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General Andika Perkasa has been installed by President Joko Widodo as the Indonesian Military's (TNI) commander replacing Air Chief Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto, who retired in November. Though not surprising, the appointment of the former Army chief of staff was still rippling the water, since according to the customary succession practice adopted since Reformasi it should have Navy chief of staff Admiral Yudo Margono's turn to be TNI commander. Certain military observers are therefore of the opinion that the appointment of Andika was an indication of a political victory rather one based on a   merit system within the country’s uniformed institutions. Indeed, months before his nomination to the parliament by President Joko Widodo, a series of political maneuvers had been launched by the so-called "civil society organizations" or NGO demanding the President to immediately appointed General Andika as TNI commander. This also included lobbying by his father-in-law, retire

The US has finally delivered on its commitment to fully support Indonesia’s Maritime Security Board or Badan Keamanan Laut (Bakamla). In a recent virtual ceremony, the US Ambassador to Indonesia Sung Kim officiated the construction of Bakamla campus in Batam Island and committed to spend US$3.5 million. It will be furnished with classrooms, barracks, and launching pad. The project was initiated by former head of Bakamla Vice Admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrochman in 2019. At that time, he proposed the training center to be developed in Serang, Banten province; but his replacement, Vice Admiral Aan Kurnia, moved the campus’ site to the Island. Despite its potential to improve Indonesia’s maritime law condition by educating all-new officers for Bakamla, the Center faces intrinsic problems arising from existing domestic maritime legal architecture in order to meet such a mission. If it fails, the existence of the training institution will be only deepening the country’s multi-actor maritime la

  Pengadilan Negeri Batam, Kepulauan Riau, sudah membacakan vonisnya terhadap kapal MT Horse dan MT Freya. Tanker pertama (berbendera Iran), nakhodanya diganjar hukuman satu tahun penjara sementara kapal kedua, MT Freya – berkebangsaan Panama – dijatuhi hukuman denda senilai 2,5 milyar rupiah. Sekilas, kedua putusan PN tersebut baik-baik saja. Namun, bila diselami lebih jauh, ada beberapa catatan kritis yang bisa disajikan. Saat tulisan ini diselesaikan, kedua kapal sudah berlayar meninggalkan perairan Indonesia menuju ke destinasinya masing-masing. Kasus MT Horse dan MT Freya menarik diberikan catatan karena dari sejak awal ditangkap oleh otoritas kemaritiman Indonesia sudah membentot perhatian publik. Khalayak disuguhi berbagai komentar oleh para pejabat penting yang ingin pelanggaran oleh kedua kapal ditindaklanjuti. Bergantian mereka muncul di hadapan publik melalui sejumlah konferensi pers. Inti pesannya sama: negara/pemerintah akan memproses hukum kapal tersebut. Yang menarik a