Although many Indonesian people (Academicians, Politicians, Businessmem, etc) may wish for building future Indonesia as maritime state, thye concept of such desired maritime state itself is not really clear. Indonesian reformation goverments through Department of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries may imagine that the formation of maritime state is mostly determined by its ability to explore and to exploit marinebased resources (fishery, mining, shipwreck, etc). This way of thinking possibly closely links with the anti- Soeharto spirit who was suspected to direct the development of Indonesia as feudal state characterized by much more exploitation on land (forest, mining, agriculture, etc). But the question is: should the formation of maritime state neglects the land potentials ? Should the building of maritime state be done only after the destruction of land-based natural resources ? It seems that maritime potential has been treated as an alternative sector. Such kind of policy will not precondition maritime potentials as the leading sector in the development of Indonesia as integrated maritime state in the future.
But how does Indonesian history give lesson about this matter ? How could Srivijaya and Majapahit be the great maritime empires in Southeast Asia ? It should be noted that kingdoms did not merely develop single economic sector (exclusively land-based sector or merely marine-based sector), but they grew both sectors simultaneously. What might have been the keywords were their abilities to produce goods (exported commodities), and the government fleet to control and to manage the existing flow of trade. They were able to produce land-based commodities which were demanded by regional and international markets, such as those of pepper, spices, gold, forest product, etc.
Srivijaya and Majapahit empires had merchants fleets which were able to sail the Indonesian archipelagic waters and even to traverse Indian Ocean as far as Madagascar and South China Sea for trading with China as well as Makassarese who has reached Northern Australia before the coming of James Cook. Srivijaya's and Majapahit's navies were able to take control their territories and maritime traffics around the Straits of Malacca as the gateway of global maritime trade route. In the meantime, the people of both kingdoms could produce and sell trading commodities, merchants and seamen could take profits, the goverments could also earn taxes and related incomes, and the ship owners had opportunity to expand their investments. For matching with global maritime trade for example, Majapahit kingdom did not hesitate to implement internal structural adjusments in bureaucracy and domestic market which could be the catalysts for the peasant society to global market.
Although many Indonesian people (Academicians, Politicians, Businessmem, etc) may wish for building future Indonesia as maritime state, thye concept of such desired maritime state itself is not really clear. Indonesian reformation goverments through Department of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries may imagine that the formation of maritime state is mostly determined by its ability to explore and to exploit marinebased resources (fishery, mining, shipwreck, etc). This way of thinking possibly closely links with the anti- Soeharto spirit who was suspected to direct the development of Indonesia as feudal state characterized by much more exploitation on land (forest, mining, agriculture, etc). But the question is: should the formation of maritime state neglects the land potentials ? Should the building of maritime state be done only after the destruction of land-based natural resources ? It seems that maritime potential has been treated as an alternative sector. Such kind of policy will not precondition maritime potentials as the leading sector in the development of Indonesia as integrated maritime state in the future.
But how does Indonesian history give lesson about this matter ? How could Srivijaya and Majapahit be the great maritime empires in Southeast Asia ? It should be noted that kingdoms did not merely develop single economic sector (exclusively land-based sector or merely marine-based sector), but they grew both sectors simultaneously. What might have been the keywords were their abilities to produce goods (exported commodities), and the government fleet to control and to manage the existing flow of trade. They were able to produce land-based commodities which were demanded by regional and international markets, such as those of pepper, spices, gold, forest product, etc.
Srivijaya and Majapahit empires had merchants fleets which were able to sail the Indonesian archipelagic waters and even to traverse Indian Ocean as far as Madagascar and South China Sea for trading with China as well as Makassarese who has reached Northern Australia before the coming of James Cook. Srivijaya's and Majapahit's navies were able to take control their territories and maritime traffics around the Straits of Malacca as the gateway of global maritime trade route. In the meantime, the people of both kingdoms could produce and sell trading commodities, merchants and seamen could take profits, the goverments could also earn taxes and related incomes, and the ship owners had opportunity to expand their investments. For matching with global maritime trade for example, Majapahit kingdom did not hesitate to implement internal structural adjusments in bureaucracy and domestic market which could be the catalysts for the peasant society to global market.
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