RE-DEFINING THREAT TO NATIONAL DEFENCE: CASE STUDY OF INDONESIA-MALAYSIA BORDER DISPUTE IN WEST KALIMANTAN

Abstract

The country's border areas are not immune from threats to national defense, both traditionally and non-traditionally. One of the country's border areas is Entikong, which is located in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. This area is directly adjacent to the State of Sarawak, East Malaysia. State border areas tend to be considered vulnerable to military threats such as territorial invasions. However, territorial defense can be threatened by non-traditional threats that can affect state sovereignty through the nationalism of its people. This study uses qualitative methods by analyzing primary and secondary data from field observations, interviews, and the results of focus group discussions with a number of informants who have been determined using a purposive technique. Non-traditional security problems in the Entikong area are people's economic problems, narcotics smuggling, foreign commodities, identity crises, and others that can affect state sovereignty and people's sense of nationalism. There are challenges in efforts to deal with non-traditional security issues, such as from the aspects of budget, technology, area size, to inter-agency coordination. Therefore, not only the military aspect, currently non-traditional threats need special attention. Seeing that the biggest threat is from the economic aspect, the improvements that can be made to prevent threats to state sovereignty are derived from the economic aspect and defense efforts by authorized state institutions. This requires coordination, commitment and support from the central/provincial/regional government, military and local civil society.