JAKARTA (ISL News) – The existence of the Indonesian Maritime Council (DMI), which was formed by the Fourth President of the Republic of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) in 1999, is considered necessary for the current era.
The institution, which had changed its name to the Indonesian Maritime Council (Dekin) during the era of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), disappeared after the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) government formed the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs.
In the current era of President Prabowo Subianto, the nomenclature of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs is not even in the Red and White Cabinet. In practice, this condition is worrying for the development of Indonesia's maritime sector in the future.
Director of the National Maritime Institute (Namarin) Siswanto Rusdi assessed that there was an anomaly in the continuity of President Jokowi's maritime vision to the Prabowo government.
"President Prabowo does not seem to have any inclination to build maritime affairs. Instead of reviving the Indonesian Maritime Council (Dekin) which was dissolved by Jokowi, he instead established the National Economic Council," Siswanto told reporters on Friday, November 8, 2024.
In fact, he continued, Jokowi's efforts to improve the national economy that was devastated could also be achieved through the maritime economy.
According to Siswanto, just as the energy sector has a National Energy Council to orchestrate government energy policies, the maritime or marine sector also needs to form a council.
"The existence of Dekin or DMI has a big role, if not to say very central, considering that the maritime sector during Prabowo's era was scattered and very difficult to coordinate even though there was the Coordinating Ministry led by AHY (Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono) who oversaw it," said Siswanto.
Judging from its nomenclature, the Coordinating Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development led by AHY is more inclined to focus only on infrastructure development and spatial mapping.
Siswanto also said that the port and shipping sectors are vital in national maritime development. The scope is not sufficient to be supported only by the directorate general level at the Ministry of Transportation.
"DMI needs to be revived, because this speaks to Indonesia's capabilities in the global arena," he stressed.
"The main agenda if DMI is revived is how to upgrade national shipping and ports. Don't let the executives of both sectors struggle alone at the international level without any government support," he said.
(ISLNews Editorial Team/Namarin Public Relations/email; islnewstv@gmai.com).
