EVENTS

Abstract

In the recent times, Indonesia is fundamentally reorienting its security policy from what was dominated by domestic concerns to a greater focus towards the external maritime environment. In the past, Indonesia paid very little attention to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), though it had strong historical ties with this region through the Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. The rapidly expanding geostrategic and geo-economic significance of the Indian Ocean, the rise of the Asian region in general and India and China in particular and also the shift of the global attention towards the Indo-Pacific region has prompted the Indonesian leadership to pay greater attention to this facet of security policy. Indonesia is blessed with a strategic location at the cross-roads of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, it is the second largest littoral nation and the current chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).This has resulted in a series of new initiatives and policy proposals which can be seen in the Former Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s “Pacific-Indo-Pacific” vision and also the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo’s ambitious vision of making Indonesia a “Global Maritime Fulcrum” (GMF).  The GMF vision is attracting a lot of attention worldwide. This policy if properly implemented can make Indonesia play a critical role in the IOR. This is being recognised by countries like the United States and China as well. Indonesia is an important factor in China’s recently launched Maritime Silk Road (MSR) initiative and China will also look to explore other avenues to further cultivate its ties with Indonesia given China’s increasing forays in the Indian Ocean.

About the Speaker

Premesha Saha is a doctoral scholar at the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Research Associate at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. Her doctoral research focusses on Indonesia’s New Maritime Policy towards the Indian Ocean 2004-2014. She completed her Masters in International Relations from Jadavpur University, West Bengal. Her article on “The Genesis of the Scarborough Shoal Dispute between the Philippines and China” in Prof. Manmohini Kaul and Dr. Anushree Chakraborty (eds.) India’s Look East to Act East Policy: Re-examining the emerging issues and partnerships in Indo-Pacific, New Delhi: Pentagon Press has been published in 2016. She has been publishing her work on Indonesia’s new maritime vision on the National Maritime Foundation website. Her research interests include maritime issues in the Asia- Pacific region, geo-politics of the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region, India and Southeast Asia and India, China and the United States in the Emerging Dynamics of Southeast Asia