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Sovereignty remains top priority: Foreign minister
Sovereignty and national identity will remain among Indonesia’s main foreign policy priorities this year, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in her annual policy speech, as the nation doubles down on protecting its territorial integrity following recent skirmishes in the Natuna Sea and continued challenges from separatist groups in its easternmost provinces
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overeignty and national identity will remain among Indonesia’s main foreign policy priorities this year, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in her annual policy speech, as the nation doubles down on protecting its territorial integrity following recent skirmishes in the Natuna Sea and continued challenges from separatist groups in its easternmost provinces.
Delivering her annual policy speech on Wednesday, Retno reiterated the “4+1” formula of foreign policy priorities that she had prepared for this year, which includes diplomacy to uphold Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
To that end, she said the government would step up negotiations with neighboring countries on land and maritime borders, stand up to all separatist efforts and any foreign support for it and continue mainstreaming values such as pluralism, democracy, tolerance and women empowerment, which the state considers to be Indonesia’s national assets.
She also took a vague jab at China, with whom Indonesian maritime authorities have been jostling in the past week over the waters around Natuna in Riau Islands province.
“On a specific note, I would like to reiterate one principle with regard to sovereignty and sovereign rights within Indonesian waters: Any claims, whosoever makes them, shall be conducted in line with international law, including UNCLOS 1982,” Retno said in her annual press statement, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“Indonesia will consistently reject claims that are not recognized under international law.”
The minister delivered her speech just as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo arrived in the Natunas in a near-repeat of his visit in 2016 when a skirmish with Chinese coast guard vessels led him to host a meeting on board a warship sailing in Indonesia-controlled waters.
This time, Jokowi boarded a fisheries surveillance vessel belonging to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, just as China had softened its tone and most of its vessels had left the Indonesian exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The diplomatic spat centered on the discovery of Chinese fishing vessels fishing illegally multiple times late last month and that accompanying coast guard vessels had obstructed Indonesia’s maritime law enforcement.
The other focus in Indonesia’s diplomacy on territorial integrity was defending the nation’s sovereignty against separatist challenges, especially following violent riots last year that began from a racial slur and snowballed into a wider call for Papuan self-determination.
At least 33 civilians were killed and thousands more fled the city of Wamena, Papua, which gave ammunition for other countries critical of Indonesia’s treatment of the province. The small island nation of Vanuatu, for instance, raised the issue at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September.
Indonesia rejected repeated attempts to internationalize a debate it insists was concluded at the UN through UNGA Resolution 2504, a global acknowledgment of the referendum held in 1969 that critics decried as a sham.
The Constitutional Court further legitimized the UN resolution after it rejected the judicial review of several articles from Law No.12/1969 that formalized the inclusion of Papua and West Papua — then still called West Irian — as Indonesian territories.
“Indonesia will always stand up to foreign countries that deliberately give support to separatism in Indonesia, as it is a clear violation of international law and the principles of the UN Charter,” Retno said.
“As in other countries, the question of sovereignty and territorial integrity are nonnegotiable. Indonesian territory and sovereignty cannot be bargained by anyone at any given time.”
As an archipelagic nation, Indonesia must also negotiate unresolved borders with its neighbors.
Retno said Indonesia and Malaysia would seek to “formalize the borders” of the territorial waters in the Sulawesi Sea and begin to negotiate on a segment in the Malacca Strait.
“There has been no maritime boundary delimitation agreed since 1970. On land boundary demarcation, four out of nine outstanding [...] problems have been settled with Malaysia — pending since 1989,” she said.
Other border delimitation targets this year include land borders on Sebatik Island and the Sinapad River with Malaysia, EEZ borders with Vietnam and Palau, continental shelf borders with the Philippines and maritime borders with Timor Leste, after the demarcation of land borders with Dili is complete.
In addition to challenges to its territorial integrity, the Foreign Ministry also looks to prioritize strengthening economic diplomacy, the protection of Indonesians abroad and diplomatic infrastructures, as well as expanding Indonesia’s role on the regional and global stages.
The foreign policy priorities were first announced by Retno right after her reappointment in October, which also build up on priorities from the previous year. (tjs)
