Policy Analysis of Indonesian Ports: A Study of Batu Ampar Free Port

Abstract

Indonesia is a maritime country which has around 17,500 large and small islands. As a maritime country, Indonesia's economic growth depends on the logistics system. The framework of the logistics system depends on the port system, inter-island shipping, and international shipping. Indonesia's port system currently needs to improve its competitiveness. This phenomenon can be seen from the low volume of goods traffic at border ports, especially in the Malacca Straits region. Indonesia is trying to strengthen its border areas with a policy of developing Pheripery areas, encouraging the formation of Free Ports in Free Trade Areas and Free Ports (KPBPPB) in Sabang, Batam, Bintan and Karimun. Batam Free Port is the leading port facing competition in the Straits of Malacca. Based on the fact that the Batam Free Port is undeveloped and has low competitiveness. Thus, this research will address the following questions: How is Batam Free Port Managed? Based on the formulation of the problem above, the objectives of this research are: To examine the contribution of the International port regime, namely the Free Port Regime, to the Free Port policy in Indonesia towards the Batu Ampar International Port after its establishment as a Free Port from an international political-economic perspective. The type of research used in this research is descriptive qualitative research. This research is considered field research when seen from the perspective of the research site. In detail, it can be explained that this research is located in a free port in Batam City, Riau Archipelago Province. First, at the international level, the Batu Ampar Free port in Batam is yet to be compatible with the Free Port regime. In the international logistics ecosystem, Batam's Batu Ampar Free Port is still dependent on Singapore. Second, the most important finding in this study, namely the influence of inconsistent central government policies in the management of Batam's Batu Ampar Free Port so that the port model reflects only some of the ideal free ports in the international logistics ecosystem.