Indonesia's Global Maritime Axis Doctrine: Security Concerns and Recommendations

Since President Joko Widodo's administration begins, there has been a new reform for
Indonesia's maritime psyche. The President sees a huge potential in Indonesia's maritime
sector, especially due to its strong and consolidated domain around Indian and Pacific
Oceans. Hence, he came up with an overarching concept of "Global Maritime Axis”,
and set it as the main point of his administration. This so-called "Jokowi's doctrine”
fundamentally represents national vision and development agenda to rebuild the country's
identity as a maritime nation, boosts its maritime culture, and expands its economy from
which Indonesians could prosper. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of Indonesia's
maritime vision in foreign and defense policy, specifically upon maritime diplomacy and
resolutions of border disputes; maintenance of territorial integrity, maritime sovereignty,
good order at sea, security over the outer islands; and safeguards over national resources
and exclusive economic zones (EEZ). It then ends with examining recent maritime security
developments, which fosters Indonesia's position as a maritime power with considerable
diplomatic influence on the world, and the opportunities therein.