New Government Needs To Improve Maritime Defense

Yogyakarta, Aug 28 (Antara) - The new government needs to improve Indonesia`s maritime defense in order to maintain the country`s sovereignty, Chief of Indonesian Navy, Admiral Marsetio said, Thursday, at a seminar in Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta province. "As a maritime country we have to own a strong maritime defense system to maintain our sovereignty and prepare for possible threat in the future," said Marsetio at the seminar titled `Indonesia`s Roadmap for Maritime Development`. Indonesia's location is strategic where it shares a water border with 10 countries namely India, Thailand and Malaysia along with Singapore, Vietnam, The Philippines and Palau. It also has Papua New Guinea, Australia and Timor Leste as its neighbours, he argued. However, borderlines between Indonesia and some of its neighbours are still in dispute. Indonesia needs to be aware of China`s Nine Dash Line claim made in 2010 on some areas in the South China Sea as that has the potential to trigger conflict with some ASEAN countries, Marsetio also said. Meanwhile, Yogyakarta`s Governor, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, said Indonesia needs to simplify its maritime management system as an effort to strengthen its maritime defense. "Currently there are a lot of ministries and government agencies handling the maritime sector. What Indonesia needs is just a single government organization which can manage our maritime potential effectively," said Hamengkubuwono.