LAUSR

Abstract This article addresses questions such as Why does Indonesia, an archipelagic state enriched with abundant natural resources, remain so vulnerable to medium-term price shocks and global economic crises? Why has Indonesia never derived “blessings in disguise” as reaped by other middle-income developing countries at such times of global crisis? What is fundamentally wrong with the structure and strategies of economic development in Indonesia? These problems are closely linked to the failure of the Indonesian government to develop themselves as a maritime state, that is, a state with the ability to build maritime strength (sea power) in merchant shipping, maritime warfare instruments, and the progress of modern maritime technology to use its potential. With maritime powers, the maritime state can be optimally utilized by its own potential, namely, the potential of natural resources in the form of islands and seas as well as human, political, and cultural resources and the potential established from a strategic geopolitical environment.