In The Ocean We Are Glorious

By Akhyari Hananto

Many see that the last incident occurred on Berakit water off Bintan Islands where Royal Malaysian Navy intercepted Indonesian ship (from Ministry of Fisheries) was a current evidence that Indonesia needs to immediately procure more battle ships to safeguard its territory borders, especially where it shares borders with Malaysia and Singapore, where many illegal fishing were left ‘unpunished’ due to the lack of guard ship number.

Indeed, many Indonesian battleships are currently focusing to patrol along the Ambalat waters, and many did not expect that such event might happened in other borders.

GNFI always supports the government in resolving such incident trough diplomatic channels rather than confrontation, we have always convinced our reader that dialog will benefit both countries, benefit our future, and benefit our other neighbors.

I had a discussion yesterday with a senior navy official, and he said that actually, Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) is now undergoing a major overhaul. TNI Al have purchased some powerful warships, battleships, will soon acquire submarines, and the good thing is…Indonesia has PT PAL, its very own ship dock to produce ships, including warships. It gives Indonesia a very significant edge over its neighbors.

A year ago, PT PAL launched the new Landing Platform Dock (LPD) for the Indonesian Navy which is able to accommodate 5 helicopters. It marked a new beginning for PT PAL, the largest Indonesian shipyard located in Surabaya, East Java, after having been successful in developing various non-military ships, such as 50,000 ton cargo vessels, large oil and chemical tankers and passenger ships. In the area of military combat ships, PT PAL has successfully developed various smaller craft such as Fast Patrol Boats in different sizes.

The achievement is going to be followed by the development of Sigma Class Corvettes and also Guided Missiles Ships currently on the drawing board. Currently, the maintenance and overhaul of the Sigma Class Corvettes are also being done by PT PAL. It will also developed Indonesia’s very own submarines.

Indonesian Navy has 148 military ships, and with the current ship production underway at PT PAL, it is very likely that Indonesia will have at least 160 military ships by 2020. PT PAL has started to build the light fregat PKR 105, which will be a new milestone for PT PAL as it is going to be using of of the world’s most latest technology.

: PKR 105, it’s going to be Indonesia’s most modern battleship

I agree, that Indonesian Navy isnt the largest and the most powerful in the world, however, saying that it is weaker that our neighbors is very wrong.

More pictures below