News
Indonesia rallies support for ICAO council seat
March 24th 2016
Indonesia has submitted its fifth bid to become an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) council member. The initiative is led by Indroyono Soesilo, the archipelago’s former maritime minister. Read More » “Indonesia is nominating itself as an ICAO council member for 2016-2019. There were four previous unsuccessful attempts. Hopefully, this time we will succeed,” Detik.com quoted Indroyono as saying.
ICAO’s council is made up of 36 member states that are elected every three years. Singapore and Malaysia are the only Southeast Asian nations on the current council. The election for the next round is scheduled for September.
If elected, Indonesia is expected to lobby to reclaim airspace administration over Riau Island, which belongs to Indonesia, but has been managed by Singapore since 1946 as mandated by ICAO. Singapore's law and home affairs minister, Kasiviswanathan “K” Shanmugam, previously said any such move would have implications for Singapore’s position as an aviation hub, noting the current set of regulations were put in place with the approval of global aviation authorities.
In December, Indroyono attended the 25th meeting of the African Civil Aviation Commission in Cairo. "The presence of Indonesia at the meeting of the African Civil Aviation Commission that groups 54 countries is part of our attempt to drum up support for the country’s bid to win membership of the ICAO council," Indroyono said then.
Indonesia’s council seat bids failed in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013. Indroyono said this was due to internal factors related to institutional policy support and external factors about aviation safety in Indonesia.
