September 15, 2023
JAKARTA – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated Vice Adm. Irvansyah as the new chief of the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) and Sahat Manaor Panggabean as head of the newly created National Quarantine Agency (Barantin) during a ceremony on Wednesday at the State Palace.
Also attending the ceremony were Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Panjaitan, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo and Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Yudo Margono.
Irvansyah succeeds Vice Adm. Aan Kurnia, who retired, said his priority as Bakamla chief was to increase collaboration with “other agencies, ministries, institutions as well as with the TNI” to keep Indonesian waters safe, as instructed.
“We can’t work alone in securing our waters. We have to work together,” he said in a statement.
The government is currently thinking about merging Bakamla, the de facto national coast guard, under the office of the coordinating security affairs minister, with the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard (KPLP), which is a separate coastal police unit under the Transportation Ministry’s Sea Transportation Directorate General.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD first floated the idea in July, saying that the directive came directly from Jokowi.
Prior to his inauguration, Irvansyah was chief of the Joint Defense Area Command I (Kogabwilhan I) based in the Riau Islands, which oversees TNI units in and around the Strait of Malacca and the North Natuna Sea.
Barantin, a new national agency Jokowi created through a government regulation signed in June, supplants the previous quarantine bodies that existed under three ministries: the Agriculture Ministry’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s Fish Quarantine Agency and the Forestry Ministry’s Fisheries and the Natural Resources and Ecosystems Directorate General.
Prior to his inauguration as Barantin head, Sahat was a special staffer at the office of the coordinating maritime affairs ministry.