Fishing trips

WITH over 13,000 islands, Indonesia is by far the world’s biggest archipelagic state, a nation shaped as much by the seas around it as by its land. Yet the new president, Joko Widodo, believes Indonesians have “for too long turned our backs” on the water. In his inaugural speech in October the head of state, widely known as Jokowi, expressed a desire to “be as great in the oceans as our ancestors were in the past”. A few weeks later, at an Asian summit in Myanmar, he went further. Indonesia should revive its maritime culture, develop its fishing industry, improve maritime links through things like better ferries and ports, and crack down on illegal fishing and other violations of sovereignty. Indeed, he said, Indonesia should be nothing less than a “world maritime axis” between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.