ABSTRACT
The second decade of the Twenty-First century has seen gradual inclusion of the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ as a new spatial framework in the strategic discourse of Asia. Historically, the Indo-Pacific region has been the transmission belt of ideas, people and goods for centuries. The global religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam spread through communities, societies and kingdoms located across the maritime world. The idea of structural uncertainty relates to the challenges which characterise the strategic environment within which Indonesia finds itself locked. India’s 2015 maritime strategy and the ‘leading power’ doctrine, and Indonesia’s new maritime strategy of ‘global maritime fulcrum’, underscore an increasing attention of emerging Asian powers towards the new regional context. Indonesia lies at the epicentre of the new geopolitical construct. William T. Tow informs that a major feature of contemporary Asia-Pacific security politics is the pervasive nature of strategic uncertainty shared by its middle and small powers about the behaviour of the great powers.
