The Impact of Potential Merchant Fleet and Government Policy toward Nation’s Maritime Defense

Abstract

The dynamics of the strategic environment in the South China Sea are currently very worrying due to unresolved national border issues and the domination of claims over the South China Sea by the Chinese state with the nine dashed line. The placement of the armed forces of the disputing countries has an impact on the defense and security of regional countries. Indonesia as a country in a troubled area has a direct impact on the security of its territory as a result of the deployment of other countries' armed forces. For this reason, Indonesia must anticipate existing threats to the sovereignty and security of its territory by preparing all available defense resources. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of potential Merchant Fleet and Government Policy toward Nation’s Maritime Defense. The research method used  quantitative research with analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and supported by qualitative data. Researcher selected samples with Stratified Random Sampling and Purposive Sampling techniques. The number of samples used were 347 respondents. The results of the study show that the Merchant Fleet has a positive and significant effect on Government Policy, the Merchant Fleet has a positive and significant effect toward Nation’s Maritime Defense, Government Policy has a positive and significant impact toward Nation’s Maritime Defense.