Nusantara: Malaysia and the Geopolitics of the South China Sea (Pok Rafeah Chair Public Lecture)

“Nusantara”: Malaysia and the Geopolitics of the South China Sea Malaysia is a maritime nation, strategically placed between the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. The maritime space between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans has, since the 14th century been conceptualized as the “Nusantara”. First used to describe the sea space between the islands claimed by the Majapahit empire and its surrounding mostly Malay kerajaan, the terms has taken on different meanings throughout history.

In the original meaning the term Nusantara is clearly a cultural and geopolitical concept, designating a combined land and sea (tanah air) territory with loosely defined shifting boundaries, including current maritime Southeast Asia and its seas. Thus the South China Sea is here defined as a “Mediterranean Sea” and, from a Malaysian perspective, as part of the Nusantara. It is suggested that the concept of a Nusantara is used for the formulation of a Malaysian maritime policy. Such a geopolitically based policy would have to match and supplement the already existing policies of the Indonesian “Maritime Fulcrum” and the Chinese concept of a “Maritime Silkroad”.