RIFQAH ZULHANZAHIRA, RIFDAH ZULHANZAHIRA, & ALKHANSA GASSANI
The Reversion to Strategic Turf
Outside of these specific windows, the historical cycle of Nusantara repeatedly reverted to passivity and fragmentation. This decay followed a consistent structural failure where a universal maritime vision gave way to an inward agrarian retreat, leading directly to naval decay and ultimately resulting in foreign entrenchment.
Whenever internal politics pivoted away from the sea toward inward-looking agrarian power struggles—such as the transition from coastal trading states to the inland Mataram Sultanate—the oceans were abandoned. Naval fleets were allowed to rot, maritime trade was outsourced to foreign merchants, and coastal ports were left defenseless. The vacuum was inevitably filled by external maritime powers—whether the Cholas, the Portuguese, the Dutch VOC, the British, or the Japanese Imperial Navy—who moved in to command the waters and reduce the native polities back to tributary turf.
V. The Universalist Imperative: Why Nusantara Demands a Grand Mission
The historical successes of Srivijaya, Singhasari-Majapahit, and the 1945 Republic reveal a critical geopolitical truth: true maritime power in Nusantara has only ever existed when driven by a universalist, civilizational vision rather than narrow tribal, provincial, or sectarian self-interest.
Whenever the archipelagic concept shrank into Java-centric agrarian introversion, Sumatran coastal insularity, or religious factionalism, state power decayed. The archipelago is geographically incapable of functioning as a closed, insular fortress. Because it sits at the absolute crossroad of global human movement, commerce, and strategy, it must either be anchored by an ambitious, inclusive moral order, or it will be carved up by outside imperial forces.
The Civilizational Thread
Srivijaya demonstrated this through its cosmopolitan sanctuary. Srivijaya did not project power as an ethnically restrictive Sumatran state; instead, it positioned itself as a global center for Buddhist scholarship, maritime trade, and international exchange. Its navy existed to guarantee safe passage for monks, merchants, and travelers from across Asia, framing its power as a service to global civilization.
Majapahit carried this thread forward through an integrated commonwealth. Gajah Mada’s vision was fundamentally about integrating a fragmented archipelagic space into a stable trading network where diverse multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities could flourish free from foreign subjugation.
The 1945 Republic further institutionalized this through universal humanism. When Sukarno, Hatta, and the founding architects articulated Indonesia’s foreign policy, they anchored it in Pancasila—specifically the principle of Kemanusiaan yang Adil dan Beradab (a Just and Civilized Humanity). The original spirit of the 1955 Bandung Conference was not passive isolationism; it was an ambitious declaration that newly independent nations would co-create a global order free from imperial domination for all of humanity.
The tragedy of the current generation is a profound historical amnesia. Srivijaya and Majapahit are routinely taught as static museum relics—names of monarchs, dates of battles, and lists of ancient temples. They are almost never taught as grand geopolitical strategies or philosophical responses to the realities of archipelagic geography. The youth are taught what happened, but never why those empires were the logical response to the surrounding ocean lanes.
The core blueprint for Indonesia’s strategic posture does not need to be invented from scratch. It requires a process of political and historical anamnesis—the recollection of a fundamental civilizational truth that was already proven through centuries of survival: that a universal humanist vision combined with uncompromising maritime command produces a sovereign and just Nusantara.
VI. The Constitutional Mandate: Decoding the Preamble of UUD 1945
The foundational answer to Indonesia’s geopolitical identity is not found in modern foreign ministry whitepapers, but in the Preamble (Pembukaan) of the 1945 Constitution. The Preamble serves as the ultimate philosophical bridge connecting Nusantara’s ancient civilizational imperative to the modern Republic:
“…Kemudian daripada itu untuk membentuk suatu Pemerintah Negara Indonesia yang melindungi segenap bangsa Indonesia dan seluruh tumpah darah Indonesia dan untuk memajukan kesejahteraan umum, mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa dan ikut melaksanakan ketertiban dunia yang berdasarkan kemerdekaan, perdamaian abadi dan keadilan sosial, maka disusunlah Kemerdekaan Kebangsaan Indonesia itu dalam suatu susunan Negara Republik Indonesia…”
This single, carefully constructed sentence outlines an unbroken, hierarchical progression that moves strictly from internal protection to human capacity building, progressing to global order creation, and resting firmly on a moral foundation.
- The Precision of “Ikut Melaksanakan Ketertiban Dunia”
The inclusion of the phrase “ikut melaksanakan ketertiban dunia” (participating in establishing world order) was a deliberate philosophical choice. It explicitly rejects two dangerous posture extremes: regional isolationism on one side, and aggressive imperialism on the other.
It does not call for hegemonic conquest. The drafters did not write “to command the world order” or “to build an empire,” establishing that Indonesia’s role is not to forcibly impose its rule over other nations.
At the same time, it does not accept passive submission. Equally, the founders did not write “to follow the world order” or “to submit to foreign rules”. They selected an active, collaborative verb: ikut melaksanakan—to participate as an equal architect in building global order.
