Indonesia was re-elected to be the board member of International Maritime Organization, for the period of 2011-2013 by obtaining 128 votes from 155 valid votes.

Head of Public Relations and International Cooperation of Directorate General of Sea Transportation at Ministry of Transportation Sindu Rahayu said the number of supporting votes is smaller than the 2009-2011 votes which reached 132 votes from 168 countries.

Indonesia was elected to join the board of International Maritime Organization (IMO) category C, among the countries which has special interest in ocean freight. In the category, Indonesia sits next to other 20 countries namely Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Cyprus, Turkey, the Philippines, Chile, Malaysia, South Africa, Mexico, Bahamas, Thailand, Kenya, Belgium, Morocco, Liberia, Jamaica, Malta, Egypt and Denmark .
 
"Besides Indonesia, there were 25 other countries who also ran in the election for the category, six among them are new candidates," he said in a press release from the 27th IMO Meeting in London, last Saturday.
 
IMO Meeting which took place on November 21-December 1, 2011 was attended 170 countries which are registered as the IMO members. Besides category C, Sindu said members of the IMO council also consist of the category A and category B.  Category A consists of 10 countries representing the largest international commercial shipping fleets and global marine transportation provider. In such category, the board members are elected by acclamation as the number of nominations and the voting rights is equal.
 
The category B consists of 10 countries representing the largest interest in international trade activities in the sea or International seaborne trade. The membership of the Board is also elected by acclamation for the same reason.  
 
In the voting process, 155 country representatives involved while the rests do not have voting rights for some reason due to unfully-paid contribution fee. Singapore is the most choiced country for IMO board-members in category C, by getting 131 votes. "The three categories have the same rights and obligations as a member of the IMO Board," he explained.
 
Indonesian delegation in IMO Meeting led by the Ministry of Transportation EE Mangindaan. Before the election, each candidate is given an opportunity to present statements and the country's position. I
 
Normal

Director of National Maritime Institute Siswanto Rusdi claimed Indonesia's achievements as the member of IMO Board for a period of 2011-2013 in the category C is normal.  
Supposedly, as he saw, the Indonesian delegation should nominate Indonesia as a new member of the IMO board for the category B. "This is great, but can we go up to category B?," he said.
 
Indonesia, he added, should be worth to level up as it is representing the country which has largest maritime interests in the international sea trade.
 
"Even Bangladesh is able to make it, then why can't Indonesia make it? Bangladesh is now one of the major sailor exporter countries," he said.  In terms of ships operating in the country, Indonesia has 10,000 units of fleet, so that the ships tonnage also increased.

Source: Bisnis Indonesia