Why is Indonesia Called a Maritime Country? – A maritime country is a country engaged in the waters sector. Maritime countries have an abundant supply of water. Not only that, there are activities carried out by maritime countries.
One of the maritime countries is Indonesia. Why is Indonesia called a maritime country? This article will discuss 5 reasons why Indonesia is called a maritime country.
What is a Maritime State?
In simple terms, a maritime country is a country that has a very wide sea territory. The area of this area exceeds the area of its land territory. The waters in a maritime country must exceed its land area.
However, some people argue that a maritime country is a country that has many islands. This definition is also known as an archipelagic country. The point can be drawn, that a maritime country is a country that is surrounded by sea areas or waters that are wider than its landmass.
Why is Indonesia a maritime country? The answer is because the territorial waters in Indonesia are wider than the land. Indonesia consists of 30% land and 70% sea.
Can be seen from the coastline. The length of the coastline of the islands in Indonesia reaches around 81 thousand km. This length is second only to Canada. Canada is known as the country with the longest coastline in the world.
Indonesia has maritime borders with 10 countries. These countries include Singapore (part of the Territorial Sea), Thailand (Continental Shelf), India (Continental Shelf), Philippines (EEZ), Vietnam (Continental Shelf), Palau (EEZ and Continental Shelf), Philippines (EEZ), Papua. New Guinea (EEZ and Continental Shelf), Australia (EEZ and Continental Shelf) and Timor Leste (Territory Sea, EEZ and Continental Shelf).
Maritime State characteristics
The characteristics of a maritime country include the following:
- Maritime countries have more territorial waters. Its waters or sea area has an area of about 2/3 of its land area.
- Maritime countries have many islands surrounded by seas or waters.
- Maritime countries have large natural resources in the marine sector. These natural resources can involve minerals, energy, food and others.
- Most maritime countries are fishermen. Apart from fishermen, the people work in the maritime sector.
Maritime State Support Pillar
There are several pillars that support a maritime nation. This is because maritime countries are in natural and cultural conditions. This condition is influenced by several elements.
Such as social elements, political elements, economic elements, cultural elements, as well as elements of defense and security. The elements that form the pillars of a maritime nation are as follows:
1. Political system
The political system is needed to ensure integrity. The integrity of all archipelagic areas in Indonesia is important. Considering Indonesia is a unitary state. This political system will concern borders, hinterlands, remote islands, the largest island. This must also be based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
2. Economic system
A strong economic system is expected to improve the trading system. This includes the sea, both the deep sea and the outer sea. In addition, it is hoped that this will encourage the growth of the maritime industry and services.
3. Defense and security systems
This system is used to guarantee state sovereignty. In addition, to guarantee the law throughout the sovereign maritime area and national jurisdiction. These areas include sea, land and air throughout Indonesia.
4. Social system and culture
In this system, the dignity of the community must be upheld. Ethnic, cultural and religious pluralism that will bring out the spirit of love for the sea.
Maritime State Economic Activities
The following are some of the economic activities that are often carried out by maritime countries:
- Providing inter-island and inter-country ship crossing services
- Marine shipbuilding industry
- Ship repair industry
- Logistics industry for shipping goods by sea
- port economic activity
- sea highway
- Ship navigation services
- Container terminals
- Marine warehousing services
- Manufacturing industry of weapons and warships.
The reason Indonesia is called a Maritime Country
1. Has a wide ocean
Indonesia is a country that has large islands. The islands stretch from Sabang to Merauke. The total islands owned by Indonesia are 12,499 islands.
The total area of Indonesia is approximately 7.81 million km2. An area of this size does not only consist of land. Most of the territory in Indonesia actually consists of waters or oceans.
The land in Indonesia is only about 2.01 million km2. While 3.25 million km2 consists of oceans. The area of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Indonesia is 2.55 km2.
It can be seen that most of Indonesia’s territory is water. This is the main reason that makes Indonesia a maritime country. With an area of this size, of course the marine potential in Indonesia is very large.
2. Has a Geostrategic position
The next reason is related to the strategic geographic location. Indonesia is located between two continents, namely the continent of Asia and the continent of Australia. Indonesia is also located between two oceans, namely the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
This is one of the advantages possessed by the Indonesian state. Indonesia’s location is at the crossroads of international travel. An example is the trade of countries in Asia and Australia.
In fact, countries around the world will pass through this Indonesian territory. This international trade can pass through sea, land and air areas. Not only that, there are many other benefits to be gained from this strategic location.
This strategic geographical condition will make it easy for Indonesia to export and import. Not only that, this area is filled with developing countries so it’s easier to market the products. The many countries that stop by will also make progress in various fields, such as language and culture.
As a result of its strategic location, this area has become a very dynamic area in the world arena. This benefits Indonesia in the economic and political fields. This also makes Indonesia have an advantage, but also a fairly high dependence on the waters and maritime sector.
3. Abundant marine wealth
Within the vast sea area, there is a lot of potential for marine wealth. It is common knowledge that Indonesia is famous for its very rich natural resources.
These natural resources include marine products. Marine products in Indonesia very much. In addition, various marine products also exist in Indonesia.
According to research notes issued by LIPI, Indonesia has enormous marine wealth potential. Its marine wealth can reach more than Rp. 1,700 trillion. This figure is equivalent to 93% of the total Indonesian state budget in 2018.
This is another reason why Indonesia is a maritime country. Indonesia has potential in the marine sector. Marine natural resources in Indonesia are very abundant.
4. Advanced in the field of fisheries and maritime affairs
Many people in Indonesia use marine products. They make the sea as a source of income. So that they can meet their needs.
Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world. This makes Indonesia has a lot of potential marine products. Moreover, 30 percent of 70 percent of total fisheries in the Asia Pacific Region are in Indonesia.
According to data from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries or KKP, there was an increase of 10.8 percent in the export value. This data is seen from the results of fisheries in 2019. Overall, the profits reached Rp. 73.6 billion.
The good quality of marine products has made Indonesia accepted by 158 countries for export. Its main markets are the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Italy, Vietnam and Hong Kong. There are many main marine export commodities from Indonesia.
Such as shrimp, tuna and other types of pelagic fish, octopus, squid, demersal fish, crab, seaweed and tilapia. This exported commodity consists of approximately 28 types of marine products. Such as squid, shrimp, cuttlefish, frog legs, tuna, red snapper, cakalang, white pomfret, fish cracker, salted shrimp, canned crab, fish oil, fish meal, shrimp tempura, canned snail, parrot fish, tuna loin, grouper, sailfish, gulama fish, snow crab, side fish, barracuda, shrimp meal and cobia.
To maintain this figure, Indonesia must always preserve its marine ecosystem. In addition, monitoring should always be carried out on this matter. Without good management and supervision, the fisheries and marine potential in Indonesia will be vulnerable to violations.
5. Having maritime culture
Not only the islands are many. Indonesia is also known for having many cultures. One of them is maritime culture.
Maritime culture exists because of the vast ocean in Indonesia. If you look at it from the social and economic fields, people in Indonesia use the sea a lot to fulfill their needs. For example, people who live on the coast will work as fishermen.
From an ethnic and cultural perspective, Indonesia has several tribes that have maritime traditions. An example is the Bajo Tribe. This tribe lives in the sea. In addition, there are Javanese people who have a tradition of sea alms.
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Author: Wida Kurniasih
Source: from various sources
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