated into international law with the signing of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Under the declaration, Indonesia claimed all waters within the archipelago as its territory, which at the time was virtually unheard of, especially outside the context of war and domination. The archipelagic state concept would later be adopted by other island nations around the globe.
“[Thanks to Mochtar], Indonesia successfully secured its territorial waters without taking up arms. Our internal waters are no longer fragmented, and we became whole as the Republic of Indonesia,” she said in her keynote speech at the campaign event in Jakarta on Wednesday, according to a readout from the ministry website.
The minister added that UNCLOS would go on to be used by Indonesia to fight for its maritime rights, including in the hotly contested South China Sea.
