The State and Empowerment of Indonesian Maritime Culture: The Case of Traditional Marine Resource Management

Abstract

This paper introduces the Indonesian maritime culture. While it explains the coverage of the whole maritime culture in the introduction, in the main texts focuses on two examples of the culture on traditional marine resource management. The two examples are taken from Maluku and Papua. It explains the similarities and differences, the state of the culture and some revitalization initiatives. It notes that while the marginalization and weakening of the traditions are due to government policy and market economy, it also notes that the changing government regime and policies and NGOs support can revitalize and re-strengthen the culture.