Indonesia and its ten neigbors
The 2009 will end shortly and this is a good time to look back a while, reviewing what have happened in the last one year. This article focuses on maritime issues in 2009, based on which Indonesia can prepare its ocean related policies/activities in the future.
Earlier this year Indonesia made a significant progress in its maritime boundary negotiation with Singapore by signing an agreement for a short segment of territorial sea boundary in the Singapore Strait. This is the second boundary agreement with Singapore after the first one signed in 1973. The agreement, which is also the second maritime boundary agreement in the twenty first century for Indonesia, was achieved after a five-year intensive negotiation. It was regarded as a reasonably short one considering that a boundary negotiation may take decades to finish. An earlier agreement with Vietnam in 2003, for example, was negotiated for about 25 years.
Apart from the good achievement, Indonesia still has homework to do regarding maritime boundaries with Singapore. The 2009 agreement still needs to be ratified in order for the agreement to be legally binding for Indonesia. Furthermore, pending boundary segments in the western and eastern sides of the Singapore Strait have yet to be completed. The negotiation for particular segment in the Singapore Strait will not only involve Singapore but also Malaysia. A decision made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning sovereignty over three geographical features in the strait (Pedra Branca, Middle Rock, and South Ledge), is expected to facilitate maritime negotiation among the three States (see also: Beckman and Schofield, 2009).
In March 2009, Indonesia deposited the list of geographical coordinates of points of the Indonesian Archipelagic Baselines to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General. Baselines are reference from which territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf are measured. They are also important in delimiting maritime boundaries with neighboring states. In short, baseline is vital in defining Indonesia’s territory and jurisdictions.
Some may opine that this deposition should have been done earlier considering that Indonesia is one of the pioneers of the archipelagic state concept, which was recognized by the international community in 1982. However, this deposition may still be viewed as a good achievement, by which the whole archipelago is now fully enclosed by a completed baseline system. Furthermore, the new baseline system meets legal and geospatial criteria required by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (Schofield and Arsana, 2009).
In the same month, March 2009 Indonesia presented its submission of continental shelf limits to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The presentation is a follow up to a submission made in June 2008 concerning the outer limits of Indonesia’s continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from baselines for the seabed area to the west of Sumatera. Should the submission be recommended by CLCS, Indonesia can then define final and binding outer limits of its continental shelf in the area. Subsequently, Indonesia will enjoy sovereign rights to utilize natural resources therein (see: Arsana and Schofield, 2009).
In June 2009, the Ambalat case, the one that first sparked in 2005, for once again caused tension between Indonesia and Malaysia. Without judging any party, this tension is an indication that border does matter. The absence of maritime boundaries in the Sulawesi Sea between Indonesia and Malaysia, among others, is the reason behind this dispute (Arsana, 2009). This also reminds both parties to keep the already good work in negotiating their maritime boundaries. As already indicated by both parties, negotiation would be the preferred way to solve the dispute, instead of submitting the case to a third party such as ICJ or International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). I believe that the Indonesian negotiating team has been doing their best in achieving the best solution for parties in question. The efforts require positive support from media by issuing news and facts that enlighten public.
In general, cases and the building of tension between Indonesia and its neighboring States in relation to maritime boundary dispute is a clear message how sensitive pending maritime boundaries could be. Indonesia has yet to finalize the delimitation of maritime boundaries with India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Palau and Timor Leste. Previous extensive experience in accomplishing around 17 maritime boundary agreements should be good reference for Indonesia in continuing the effort to finalize its pending maritime boundaries.
In August 2009, Indonesia succeeded in hosting the World Ocean Conference in Manado that produced the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD). In addition, there was also a meeting on Coral Triangle Initiative involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. Indonesia is the initiator of the program whereby President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono. This is a positive action taken by Indonesia in leading the way toward safeguarding the region’s marine and coastal biological resources for the sustainable growth and prosperity of current and future generations.
In the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) Indonesia called for prioritizing ocean issues in the negotiations. The negotiating team tried its best to propose part of the MOD text be included in COP15’s result. Unfortunately, the ocean-related issues do not explicitly appear in the Copenhagen Accord. However, there are still hopes since the issues are retained in the mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer, and capacity development. For Indonesia, with two third of the area are ocean, acknowledgement of ocean related issues by the COP15 is crucial.
Another good news related to maritime issues is the plan to establish the National Board of Border Management pursuant to the Law No 43/2008 on National Territory. Indonesia is now very close to have a national board dealing with border management. This board will coordinate the activities related to land and maritime boundaries in Indonesia. Even though it is relatively late, the establishment of the board is a good step toward better management of border area. The board is hoped to he established early in 2010.
To sum up, several maritime/ocean issues that Indonesia has encountered in 2009 enrich its knowledge and experience to prepare for a better-managed ocean in 2010 and beyond. Being an archipelagic State, ocean is undoubtedly important for Indonesia. That is why being concerned with the maritime issues is indispensible. If there are important roles that Indonesia should play in the international arena, maritime sector should one of them.
it is worth noting also that IUU fishing is still a big problem for Indonesia. many Illegal foreign fishermen came to indonesian waters; and many indonesian fishermen conducted IUU fishing in other countries’ waters.
referring to the previous ECS submission, Indonesia still has a homework to prepare its submission for the two other areas.
Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have succesfully strengthening their coordinating sea patrol to maintain the security of the Strait of malacca and the Strait of Singapore. IMO had removed those Straits from its list of most dangerous waters.