Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Purabaya Yudhi Sadewa, recently “proposed” the idea of charging transit fees for ships through the Strait of Malacca because he was inspired by Iran’s maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz. Apparently, the Indonesian government wanted to try its hand at swindling and imposing “protection money” to boost the fiscal funds needed to cover its deficit. Smart Alec also tried to draw Singapore and Malaysia into the extortion ring by pitching the idea as something that would require coordination with Singapore and Malaysia rather than a unilateral Indonesian move. One can tell that Purbaya is only trying to share the political fallout from the US, China, EU, etc. and trying to avoid Indonesia from appearing as the only rogue nation that is causing yet another disruption in global trade.
1. Why did the proposal raise concerns?
The Strait of Malacca carries about one-fifth to one-quarter of global maritime trade. Important examples:
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