REVISITING THE CONCEPT OF INDONESIA’S MAIN ISLAND DEFENSE IN CRAFTING A RELEVANT ARCHIPELAGIC DEFENSE STRATEGY
Geography and history are two factors determining a country’s defense behavior. Indonesia is not an exception. It has a fragmented shape due to its geography as a vast archipelago. Its history of experiencing armed conflicts was a history of establishing and maintaining political unity over such a fragmented territory. In dealing with these two determinants, Indonesia has developed an archipelagic defense strategy with main island defense as its core. Under this defense system, every main island and major island chain should be able to defend itself independently during a military emergency. However, the authors argued that such a doctrine needs to be rethought to make it relevant in dealing with Indonesia’s current threats, including the external threat of the South China Sea conflict and the internal threat of terrorism and separatism.
main island defense; territorial commands; threats.