The publication of defense white papers serves to communicate the political agenda behind the defense policy adopted by a particular government and to act as a reference guide or guideline for the relevant government apparatus in implementing that policy.

Such were the reasons behind the 2015 Indonesian Defense White Paper (DWP). Published in November 2015 and released online last April, the 2015 DWP “is a statement of national defense policy as a whole and as a guideline for the execution of the functions of national defense and it is disseminated to the public, both domestically and internationally”.

Despite this claim, the 2015 DWP actually achieves very little on both counts. Apart from its poorly written and translated English version, the DWP has failed miserably to communicate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s Global Maritime Fulcrum (Poros Maritim Dunia, ...