While his maritime doctrine is designed primarily to boost the Indonesian economy, Widodo’s signature policy will have wider ramifications for South-East Asia, where maritime issues are particularly salient. Issues of illegal fishing and piracy affect the entire region and are probably best addressed through multilateralism. Designing and implementing collaborative measures to tackle these issues has been challenging, however, given historical tensions between certain states and the strength of regional norms. During the Yudhoyono years, there was a perceptible shift towards forging a regional solution to these problems, but under the Jokowi Administration this nascent collaborative approach appears to be at risk of stagnating. The president appears to be shunning multilateral solutions by adopting a more forceful, unilateral approach to regional challenges. As a result of this unilateralism, Indonesia could find itself falling out of favour with many of its near neighbours. Some observers have suggested that Indonesia could be turning away from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the Jokowi Administration in a sharp divergence from the perception of growing internationalism during the Yudhoyono years. As this paper will demonstrate, however, foreign policy under the Jokowi Administration is unlikely to sacrifice Indonesia’s position in ASEAN.

Key points

• The tense maritime situation near Indonesian waters could be exacerbated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s assertive maritime policies.
• The ASEAN Economic Community is not likely to be affected by aggressive Indonesian maritime policies, but relations with China could be.
• The maritime doctrine appears to favour unilateral actions above multilateral activity. Regional programmes, such as those designed to tackle piracy, will continue to be impaired by nationalism, trust issues and a lack of coalition-building efforts.
• There is unlikely to be a radical shift in Indonesian foreign policy under the Jokowi Administration.