Nishant Sabnis
Nicolet High School
Delegation: Indonesia
Model United Nations Position Paper: Ramification of Foreign Military Bases in Sovereign
States
In order to protect the economic and political security of the world, various countries
have established foreign military bases both inside and outside of conflict zones and during both
times of warfare and times of peace. Foreign military bases are used to maintain political security
as they help protect against civil political unrest as well as foreign state or independent terrorist
attacks. Foreign military bases help maintain economic security as they are used to guard against
foreign state or independent terrorist attacks which are potentially injurious to global
commerce.The Republic of Indonesia is working in collaboration with the United States and
other militarily developed states to develop security throughout its territory in the Indo-Pacific
Sunda Islands to protect the government and commerce of the region from attacks and conflict.
The ramification of foreign military bases in sovereign countries expands a country’s
international military, and therefore also its political and economic outreach which can be used
to control and/or assist the government and/or populace of another state. Indonesia is currently
working with the United States to maximize the security of the vulnerable archipelago. Indonesia
began its current effort of developing a Minimum Essential Force (MEF) in 2005 and plans to
complete its current effort in 2025. For the purposes of this effort, Indonesia is building a strong
national defense, known as Tentara Nasional Indonesia, which would be capable of and used for
various protection measures for both domestic and nondomestic problems. Such problems would
include peacekeeping, law enforcement, humanitarian support, emergency response, civil
conflicts, and security both terrestrial and maritime. Maritime security is most important for
Indonesia as it is both an archipelagic state and an Indo-Pacific state. This makes the state easily
vulnerable to conflict near the majority of its population and commercial centers which could
come from either the Pacific or Indian oceans. As an Indo-Pacific archipelago, Indonesia is also
economically crucial to the global economy. This is especially pressing in the early 21st century
when southern and eastern Asian countries are beginning to lead the world in economic and
industrial development, with growing imports and exports travelling through the Indo-Pacific
region. Indonesia is also improving its military power by cooperating with other countries to
improve its military technology. Recently, the Republic of Indonesia has begun a joint effort
with the People’s Republic of China in the research of missiles. While the Republic of Indonesia
does support collaborative international security measures, it does not wish to align itself as a
satellite state to and global or regional superpowers. All these cooperative efforts involve the
ramification of bases into Indonesia to improve the archipelago’s security.
The Republic of Indonesia’s future security improvement endeavours include building
cooperative alliances with other countries as well as building a strong national security force. By
2024, Indonesia will have an established minimum essential force to carry out the protection
measures described in the above paragraph. Part of this will include building up of military
facilities across the Sunda archipelago. Indonesia hopes that this force will help in international
cooperative protection efforts in addition to domestic protection, allowing the republic to
maintain its peaceful outlook on foreign policy. Also, the Republic of Indonesia is planning to
conduct future security improvement efforts with India, the strongest military power in the
Indian Ocean, China, the one of the strongest military powers in the pacific ocean, and others
such as Brazil.
Through the first quarter of the 21st century, Indonesia is making great strides in
improving foreign military relations, building its own forces for security, and improving military
technology and facilities. Improved security measures will help protect the government
institutions and commerce of the Indo-Pacific region.