Podcasts

Maritime Domain Awareness, or MDA, is the capacity to know what happens over, under and on the surface of the water. This capacity is important for several reasons: first, by knowing what is happening, the authorities could optimise measures to mitigate threats and risks and, by de facto, to protect a country’s sovereignty, as well as its resources and maritime domain users. MDA is even more important nowadays, as many cases of countries that do not respect the sovereignty of other states recently arise, leading to conflict.

In our latest webinar, Nurhayadi, highlighted that several years ago, the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs worked alongside other ministries to carry out a 30-day operation at sea, and that was the time when the authorities were able to catch the perpetrators responsible for doing waste disposal. However, despite being successful in catching the perpetrators, Indonesia still frequently encounters up to four hours delay in receiving satellite data to this day, which has been hampering investigation and efforts to arrest the perpetrators.

In our latest webinar, Col. Bakamla Hudiansyah Is Nursal, argued that based on discussions held in Bakamla, many countries with more experiences in maritime strategic thinking have built up their MDA capabilities. Indonesia, as the world’s largest archipelagic state, should do the same. However, a lack of transparency within ministries and agencies involved remains an issue, which has not been resolved yet.

In our latest webinar, Sayed Fauzan Riyadi, stated that he has classified six regimes of maritime governance, starting from the Traditional Regime; followed by four regimes in between, which are: Coastal State, Port State, Flag State, and Archipelagic State; and there is a regime of High Seas or Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. For example, if Indonesia is seen as a Port State, meaning that Indonesia is a country that is responsible for ensuring the safety of its ports. Then, in the process of securing the port, the CIQs (Custom, Immigration, Quarantine) must be harmonised with other countries, and it could not possibly be implemented without a thorough port management system.

In our latest webinar, Andi Raihanah Ashar, highlighted the tough responsibility of relevant stakeholders to manage various institutions, which actually could be done by determining a clear chain of command, and how to utilise the best assets, at the best moment, at the right time. Furthermore, the solution that can be considered by the government is to detect the electronic signature of each ship through radio frequency signal detection.