India and Indonesia are two key emerging economies in the Indo-Pacific region—both with a strong reliance on the maritime domain for sustained economic growth. After a relatively tumultuous phase in their bilateral relations during the Cold War, the countries have embarked on a path of reconciliation and developing stronger ties. During this phase, there has understandably been a strong focus on enhancing maritime security cooperation between them, so as to obtain positive bilateral and regional outcomes. This has gained impetus in recent years with congruence of thought at the political level in both New Delhi and Jakarta. However, the many institutional mechanisms developed over the years have not been as effective in engendering tangible security outcomes in the region. Both countries—and indeed the Indo-Pacific region—would decidedly benefit from focusing on key areas of cooperation in maritime security that promise mutually beneficial operational outcomes and the prospect of establishing long-term cooperative mechanisms in the Indo-Pacific region.
This article analyses the Tanah-Air (Unity of Land-Water) concept conceived by Indonesian founding fathers during its independence period and its centrality in shaping the nation’s maritime outlook. Specifically, using descriptive historical analytical approach, it would like to emphasize the role of intersection of Indonesia’s political culture of national unity (Persatuan Nasional), strategic culture of turning of the ages of Nusantara (Cakra Manggilingan), and geopolitical outlook of archipelago’s heart seas (Segara Nusantara) as the three forming pillars of the Tanah-Air concept. Based on these intersections, it underlines unique contradictions within the Tanah-Air concept between need for unity and oneness of land-sea elements of the Indonesian archipelago and the concentric Javanese philosophy on the sea and its maritime power aspirations. Based on these contradictions and insight of the ‘Tanah-Air’ concept, the article provides a pragmatic view on Indonesia’s current aspiration of moving beyond archipelagic to maritime nation as stipulated in the 2014 Global Maritime Fulcrum Doctrine and 2017 Sea Policy Whitepaper.
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