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Further Reading

ALRI - Navy of the Republic of Indonesia - Missions

The navy's mission was to act as a territorial force responsible for the patrol of Indonesia's immense coastline. When independence was proclaimed and sovereignty gained, Indonesia had to enact laws to govern the seas in accordance with the geographic structure of an archipelagic state. This, however, did not mean that the country would bar international passage. The laws were necessary instruments for the unity and national resilience of the country, with a territory that embraces all the islands, the islets and the seas in between.

In view of the country's susceptibility to foreign intervention from the sea and for domestic security reasons, on December 13, 1957, the Indonesian Government issued a declaration on the territorial waters of the Republic. It stated that all the waters surrounding and between the islands in the territory came within Indonesia's sovereignty. It also determined that the country's territorial water limit was 12 miles, measured from a straight baseline drawn from the outermost points of the islands.

In the past, archipelagic states like Indonesia have unilaterally determined their 200-mile-Exclusive Economic Zones. Today such economic zones are confirmed by the International Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was ratified by the Indonesian Government on October 18, 1983, by Act No. 5 of the same year. This is the legal basis of the Indonesian-Exclusive Economic Zone.

In the early 1990s, naval warships generally were not deployed to a particular region but were grouped in mobile flotillas, to be dispatched where needed. Usually these included eastern, western, and central groups, but activity was most often concentrated in the west in the vicinity of the bases at Belawan in Sumatera Utara Province, Tanjungpinang in Riau Province, near Singapore; and in the east near the base at Manado in Sulawesi Utara Province. This pattern was in keeping with the major missions envisioned for the navy in the 1990s.

One mission concerned patrolling the strategic straits through which foreign ships enter and exit the Indian Ocean, particularly the Strait of Malacca. The other mission centered on halting smuggling and illegal fishing, considered to be problems particularly in the areas near the Natuna Islands and in the seas between Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. In support of the second mission, the navy announced plans to construct a number of limited-role bases in isolated areas in the eastern and western sections of the national territory. Patrol activity also increased in connection with the flow of refugees from Southeast Asia, particularly in the area near the Natuna Islands.

Indonesia's incentive to protect its straits is to demonstrate sovereignty over its waters, while promoting good international relations, especially since it receives security assistance and counterterrorism funding from the United States and Australia and aid from Japan. Indonesia has also promoted cooperation between the littoral states; held biannual coordinated patrols with India since September 2002; and signed agreements with Australia, Japan, and India to increase cooperation in security matters, including maritime security. Indonesia also expanded its defense interactions with the United States after the restoration of U.S. international military education and training (IMET), and operational exchanges, such as the annual "Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training"(CARAT) exercises, were broadened to build understanding and interoperability further. For example,the sea phase of exercise CARAT was lengthened to five days in July 2006, more than double the length of the previous year's exercise.

Yet despite engaging in more extensive modernization of its navy, Indonesia has a smaller economic stake in developing its navy than Singapore or Malaysia. This is because while those countries must protect the Malacca and Singapore straits, which are regular targets of piracy, Indonesia conducts the majority of its trade is conducted through the safer Lombok and Sunda straits. For the Indonesian navy, patrolling its extensive maritime borders;handling maritime border disputes; and countering smuggling, illegal fishing,and environmental degradation are more important than countering piracy.

Such priorities are higher for Indonesia's navy since Indonesians are particularly sensitive to border disputes because Indonesia lost two small islands off eastern Borneo, Sipadan and Ligitan, to Malaysia as the result of an International Courtof Justice decision in 2002, and is in a dispute over control of the adjoining oil-rich Ambalat region of the Celebes Sea, for which Indonesia sent 7 warships and four F-16s there in March 2005 after alleged incursions by Malaysian warships and aircraft.