Indonesia is planning to submit a figure of 14,572 as official count of its islands at the UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names scheduled to take place later this year. The previous official tally was 13,466, submitted in 2012.
The move comes as an assertion of Indonesia’s sovereignty amidst China’s aggression in the South China Sea. Bryahmantya Poerwadi, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said:
We want to record these islands as a part of Indonesia, so that no other state can recognize them.
Indonesia is also planning to let foreign investors to get involved in naming and managing many of its 4,000 uninhabited islands. Currently, only 8,844 Indonesian islands have names. According to officials, foreign investors will not be allowed to own an island, but to manage it for an established period of time. Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said:
If the island is for tourists, it’s fine, as long as there are plans and regulations. Japan asked if they could have one certain region for elderly. I then said go ahead and settle there but we would never sell the island.
Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world, is often said to be a country of more than 17,000 islands. The CIA puts the number of islands in Indonesia at 17,508 while a 2002 survey by Indonesia’s aeronautics and space institute, estimates a much higher number of 18,307 with more than 6,000 of the islands uninhabited.
