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Jokowi installs new maritime security, quarantine agency chiefs
The President has installed the new chiefs of Bakamla and a new quarantine agency, a month before he enters the final year of his second and final term.
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Vice Adm. Irvansyah (center) and Sahat Manaor Panggabean (right) take their oath during an inauguration ceremony on Sept. 13, 2023 at the State Palace. Irvansyah was installed as the chief of the Maritime and Security Agency (Bakamla), while Sahat was installed as the head of the new Indonesian Quarantine Agency (Barantin). (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated Vice Adm. Irvansyah as the new chief of the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) and Sahat Manaor Panggabean as head of the newly created National Quarantine Agency (Barantin) during a ceremony on Wednesday at the State Palace.
Also attending the ceremony were Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Panjaitan, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo and Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Yudo Margono.
Irvansyah succeeds Vice Adm. Aan Kurnia, who retired, said his priority as Bakamla chief was to increase collaboration with “other agencies, ministries, institutions as well as with the TNI” to keep Indonesian waters safe, as instructed.
“We can’t work alone in securing our waters. We have to work together,” he said in a statement.
The government is currently thinking about merging Bakamla, the de facto national coast guard, under the office of the coordinating security affairs minister, with the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard (KPLP), which is a separate coastal police unit under the Transportation Ministry’s Sea Transportation Directorate General.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD first floated the idea in July, saying that the directive came directly from Jokowi.
