<<back
Territorial
Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone
When
independence was proclaimed and sovereignty
gained, Indonesia had to enact laws to govern
the seas in accordance with the geographic
structure of an archipelagic state. This,
however, did not mean that the country would
bar international passage. The laws were
necessary instruments for the unity and
national resilience of the country, with
a territory that embraces all the islands,
the islets and the seas in between. In view
of the country's susceptibility to foreign
intervention from the sea and for domestic
security reasons, on December 13, 1957,
the Indonesian Government issued a declaration
on the territorial waters of the Republic.
It stated that all the waters surrounding
and between the islands in the territory
came within Indonesia's sovereignty. It
also determined that the country's territorial
water limit was 12 miles, measured from
a straight baseline drawn from the outermost
points of the islands.
In
the past, archipelagic states like Indonesia
have unilaterally determined their 200 mile
Exclusive Economic Zones. Today such economic
zones are confirmed by the International
Convention on the Law of the Sea, which
was ratified by the Indonesian Government
on October 18, 1983, by Act No. 5 of the
same year. This is the legal basis of the
Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone.
