Abstract
On February 20, 2017, Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed Presidential Regulation no. 16 on the “Indonesian Ocean Policy”. The national policy was issued as the guideline for, and to coordinate, all maritime-related policies and programmes across different ministries and agencies. Prior to this, Indonesia was long criticised for lacking an integrated ocean policy and ocean-based strategies. Aside from domestic urgency, the narrative through which the new policy is introduced portrays a strategic document that projects Indonesia’s interest and strategy in the region, and globally. Emphasising these two dimensions of the policy (domestic and external), this paper argues that on the domestic front the policy document has a clear elaboration of the important aspects of ocean management, and functions appropriately in its aim to coordinate maritime-related policies. On the other hand, the external dimension of the ocean policy is still unclear, particularly in terms of how this document will interact with and affect regional geopolitics.