Politicians in Indonesia are calling for the nation to strengthen its maritime defense after the discovery of an underwater drone, suspected to be from China, has people worried about espionage.
On Christmas Eve, a fisherman found the missile-shaped unmanned underwater vehicle off the coast of Selayar Island in South Sulawesi. The Indonesian Navy has since inspected the drone, which they have called a sea glider, and said that its type is generally used for oceanic imaging up to some 2,000 meters in depth.
“This sea glider can operate for up to two years,” Navy chief of staff Adm. Yudho Margono said during a press conference this morning.
Yudho explained that the sea glider can automatically surface once every nine days, during which time it can transmit data it had gathered via satellite. The device has a variety of uses, from detecting fish in the ocean to scouting for enemy submarines undetected.
The Navy has yet to determine what the drone was used for, and by whom.
Lawmakers are suggesting that the Navy has dropped the ball with the discovery of the possibly foreign drone in Indonesian waters.
“This is a sign that, all this time, our waters are susceptible to territorial penetration by foreign forces. It’s highly possible that many underwater drones have been going around Indonesia and gathering important geographic data and the country’s oceanic potential,” Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Sukamta said today.
The Defense Ministry, which is headed by former military general Prabowo Subianto, says it’s refusing to get drawn into baseless speculation about the drone’s origins, pending further investigation.
“Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto hopes that the people of Indonesia continue to pour their support for the military to defend the country,” ministry spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said in a written statement today.
Speculations are abound that the drone is China-owned, which have sparked unease in Indonesia considering the two countries’ ongoing overlapping claims over the South China Sea.
Indonesia claims the area in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea as its exclusive economic zone and in 2017 changed its name to the North Natuna Sea in a bid to show sovereignty.
Indonesia also inaugurated a new military base in the chain of several hundred small islands to beef up defenses. The moves prompted criticism from Beijing, whose claims in the sea overlap Indonesia’s around the remote Natuna Islands.
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