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Jokowi likely to visit Natuna on Wednesday
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo looks likely to visit Natuna regency in Riau Islands province on Wednesday to inspect areas that China claims as its “traditional fishing grounds”.
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On the frontline: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center), accompanied by Navy chief of staff Adm. Ade Supandi (left) and other senior officials, inspects the warship KRI Imam Bonjol 383 after an onboard Cabinet meeting in Natuna waters, Riau Islands, in 2016. (Courtesy Setpres/Krishadiyanto)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is expected to visit Natuna regency in Riau Islands province on Wednesday to inspect areas that China claims as its “traditional fishing grounds” within the legally void "nine-dash line" that encroaches on Indonesian-controlled waters.
The Natuna regency administration’s head of communications, Defrizal, said he has received a tentative schedule for the arrival of the presidential aircraft at Raden Sadjad Airport in Ranai at 9:50 a.m. on Wednesday.
“From there, the President and his entourage are expected to leave for the docks at the Indonesian Military’s Ranai naval base and head to the location of the inspection in the Natuna Sea,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The President is expected to spend a few hours in the Natunas to investigate before flying back to Jakarta in the evening,” Defrizal added.
Jokowi’s imminent arrival in Natuna would be his fourth visit in total and his first since starting his second term in office in October.
On June 23, 2016, Jokowi held a limited Cabinet meeting on board a warship in Natuna waters, seen by analysts as a power play in defense of Indonesian sovereign rights in the area. The leader also visited Natuna to witness the commencement of an Indonesian Air Force exercise in October later that year and headed back to watch the military’s Quick Reaction Strike Force (PPRC) exercise in May 2017.
When the President arrives, Defrizal said Natuna Regent Hamid Rizal had planned to ask the leader to turn Natuna into a new province with a special administrative status, in line with a presidential decree on Natuna’s regional expansion that was issued a few years ago.
