The Maritime Crescent
Issue 11
Editor’s Note
by Haniva Sekar Deanty, Lead Editor - Maritime Crescent Desk
What does it mean to stand on your own feet? As a nation, as a government, as a people? This question lies at the heart of this week’s issue of The Maritime Crescent.
As Indonesia marks its 80th year of independence, the celebration is not without reflection. Behind the promises of energy and food sovereignty lies an economy still tethered to its colonial past: exporting raw materials while importing value. The path to real independence demands more than pride. It requires transformation. Industrial strength, technological capability, and a break from old dependencies.
Across the strait, Malaysia faces its own reckoning. This time in the defence sector. Billions have been spent, but with little to show. Procurement missteps, political meddling, and mismatched assets reveal a deeper challenge: how does a state make strategic decisions when its processes aren’t built to serve long-term readiness? As regional risks mount, the cost of inaction becomes clearer.
Meanwhile in Brunei, quiet momentum is building. The Fire and Rescue Department is stepping up, modernising its capabilities and asserting a more confident presence in ASEAN’s disaster response ecosystem. It’s a reminder that even small states can punch above their weight when institutional reform meets regional purpose.
Each of these stories, in their own way, urges us to look past ceremony and towards substance. In Southeast Asia’s search for resilience, it is not just sovereignty that’s at stake, but how committed we are to building it.
Indonesia 🇮🇩
Indonesia 80 Years On: What Does Sovereignty Really Mean?
by Rayhan Prabu Kusumo, in Jakarta
President Prabowo Subianto swept to power promising that "power and sovereignty are in the hands of the Indonesian people." He has repeatedly spoken about economic independence and pledged to achieve ambitious goals from energy sovereignty to food self-sufficiency. However, reality tells a different story: Indonesia remains as dependent on raw commodity exports as decades ago. Recent commodity market turbulence, premature deindustrialization, and a shrinking middle class reveal the wide gap between political aspirations and economic vulnerability.
But what does sovereignty actually mean in 2025?
The fundamental pattern of natural resource dependence remains unchanged. From Dutch plantations to today’s downstreaming, Indonesia’s exports remain dominated by natural resources and basic processed materials. Today, these fall into three main categories: coal and coal-adjacent products, palm oil and its derivatives, and nickel downstreaming products. Eighty years after independence, Indonesia’s economy still mirrors a colonial supplier: exporting raw materials and importing costly finished goods. Only the target countries have changed—once serving European colonial powers, today it serves China's economic and industrial goals.
True sovereignty lies in the ability to create, innovate, and add value. South Korea's GDP per capita was lower than Mozambique's in 1960, while Taiwan stood below most Latin American countries, yet both transformed through coordinated industrialization strategies. They secured real independence by building manufacturing, advancing technology, and producing goods in global demand—redefining their role from price-takers of raw materials to price-setters of complex products. They built domestic expertise, retained profits, and created high-skilled jobs resilient to global economic storms. Most importantly, they gained the technological base to adapt and innovate with changing markets.
Indonesia's experience illustrates extraction's fundamental flaw because when you depend on raw materials, you're at the mercy of global markets and their constant price swings. Other countries capture the real value by processing what Indonesia exports. Indonesian palm oil, coals, and ferroalloys become European cosmetics, Malaysian electronics, and Chinese electric cars. The profits flow to whoever does the manufacturing, not whoever dug it from the ground. To be industrial is to be sovereign. By failing to drive industrial growth, Indonesia's leaders are doing a profound injustice to their people.
Opportunities start with attracting foreign industries and fostering spillovers to strengthen domestic firms. This enables local companies to learn, compete, and eventually develop their own capabilities. Indonesia can then build manufacturing clusters leveraging its geography, expand tech sectors through existing talent, and harness renewable energy like solar and geothermal. Achieving this requires coordinated industrial policy, major education investment, and a streamlined, innovation-driven bureaucracy.
The window for transformation narrows as value chains shift and technology advances, with Indonesia remaining a follower rather than a driver of change. True sovereignty rests on industrial capability, technological mastery, and economic complexity. A creator nation, not just an extractor. After 80 years of independence, the government must finally break the colonial economic pattern—not just change who buys Indonesian raw materials, but fundamentally transform what Indonesia produces and how it competes in the world.
Rayhan has a background in government affairs and public policy, with experience across government institutions and advisory firms. His work focuses on the intersection of geopolitics, policy, and risk, with expertise in advocacy, regulatory analysis, and stakeholder engagement. He holds a degree in Government from Universitas Padjadjaran, and has completed an exchange at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, focusing on global politics and sustainability.
Malaysia 🇲🇾
Malaysia’s Struggle for Sound Military Procurement
by Muhammad Aiman Bin Roszaimi, in Cyberjaya
Malaysia’s defense procurement record provides important lessons, particularly within the Southeast Asian context, where military expenditure has continued to rise annually. The recent royal warning against acquiring outdated or unsuitable assets should not be seen in isolation.
Instead, it should be understood as part of a broader pattern of systemic weaknesses in Malaysia’s procurement approach. When past experiences are combined with present concerns, the message is clear: the country cannot afford to continue with ad-hoc, opaque, or politically driven acquisition practices.
The Littoral Combat Ship Program remains the most striking example. Despite an allocation of RM9 billion for six ships, years passed without a single vessel being delivered, while billions had already been spent. Design changes, mismanagement and poor oversight resulted in one of the biggest procurement scandals in Malaysian history. This not only undermined the Royal Malaysian Navy’s operational readiness but also eroded public trust in defense spending.
Earlier, the MiG-29 fighters that were acquired in the 1990s, similarly reflected procurement choices shaped more by diplomatic considerations than by sustainability. While the acquisition initially appeared strategically valuable, the aircraft quickly became unsustainable due to high operating costs and limited serviceability. Their premature retirement within two decades created yet another void in Malaysia’s force posture.
These precedent cases, when viewed alongside current debates about refurbished helicopters and overpriced assets, underline recurring themes: poor alignment between acquisitions and operational needs, lack of transparency, weak industrial capacity and over-reliance on middlemen. Taken together, they underscore the persistent challenges that frame contemporary concerns over defense procurement.
Therefore, the King's reminder should be read not only as a critique of one specific deal but as a broader call for systemic reform. Malaysia must adopt sound procurement principles, including lifecycle cost analysis, user-driven requirements, government-to-government arrangements, support for indigenous industry, and transparent oversight mechanisms. Every acquisition should strengthen readiness and long-term sustainability, rather than serve narrow political or commercial interests.
In an era where regional security challenges are intensifying, Malaysia cannot afford further missteps. The combination of historical failures and present warnings signals an urgent need for a procurement culture built on integrity and future-proofed capabilities. This local experience serves as a broader lesson for states operating under constrained defense budgets: that every procurement decision must be carefully aligned with operational requirements if investments are to deliver practical outcomes and enduring benefits.
Aiman is a PhD candidate in Security and Strategic Analysis at the National University of Malaysia. His research focuses on Malaysia’s space policy, ASEAN regional security, and the strategic implications of emerging technologies. His work explores how Malaysia’s defense policy and strategic culture shape its approach to outer space.
Brunei Darussalam 🇧🇳
Brunei’s Fire and Rescue Department Steps Out of the Shadows
by Wira Gregory Ejau, in Bandar Seri Begawan
Historically, the Brunei Fire and Rescue Department (BFRD) has maintained a low-profile service footprint, often sitting at the back of public perception, especially when compared to its much larger neighboring counterparts in Singapore and Malaysia. Besides its community outreach, standard firefighting and occasional snake or ‘buaya’ (crocodile) wrangling, the BFRD has quietly served the local populace. Yet, beneath this modest profile, the demands of an increasingly disaster-prone region have led Brunei to uplift its firefighting institutions.
During the 65th anniversary celebration of the BFRD in May, a cornerstone decision was announced by the Minister of Home Affairs that the BFRD was to receive ten Water Tender Ladder engines, four Light Fire Attack Vehicles and most notably, that His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, had consented to the rebranding of the BFRD’s Special Squad to the Special Technical Rescue Assistance Team (SATREA).
Locally, SATREA’s operational debut and BFRD’s enhanced capabilities could not have come at a better time. Between June and September 2025, Brunei transitions from the inter-monsoon phase to the Southwest Monsoon, bringing a heightened risk of squall lines and tropical storm influence that routinely batter low-lying kampongs and urban districts alike. In such situations, SATREA and the BFRD are uniquely positioned to deliver faster and more effective relief than ever before.
Following the rebranding of SATREA in May, the team had already begun showcasing its emerging capabilities within a multilateral framework at ARDEX in June 2025. Operating alongside elite teams from across ASEAN, SATREA participated in search, rescue, and victim management across scenarios simulating prolonged flooding within ASEAN’s disaster-coordination framework. Brunei’s participation not only demonstrated its institutional preparedness but also underscored its potential to play a meaningful role in regional disaster relief within ASEAN’s evolving humanitarian architecture.
“Stand as high and sit as low” alongside elite firefighting teams from neighboring countries (such as the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) from Singapore and the Special Tactical Operation and Rescue Team (STORM) from Malaysia) were the minister’s exact words, and they could not ring more true amidst today’s intensifying disaster landscape.
The most recent 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, which prompted Singapore’s 80-strong Operation Lionheart Contingent (complete with SCDF K9 units, USAR cutting tools and medical teams) and Malaysia’s 50-member SMART team, alongside heavy-lift assets and a humanitarian pledge, has especially underscored the importance of both scale and speed expected of ASEAN responders.
As calls to close disaster response gaps across the region are urged upon, BFRD and SATREA stand ready to integrate into ASEAN’s wider network of networks. Coalescing under shared standard operating procedures, they seek to overcome jurisdictional silos and bureaucratic inertia, advancing polycentric coordination with ASEAN states, militaries, and private actors. By channeling lessons from ARDEX and its continued equipping of Urban Search and Rescue capabilities, Brunei raises both its baseline capacity and its ability to answer problems that require rapid deployment locally and the impartiality of interoperable command systems on a regional level.
Gregory is an MSc candidate in Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He works as a freelance writer specializing in international history, conflict, and counterterrorism. With experience in academia, investigative journalism, and voluntary uniformed service, he focuses on regional security developments across the Asia-Pacific, combining strategic analysis with practical field insight.
Editorial Deadline 17/08/2025 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
