A suggestion by Indonesia’s finance minister to consider charging ships for transiting the Malacca Strait has drawn attention across the maritime sector, particularly as tensions over freedom of navigation intensify elsewhere in the region.
According to reports, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa raised the idea after Iran moved to impose charges on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, recorded 102,525 vessel transits over 300 gross tons last year, equivalent to around 281 ships per day. The waterway is bordered by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Purbaya reportedly argued that Indonesia occupies a strategic position on a major global trade and energy route, yet ships continue to pass through without any toll being charged. He suggested that, if a fee were introduced and shared between the three littoral states, the revenue could be substantial, particularly given that Indonesia controls the longest stretch.
However, any such move would be far from straightforward.
Purbaya himself acknowledged that it would require the agreement of both Malaysia and Singapore, as the Strait is governed through a cooperative mechanism established in 2007 between the three countries.
Singapore has already signalled a very different position. Speaking on CNBC on 22 April, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan emphasised that the three countries have a shared strategic interest in keeping the waterway open, noting that all of them are trade-dependent economies and do not impose tolls.
He stressed that this alignment should not be taken for granted elsewhere in the world and remains central to regional stability.
The issue was also echoed at the 34th Meeting of the Aids to Navigation Fund (ANF) Committee last week, where the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a social media post that the littoral states had reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the Straits of Malacca and Singapore open and safe in accordance with international law.
The ANF is one of the three pillars supporting the cooperative mechanism for managing the Strait.
Indonesia has also ratified UNCLOS, which enshrines the principle of freedom of navigation, making any toll proposal particularly sensitive from both a legal and geopolitical perspective.
