Keeping the fleet afloat: Indonesia's naval policy and operation.

79 p.This research attempts to explain why Indonesian naval policy and operation tend to be defensive as evident in its emphasis on local power projection and expeditionary operations. It challenges the conventional notion that internal threats and the lack of sea-borne traditional threats discourage the development of the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL). Instead, naval policy and operation are much more influenced by domestic factors as explained by the political, societal and technical contexts. The political explanation argues that domestic politics influences defence and naval policy, with liberal regimes tend to have a pro-navy stance. The societal explanation posits that a nation with national lifelines closely attached to its maritime domain tend to promote higher priority for naval development since navies are required to protect its maritime interests. The technical explanation assumes that naval operation is influenced more by the application, rather than the mere acquisition, of technology. These explanations are used to test one specific case - the TNI-AL - across three periods of study, namely the Old Order (1945-1967), the New Order (1968-1998), and the Reformation Era (1999-2009). It concludes that the political and technical contexts carry the most explanatory power than the societal context. The reason for this is that Indonesia never lacks the enthusiasm to get a closer attachment with the sea as evident in its economic realm to exploit abundant maritime resources and legal realm to be acknowledged as an archipelagic state. However, this enthusiasm is not correspondingly followed by an offensive naval policy due to the (1) heavily politicised defence policy that tend to emphasize the army's role in the political context and (2) the preference of manpower over technological approach to defence policy that inhibits the acquisition and application of naval technology in the technical context. This research also acknowledges the need for future studies to spur the development of alternative theoretical approaches to understand naval policy and operation by looking at the domestic factors. These approaches may contribute towards a better understanding of Southeast Asian naval development.Master of Science (Strategic Studies