What’s Up with Maritime Security “Head of the Class”?
What’s Up with Maritime Security “Head of the Class”?
On several occasions, the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) through its head often claims to be the “class leader” of maritime security in Indonesia. This position emerged because there are several agencies that also act as law enforcement agencies at sea, aka maritime law enforcement agencies. This means that this body, which was founded in 2014, is their leader.
The agency led by a three-star high-ranking naval officer is also predicted to be a superior institution at sea, like the Coast Guard in other countries. At the start of Jokowi’s second term of government, there was a minister who stated the need for this body to be led by a four-star high ranking officer. Of course it is a matter of prestige for a head of an agency. This agency which was previously called Bakorkamla (Maritime Security Coordinating Agency) was immediately appointed as the Indonesian Coast Guard by the government, whose function was actually not much different when it carried the old name.
Legal action was taken to strengthen the head of the Maritime Security class. Starting from the emergence of the Maritime Security Bill which had become a priority Prolegnas in Commission I DPR RI in 2019 to the implementation of various discourses in every maritime institution. As time went by after the Covid-19 pandemic, the existence of the Maritime Security Bill promised by Commission I of the DPR disappeared somewhere. Instead, the formation of a Government Regulation (PP) as a derivative of the Maritime Law no. 32/2014 was immediately drafted by various agencies coordinated by the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.
This discourse became more prominent after the polemic about the arrest of the Iranian-flagged ship MT Horse and the Panama-flagged ship MT Freya on January 24 2021 by a Bakamla patrol ship in Pontianak waters on charges of transferring illegal oil materials and possession of firearms. The polemic continued to roll like a snowball, resulting in differences in perception with other agencies. Here we also see the weakness of a maritime security ‘team captain’ and law enforcer at sea who does not have an investigative function. It has long been the doctrine that Bakamla’s only function is to arrest ships suspected of committing violations, then hand them over to the competent authorities to carry out further investigations.
However, in this case, it turns out that the agency that was asked to continue the investigation seemed reluctant to carry it out for certain reasons. Criticism of Bakamla continues to roll in, one of which came from a retired two-star TNI AL officer. According to him, the agency headquartered in the Proclamation Building is like a cat without nails and fangs, but has transformed into a new predator in the sea that has tarnished Indonesia’s name internationally. Until finally the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs had to step in to mediate the polemic.
Asa PP No.13/2022
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Covid-19 recovery and the construction of a new capital city, the government finally issued PP No.13/2022 concerning the Implementation of Security, Safety and Law Enforcement in Indonesian Waters and Jurisdictional Areas on March 11 2022. Of course, this PP is a source of hope. towards building the strength of the Bakamla institution. In clause 10, Bakamla can organize joint patrols with related and technical agencies. Furthermore, Article 25 states that Bakamla can take action and forward it to the competent authority, where it is obliged to receive and follow up on it. If it refuses, the authorized agency is obliged to report it to the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs within no later than 7 days from the date of submission, accompanied by legal reasons.
The agency with the motto “Raksamahiva Camudresu Nusantarasya” is increasingly gaining the upper hand with the existence of this PP. The authority of the ‘grey’ uniformed institution became even more prominent when it was also mandated to formulate a national maritime security and safety policy within a 5 year period. More specifically, in the PP, Bakamla is also given the task of integrating the national maritime security and safety system from all related and technical agencies. Here, Bakamla has implicitly been appointed ‘Class Leader’ and/or Maritime Security Team Commander/Field Commander.
The PP has been running for more than a year. The closing provisions state that within six months of promulgation, the maritime integration and security system must be operational. But the echo feels quiet until now.
The author realizes that it is not easy for Bakamla to become the “Class Leader” of Maritime Security. It is not easy to integrate all agencies at sea and indirectly supervise them at a technical and operational level. There was Bakamla’s biological father, namely the Indonesian Navy. There is also its older sibling, namely Polairud and the Sea and Coast Guard Unit – Directorate General of Transportation, Ministry of Transportation, which has been operating since 1951. The agency that was later mentioned also manages
touting himself as the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard.
The author’s observations over the years in observing the maritime world, the names of synergy and integration are only on the surface. Its nature is still artificial – more details are only available in coffee morning forums and FGDs. After that, every agency returned to gossiping about each other like the saying “at sea you can invite, in your heart who knows?” This is actually a fire in the chaff for national maritime security – more broadly for the Republic of Indonesia (Red and White).
The challenges and derivative problems in the future will become increasingly diverse if this basic foundation is not resolved. It is unimaginable how high ATHG will be in the sea in the future amidst an increasingly uncertain world situation. With such complexity, in Indonesia it certainly cannot be handled by one agency. It needs to be together and there needs to be a coordinator or leader so that it can run in one breath and one step at a time. It is certain that the leader and those led must have a strong bond, spiritually if necessary, in the interests of the Republic of Indonesia.
Therefore, it is not wrong if there are parties who want to implement this with more massive and systemic legal instruments – equivalent to a law or a revision of a law. That was the discourse delivered by one of the Deputy Chairmen of the DPD RI accompanied by the Head of Bakamla when he met the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy (Kasal) some time ago. Indeed, the history of Bakamla cannot be separated from the role of the DPD when implementing the Maritime Law in 2014. The momentum of the “end of the period” for DPR and DPD members in the current political year is also not lost. Likewise, the issuance of the 2014 Maritime Law, which included Bakamla, occurred the day before the end of the term of office of members of the DPR and DPD RI for the 2009-2014 period.
