Pokok Pikiran tentang Pertahanan dan Keamanan Negara

Udara dari perspektif Kedaulatan Sebuah Negara

Pertahanan dan Keamanan Negara sebenarnya akan bermuara pada format, atau sangat erat bertaut dengan apa yang sering kita kenal sebagai kedaulatan atau kehormatan dan harga diri dari sebuah negara. 

Bila matra udara akan kita tinjau dari sudut pandang kedaulatan negara, maka akan sangat menarik bila dicermati uraian dari Prof (em) Dr.E. Saefullah Wiradipraja,SH,LL.M.  

Uraian Sang Professor adalah sebagai berikut :

From a state sovereignty point of view, the role of airspace above its territory is so important and strategic, not only for the economy, but also for the politics, social, culture and for the defence and security of the country as well.  

There is no state in the world wich does not have  airspace territory, but there are some States which do not have waters (seas) territories.

The sovereignty of  a state over the airspace above its territory has been recognized by International Convention, i e Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention 1994).  

This recognition is not only for the contracting state but also for all states eventhough they are not member of the Convention.

The strange things is that Indonesia as an archipelagic state with more than 17.000 islands, there is no article in its Constitution which states that airspace above its territory is under the sovereignty of Indonesia, eventhough the Constitution has already been revised four times.

In article 33 (3) of the Constitution 1945 (as the original text) states that “land and waters and natural resources which exist in them are under the control of State and used for the greatest of people prosperity”  (“airspace” is not included)

Uraian tersebut dengan gamblang mengutarakan betapa pemahaman tentang keberadaan udara sebagai sebuah unsur penting dan strategis dari sebuah negara ternyata masih belum juga memperoleh perhatian yang memadai untuk dicantumkan dalam konstitusi Negara Republik Indonesia.