Indonesia is pushing to reclaim airspace within five years in a sensitive military area that’s currently controlled by Singapore, as President Joko Widodo takes a more assertive approach to foreign policy.
The airspace over the Riau and Natuna islands near Singapore has been administered by the city-state since 1946 as a postwar holdover and is a corridor for flights in and out of Changi Airport, one of Asia’s busiest for international flights. Singapore says the arrangement provides effective air traffic control services, and is not about sovereignty.
“Of course it’s related to sovereignty,” Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in an interview on Tuesday in Jakarta. “They have no right to decline, it is Indonesia’s right.”
The stance reflects Indonesia’s efforts to step up control of the borders of the world’s largest archipelago, which stretches from maritime boundaries with India in the west to Australia in the east. Widodo’s government has developed the coast guard, blown up illegal fishing vessels and deployed warships in the gas-rich waters around Natuna in response to China’s growing military presence in the disputed South China Sea.
Lacking a majority in parliament, Widodo, known as Jokowi, has shored up his political support with key posts for ex-army men such as government security chief Luhut Panjaitan, and moved away from his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s policy of “a million friends and zero enemies”. Jokowi envisages a “maritime axis” policy to improve shipping and trade between the country’s 17,000 islands.
He’s also shown an inclination to take a stronger stance on territorial matters, even with biggest trading partner China, which is looking at Indonesia as an investment destination in order to build infrastructure for a maritime trading route to Europe.
In a speech to leaders of developing nations in Indonesia in April, Jokowi called for a new international economic order that is better at including emerging countries. He suggested “a new global financial architecture in order to avoid the domination of certain groups of countries.”
“The Indonesian air force wants to control their own space,” said Wisnu Darjono, a director at the state air navigation agency. Singapore took control when Indonesia lacked the ability “but now our facilities are almost equal with Singapore. We are ready to control that area.”
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The airspace over the Riau and Natuna islands near Singapore has been administered by the city-state since 1946 as a postwar holdover and is a corridor for flights in and out of Changi Airport, one of Asia’s busiest for international flights. Singapore says the arrangement provides effective air traffic control services, and is not about sovereignty.
“Of course it’s related to sovereignty,” Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in an interview on Tuesday in Jakarta. “They have no right to decline, it is Indonesia’s right.”
The stance reflects Indonesia’s efforts to step up control of the borders of the world’s largest archipelago, which stretches from maritime boundaries with India in the west to Australia in the east. Widodo’s government has developed the coast guard, blown up illegal fishing vessels and deployed warships in the gas-rich waters around Natuna in response to China’s growing military presence in the disputed South China Sea.
Lacking a majority in parliament, Widodo, known as Jokowi, has shored up his political support with key posts for ex-army men such as government security chief Luhut Panjaitan, and moved away from his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s policy of “a million friends and zero enemies”. Jokowi envisages a “maritime axis” policy to improve shipping and trade between the country’s 17,000 islands.
He’s also shown an inclination to take a stronger stance on territorial matters, even with biggest trading partner China, which is looking at Indonesia as an investment destination in order to build infrastructure for a maritime trading route to Europe.
In a speech to leaders of developing nations in Indonesia in April, Jokowi called for a new international economic order that is better at including emerging countries. He suggested “a new global financial architecture in order to avoid the domination of certain groups of countries.”
“The Indonesian air force wants to control their own space,” said Wisnu Darjono, a director at the state air navigation agency. Singapore took control when Indonesia lacked the ability “but now our facilities are almost equal with Singapore. We are ready to control that area.”
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