Amendment to the 1945 Constitution: Strengthening BAKAMLA RI to Defend the Sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia

Ario Seno

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22 Jan 2024 · 12:49 22 January 2024 12:49 WIB 12 minutes reading time: 12 minutes 3 read

Legal Literacy - The discourse on amending the 1945 Constitution to strengthen the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (BAKAMLA RI) has begun to emerge in recent times. This is in line with the increasing threat...

Amendment to the 1945 Constitution: Strengthening BAKAMLA RI to Defend the Sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Maritime Security Terminology
Problem
Discourse on the Amendment of the 1945 Constitution
Amendment Mechanism of the 1945 Constitution
Closing

Section 2/3: Maritime Security Terminology

Maritime Security Terminology

The terminology of Maritime Security is defined as a safe and controlled sea condition, free from threats of violence/crime, pollution/ecosystem destruction, and violations of the law (Kurnia, 2017). This terminology already contains ends (purpose), means (meaning), and ways (method) namely sea control as ends, free from the threat of violence/crime and pollution/destruction of ecosystems as means, and Law Enforcement as ways.

Sea Control demonstrates that a country (in this case, Indonesia) has supremacy over its maritime territory. This supremacy is demonstrated by the preservation of marine biota/resources (free from pollution/destruction of ecosystems) and the continued activity of trade/sea trading well (free from the threat of violence/crime), the end result is an increase in state revenue. Meanwhile, to realize this supremacy, Law Enforcement at Sea is needed, which can only be achieved with the presence of Law Enforcement Agencies at Sea.

In the context of law enforcement in territorial waters and jurisdictional areas, the Maritime Security Agency is formed, as stipulated in Article 59 paragraph 3 Law No. 32 of 2014 concerning Maritime Affairs.

This Law is the legal basis for the formation of Bakamla (Maritime Security Agency) of the Republic of Indonesia, which, when viewed from its historical formation, is not a completely newly formed institution but rather a strengthening of an existing institution, namely Bakorkamla (Maritime Security Coordinating Board).

Bakorkamla itself was formed on December 19, 1972, with the Joint Decree (SKB) between the Minister of Transportation, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Defense, and the Minister of Justice. This SKB gave birth to the Maritime Security Coordinating Board (Bakorkamla), which functions to coordinate institutions that had previously handled maritime security issues, namely:

Sea Transportation (under the Minister of Transportation)
Customs (under the Minister of Finance)
Immigration (under the Minister of Justice)
Indonesian Navy (under the Minister of Defense)

To strengthen its status as an institution authorized in the field of Maritime Security, through Presidential Decree No. 81 of 2005, the Maritime Security Coordinating Board (Bakorkamla) was inaugurated as an independent institution under the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Sudiro & Jupriyanto, 2022).

Therefore, the current Bakamla RI is a strengthening of Bakorkamla (after becoming an independent institution) with the elevation of the status of Presidential Decree No. 81 of 2005 to Law (namely Law No. 32 of 2014).

However, the current status of Bakamla RI is that of a non-ministerial government institution which is under and directly responsible to the President through the coordinating minister (Article 60 of Law No. 32 of 2014 concerning Maritime Affairs), which means it has a position equivalent to a Ministry.