Spatial Study of Indonesia’s Historic Bay: A Case Study in Tomini Bay

Abstract

To become a global maritime axis, Indonesia needs to strengthen the security of its maritime region. Indonesia has adopted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to determine its water boundaries. One of the points in UNCLOS that has not been implemented in Indonesia is related to internal waters. Until now Indonesia has not yet determined the extent of its internal waters. This study aims to examine the potential of Tomini Bay as a historical bay, especially spatial terms so that it will increase the area of Indonesia’s internal waters. The methods used were literature study of the cases in other countries, determination of the area, and extensive calculations using basic data on topographic maps of Indonesia (Peta Rupabumi Indonesia/RBI), such as toponym data, and coastline data. Based on this study, Tomini Bay has an area of 56,948.51 km2, but according to UNCLOS it is not a juridical bay since the width of its opening is more than 24 nautical miles. Some small juridical bays in the Tomini region have an accumulative area of 418.49 km2, only about 0.73% of the Tomini area. In order for Tomini Bay to meet the provisions of UNCLOS as a bay, Indonesia needs to define Tomini Bay as a “historical bay”, because in this study it was found the defining potential. By recognizing Tomini as a historical bay, Indonesia can change the status of the waters inside it from archipelagic waters to internal waters, so that Indonesia’s authority over the region becomes stronger.