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View all search resultsWill Indonesia ever have another Mochtar?
Only the most reputable universities in Indonesia can afford to provide access to international law journals to their students (and lecturers).
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T
he passing of former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja on Sunday is a great loss not only for the international law community in Indonesia but also the entire nation. Indonesia, a country that prides itself as the largest archipelagic state in the world, earns its title only through the brilliance and perseverance of Pak Mochtar.
When he was in his 20s, a young Mochtar was challenged by the then-minister for veteran affairs, Chaerul Saleh, to find the means to bring the Java Sea fully under Indonesia’s sovereignty. This challenge was reasonable as the international law of that era permitted each island to only have a 3 nautical mile territorial sea regardless of its archipelagic nature, hence a pocket of international waters existed within Indonesia’s archipelago.
A brilliant Mochtar accepted the challenge and taking the inspiration from a 1951 judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case made the case to justify the drawing of an archipelagic baseline for Indonesia. His proposal was adopted by the Indonesian government and was announced on Dec. 13, 1957 by then-prime minister Djuanda.
The journey did not end there, as it took Mochtar and Indonesian diplomats another 25 years until the archipelagic state concept was recognized as part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. This is to date one of the greatest achievements of Indonesia’s diplomacy.
The contribution of Prof. Mochtar to Indonesia and the international community is enormous. Through his idea, he almost single-handedly brought Indonesia’s profile to the forefront of nations contributing to the development of international law.
His departure certainly leaves a big hole in Indonesia’s international law community and leads to the question: Will Indonesia ever have another Mochtar?
In 2018, I had the opportunity to speak with the then-president of the International Court of Justice. He told me that he missed Indonesian law scholars he used to meet in various international forums. Among others, the president specifically named Mochtar. Since the dawn of the Mochtar era, Indonesia seems to be short of international law scholars with a global reputation.
