The Indonesian Main Island Defense: Land Power Projection Towards Maritime Orientation

Abstract

Indonesia is an inimitable country due to its massive archipelagic and maritime features, which acts as a magnet in determining its geopolitical and geostrategic position. Challenges come to reality incrementally facing the emerging threat in the region, especially the non-traditional threat with its evolving approaches. This study employs qualitative descriptive to analyze the essence of the Indonesian Main Island(s) Defense to shifting its land power paradigm towards a maritime orientation. The study portrays that the Indonesian main islands defense, originally, is a part of the strategic territorial defense system putting the main island(s)—on a critical circumstances e.g. invasion scenario—as strategic compartment(s) in defending the sovereignty of the state. Land power which based on Indonesian Army empowering the whole national power on the main island(s) ought to conduct its strategic effort up to its last resort autonomously for that sake. Addressing the upcoming potential threats shifted by the evolving warfare based on high-tech destructive weapons, the Indonesian Army on the main islands requires development from its original setting towards maritime orientation by utilizing technological advancement that, at one side reducing geographical barriers, and the other side, integrating the land forces to reinforce the maritime and air power to contending the future typical threats dominated by maritime and air domain. Through the development of this basic concept, the Indonesian main islands defense becomes the main pillar to orchestrating the archipelagic defense for a rigorous defense strategy.