The Sea as a Way of Thinking: Learning from Indonesia’s Maritime Communities

Indonesia is often described as a maritime nation. Thousands of islands are connected by seas, straits, coastal settlements, trading routes, fishing grounds, and generations of human movement across the archipelago.

Yet a maritime nation is not created by geography alone.

Being surrounded by the sea does not automatically mean that people think about the sea as part of their everyday identity. A maritime mindset develops through relationships: through experience, knowledge, memory, livelihood, culture, and repeated interaction with marine environments.

Across Indonesia, many coastal, island, and sea-oriented communities have maintained particularly close relationships with the ocean. For some communities, the sea is not something located at the edge of life. It is part of life itself.

People live beside it, travel across it, learn its rhythms, depend upon its resources, pass knowledge about it between generations, and incorporate it into social and cultural practices.

This offers an important way of thinking about maritime mindset.

When the Sea Is Part of Everyday Life

A maritime mindset does not necessarily begin with formal maritime education or national policy.

It can begin much more quietly.

It may grow through a child watching family members prepare a boat, learning when the tide changes, recognising different winds, listening to stories about particular islands or fishing grounds, or understanding that weather conditions influence when people can travel.

Through experiences like these, the sea becomes more than a physical environment.

It becomes familiar.

It becomes meaningful.

And, over time, this familiarity can influence how people understand their place within the wider world.

Indonesia’s coastal and sea-oriented communities demonstrate that relationships with the ocean can become deeply embedded in everyday knowledge and social life. Communities such as the Sama-Bajau, for example, are frequently associated with long histories of maritime mobility and close relationships with marine environments across parts of maritime Southeast Asia.

Their experiences should not be simplified into a single image of “sea people”. Communities are diverse, contemporary, and continually changing. Nevertheless, their long-standing relationships with marine environments remind us of something important:

Maritime thinking can be cultivated through living relationships with the sea.

Maritime Mindset Beyond Coastal Communities

This does not mean that everyone in Indonesia needs to live beside the ocean or adopt the lifestyles of maritime communities.

Instead, these communities can inspire a broader question:

What can the rest of us learn from people who have never treated the sea as distant from everyday life?

Perhaps maritime mindset begins with recognising connection.

Someone living hundreds of kilometres from the coastline may still depend upon maritime transportation, seafood supply chains, ocean climate systems, ports, coastal ecosystems, or economic activities connected with the sea.

The relationship may be less visible, but it still exists.

Developing a maritime mindset therefore does not require everyone to become a sailor, fisher, marine scientist, or coastal resident.

It requires recognising that the sea matters.

It means becoming more aware of how maritime environments connect communities, livelihoods, cultures, economies, histories, and futures.

From Maritime Heritage to Maritime Awareness

Indonesia possesses extraordinary maritime traditions. But maritime heritage becomes especially meaningful when it continues to inform how contemporary society understands the ocean.

Traditional and Indigenous knowledge can therefore offer more than historical stories. It can remind wider society that relationships with marine environments have long been forms of knowledge in themselves.

Observing currents, seasons, weather, species, navigation routes, coastal changes, and marine conditions requires attentiveness developed through repeated interaction with place.

Such relationships demonstrate that maritime knowledge is not produced only inside universities, government institutions, or research organisations.

Knowledge also lives within communities.

It travels through generations.

It grows through practice.

And it develops through continuous relationships between people and their environments.

A Maritime Mindset for a Wider Indonesia

Perhaps one challenge for a large archipelagic country is ensuring that the ocean remains present in the minds of people even when it is not visible from where they live.

Indonesia’s maritime communities offer an important source of inspiration.

They remind us that the sea does not have to remain somewhere beyond the shoreline.

It can become part of how people understand connection, responsibility, heritage, livelihood, and belonging.

A maritime mindset does not require everyone to share the same maritime identity. Different communities will experience the ocean differently, and those differences are part of Indonesia’s richness.

What matters is maintaining an awareness that the sea is not simply the space separating Indonesia’s islands.

It is also one of the spaces that connects them.

Perhaps strengthening Indonesia’s maritime future therefore begins not only with ports, ships, policies, or infrastructure.

It also begins in the mind.

By listening to communities whose relationships with the sea have endured across generations, Indonesia can continue learning how maritime awareness might grow far beyond the shoreline—and remain present within the wider national imagination.

CitaNesia Reflection — Maritime Mindset

This reflection forms part of CitaNesia’s exploration of how maritime ways of thinking can grow through culture, knowledge, experience, and everyday relationships with the sea. It does not suggest that Indonesia has one single maritime identity; rather, it recognises the diversity of relationships through which people understand and experience the ocean.

Serial Punggawa Laut Episode 6: Ratu Kalinyamat: Penguasa Pesisir yang Menjaga Martabat Laut Jepara

The Queen Who Saw the Sea as Jepara’s Gateway to the World

This image is a creative illustration for storytelling and educational purposes.

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

This time, let us return to the northern coast of Java.

Our destination is Jepara.

Today, many people know Jepara for its beautiful woodcarving traditions.

But hundreds of years ago, Jepara was also connected to a very different world.

A world of ships.

Busy ports.

Traders.

Sea routes.

And powerful kingdoms.

In the sixteenth century, one remarkable woman stood at the centre of this maritime world.

Her name was Ratu Kalinyamat.

She is also known in historical traditions as Retna Kencana.

And she became one of the best-known female rulers in the maritime history of Java.

A Queen from the Coast

Ratu Kalinyamat ruled Jepara during the sixteenth century.

Her world was deeply connected to the sea.

From Jepara, ships could travel towards other ports across Java and farther across the Nusantara.

Goods arrived.

Goods departed.

Sailors brought news from distant places.

And political relationships could stretch far beyond the shoreline.

For Ratu Kalinyamat, the coast was therefore not simply where land ended.

It was where connections began.

When Jepara Looked Towards the Sea

Imagine standing at a busy harbour hundreds of years ago.

There are no container ships.

No cranes.

No engines roaring across the water.

Instead, you might see large wooden vessels.

Sailors preparing ropes.

Merchants carrying goods.

Craftspeople repairing ships.

And people waiting for news from distant ports.

A harbour like Jepara was a meeting place.

People from different areas could exchange goods, knowledge, languages and ideas.

This meant that a strong coastal community needed more than a good location.

It needed ships.

Skilled people.

Trading relationships.

And leaders who understood the importance of the sea.

Ratu Kalinyamat became remembered as one of those leaders.

When the Portuguese Controlled Malacca

Farther west stood another important maritime centre:

Malacca.

By Ratu Kalinyamat’s time, Malacca was under Portuguese control.

This mattered because the Strait of Malacca was one of the most important maritime routes in the region.

Ratu Kalinyamat became involved in attempts to challenge Portuguese power there.

Historical accounts record that Jepara sent forces to support an attack on Portuguese Malacca in the 1550s.

Years later, in 1574, another large expedition from Jepara sailed towards Malacca.

The campaign did not succeed in taking the Portuguese fortress.

But think about what organising such an expedition required.

Ships had to be prepared.

People had to be organised.

Supplies had to be collected.

Routes had to be understood.

And cooperation with other political powers had to be built.

That tells us something important about Jepara.

It was not simply a town beside the sea.

It possessed significant maritime capabilities.

A Queen, Ships and Networks

Sometimes history is told as though powerful rulers simply gave an order and everything happened.

But maritime leadership does not work like that.

A ruler cannot sail hundreds of ships alone.

Behind every maritime expedition are many people.

Sailors.

Shipbuilders.

Navigators.

Traders.

Commanders.

Craftspeople.

Farmers producing supplies.

Families supporting those who travelled.

Ratu Kalinyamat’s story therefore also invites us to think about the wider coastal community around her.

Maritime strength is rarely created by one person.

It grows from a whole network of people.

The Coast as More Than a Boundary

KawanCita, look at the edge of an island on a map.

We call it a coastline.

Sometimes a line looks like a boundary:

Land here.

Sea there.

But people living in maritime societies may experience the coast very differently.

A coast can be a doorway.

From Jepara, the sea opened routes towards other parts of Java, the Malay Peninsula and the wider maritime world.

This is one of the interesting lessons we can take from Ratu Kalinyamat.

The coastline did not have to mean:

“This is where our world ends.”

It could mean:

“This is where our journey begins.”

A Legacy Beyond Ships and Battles

Ratu Kalinyamat’s story is not remembered only through maritime conflict.

Jepara also preserves cultural heritage associated with her era.

One important example is the Mantingan Mosque, which dates to the sixteenth century and is closely connected with the history of Ratu Kalinyamat and Jepara.

This reminds us that leadership is not only about war.

A society also builds:

places of worship,

art,

architecture,

trade,

communities,

and cultural traditions.

Maritime civilisation is made from all of these things together.

What Can We Learn from Ratu Kalinyamat?

Ratu Kalinyamat’s story gives us several ways to think about maritime leadership.

Courage — being willing to face difficult situations.

Vision — seeing possibilities beyond the immediate shoreline.

Connection — building relationships across regions.

Capability — recognising that strong maritime communities need knowledge, people and infrastructure.

And perhaps another important quality:

Confidence.

Jepara was one coastal polity among many in the Nusantara.

Yet its leaders did not necessarily think of themselves as belonging to a small or isolated place.

They participated in a much larger maritime world.

CitaNesia Insight

Ratu Kalinyamat reminds us that a maritime mindset can begin with how we see the coast.

Is the coastline the place where our world ends?

Or is it the place where our connections with the wider world begin?

For maritime communities, the sea can be many things at once.

A place to trade.

A place to travel.

A place to build relationships.

A place to defend important interests.

And a place through which communities understand their position in the wider world.

Ratu Kalinyamat’s story therefore gives us three especially important maritime values:

Courage — being willing to face challenges.

Vision — looking beyond what is immediately in front of us.

Connectedness — understanding that a coastal community can participate in networks much larger than itself.

Her story also offers an important lesson for an archipelagic country:

A coast does not have to be a peripheral place.

Sometimes the coast can become the centre of connection.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine you are standing on a beach.

You look towards the horizon.

What do you see?

Only water?

Or do you imagine all the places that might exist beyond it?

Another island.

Another community.

Another culture.

Another story.

Perhaps that is one small way to develop a maritime mindset.

Instead of seeing the sea as the end of our world, we can begin to see it as a pathway towards other worlds.

That is one lesson we can carry from Ratu Kalinyamat and the maritime history of Jepara:

The shoreline is not always where the story ends.

Sometimes it is where the story begins.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.

Serial Punggawa Laut Episode 5: Sultan Nuku: Penggerak Armada Persatuan dari Timur Nusantara

The Sultan Who Built Alliances Across the Eastern Seas

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

This time, let us travel once again to the beautiful islands of Maluku.

But we are travelling to a different time and meeting a different maritime leader.

Our destination is Tidore.

And our story takes us to the late eighteenth century, more than two hundred years after the time of Sultan Baabullah.

There, among islands surrounded by busy seas, lived a prince who would spend many years resisting foreign control and bringing communities together across a vast maritime world.

His name was Nuku.

He would later become known as Sultan Nuku of Tidore.

A Prince Who Refused to Give Up

Nuku was born into the royal family of Tidore.

His father was Sultan Jamaluddin.

But this was a difficult period for the Sultanate.

European colonial powers had become deeply involved in the politics and spice trade of Maluku, and Dutch influence increasingly affected the affairs of Tidore.

Nuku refused to simply accept this situation.

Around 1780, he emerged as an important leader of resistance.

But there was one big problem.

Nuku did not initially control Tidore itself.

So how could a prince without a secure capital continue a struggle against a powerful colonial company?

This is where his story becomes especially interesting.

He built connections.

The Sea Became His Network

Look at a map of eastern Indonesia.

You will see islands everywhere.

Tidore.

Halmahera.

Seram.

Raja Ampat.

And farther east, Papua.

To someone who thinks only about land, these places may appear separated.

There is water between them.

But Nuku understood the maritime world differently.

The sea could connect them.

He travelled through these maritime networks and gathered supporters from different communities.

Historical accounts describe support connected with Raja Ampat, eastern Seram, parts of Halmahera, and Papua.

His struggle therefore did not depend on only one island.

It grew through relationships across many islands.

Boats carried people.

Boats carried messages.

Boats carried supplies.

And, perhaps most importantly, the sea allowed alliances to grow.

Imagine Leading Without a Telephone

KawanCita, imagine something for a moment.

You want to bring people together across many islands.

But there is:

No telephone.

No internet.

No aeroplane.

No instant messaging.

You cannot simply create a group chat and write:

“Everyone, meeting tomorrow at 9!”

You have to sail.

Messages may take days or longer to arrive.

Weather can change.

The sea can become rough.

And communities may have different interests and leaders.

Yet Nuku managed to maintain relationships across this enormous maritime space for many years.

That required more than bravery.

It required communication, trust, patience and strategy.

Friends in Different Places

Nuku also understood something that good leaders often understand:

Sometimes we need allies.

His supporters did not all come from exactly the same place or background.

Different communities joined his wider struggle at different times.

Nuku also developed relationships with English traders and later benefited from British support as he challenged Dutch power in the region.

This makes his story particularly interesting.

He was not simply fighting battles.

He was navigating a complicated world of:

local communities,

island rulers,

trading networks,

European powers,

and changing alliances.

A good maritime leader had to understand all of them.

Returning to Tidore

Nuku’s struggle lasted for many years.

There were successes.

There were setbacks.

There were moments when his position became weaker.

But he continued.

Eventually, his alliances and persistence helped him regain Tidore.

By 1797, Nuku had established himself as Sultan of Tidore.

After so many years of struggle, he had returned not simply as a prince seeking a throne, but as a leader supported by a broad maritime network.

He continued ruling until his death in 1805.

Today, Sultan Nuku is remembered as one of Indonesia’s National Heroes.

A Kingdom Larger Than One Island

Here is something very important about the story of Tidore.

When we hear “Sultanate of Tidore”, we might imagine only the small island of Tidore.

But historically, Tidore’s relationships extended much farther.

Its political and cultural connections reached parts of Halmahera, Seram, Raja Ampat and Papua.

This helps us understand something important about maritime history.

A maritime kingdom does not always look like a large block of land on a map.

Its world can be made of routes and relationships.

One island connects with another.

One community communicates with another.

One harbour opens a pathway towards another sea.

The water between them is not necessarily an empty space.

The water is part of the network.

What Made Sultan Nuku Strong?

Was it simply because he had ships?

No.

Was it simply because he could fight?

No.

Nuku’s strength also came from his ability to maintain relationships.

His story highlights several qualities:

Persistence — he continued his struggle for many years despite setbacks.

Strategy — he understood that different situations required different approaches.

Alliance-building — he brought together communities across a wide maritime area.

Adaptability — he worked within a complicated world of changing political relationships.

Maritime knowledge — he understood that islands and seas formed an interconnected political landscape.

These are very different forms of strength.

CitaNesia Insight

Sultan Nuku’s story teaches us something especially important about a maritime mindset:

You do not always become stronger by standing alone.

Sometimes strength comes from knowing how to connect.

An island may be small.

But connect it with another island, and the network becomes larger.

Connect communities.

Share knowledge.

Build trust.

Maintain relationships.

Suddenly, distance does not necessarily mean isolation.

This was one of the remarkable features of Nuku’s maritime world.

The seas of eastern Nusantara did not merely surround his struggle.

They made his network possible.

His story therefore gives us four important maritime values:

Persistence — keep moving even when the journey becomes difficult.

Connection — recognise that relationships can cross seas and distances.

Strategy — think carefully rather than relying only on strength.

Unity in diversity — people from different communities can work together when they find a shared purpose.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine you have a very difficult problem.

Would you rather solve everything completely alone?

Or could you ask:

“Who might know something that I don’t?”

“Who could help?”

“And what could I contribute in return?”

Asking for help does not necessarily make us weaker.

Sometimes knowing how to build a good team is itself a form of leadership.

That may be one of the most interesting lessons we can learn from Sultan Nuku.

He lived in a world of many islands.

Many communities.

Many interests.

And many challenges.

Yet he understood that the spaces between islands did not have to keep people apart.

The sea could become the pathway that brought them together.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values, and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.

Serial Punggawa Laut Episode 4: Sultan Baabullah Penguasa Laut dari Ternate

The Sultan Who Defended the Spice Islands

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

This time, let us travel to the eastern part of the Nusantara.

Far across the sea, among the beautiful islands of Maluku, there was once a powerful maritime kingdom called Ternate.

The islands were small.

But their importance was enormous.

Why?

Because they were home to something the world greatly desired:

spices.

Cloves from Maluku travelled across the seas and reached distant lands.

Ships came from many places.

Traders arrived.

Foreign powers also came.

And in the middle of this busy maritime world stood a remarkable leader.

His name was Sultan Baabullah.

The Sultan of Ternate

Sultan Baabullah ruled Ternate during the sixteenth century.

He was known as a determined leader who understood that protecting his kingdom meant protecting not only the land, but also the surrounding seas.

For island communities, the sea was everything.

It was a road.

A source of food.

A trading route.

A connection between islands.

And sometimes, it was also a place that needed to be defended.

During Sultan Baabullah’s time, the Maluku Islands had become one of the most important centres of the global spice trade.

That brought prosperity.

But it also brought competition.

Foreign powers wanted access to the valuable spices and control over important maritime routes.

For Ternate, this created a difficult challenge.

When Foreign Powers Came

Among the foreign powers present in the region were the Portuguese.

Relations between Ternate and the Portuguese changed over time and eventually became deeply hostile.

Sultan Baabullah inherited a period of serious conflict.

Instead of giving up, he organised resistance.

But he did not act alone.

His strength depended on people.

Communities.

Allies.

And networks across the islands.

That is important.

Because defending a maritime kingdom spread across many islands could never be the work of one person.

It required unity.

A Struggle Across the Sea

Imagine trying to protect a kingdom made up of islands.

There are no highways connecting them.

No trains.

No cars travelling from one island to another.

The sea is the highway.

Messages travel by boat.

People travel by boat.

Food travels by boat.

And warriors travel by boat.

This meant that maritime knowledge was essential.

Leaders needed to understand routes, islands, alliances, and the movement of people across the sea.

Sultan Baabullah used these connections as part of a long campaign against the Portuguese presence in Ternate.

After years of conflict, the Portuguese were forced to leave their fort in Ternate in 1575.

For Ternate, this was a major victory.

Why Was Baabullah Called the Ruler of 72 Islands?

Sultan Baabullah later became associated with the title “Ruler of 72 Islands.”

What does that mean?

It does not necessarily mean that he personally stood on every island giving orders.

It reflects the wide network of influence connected to Ternate during his reign.

Across eastern Nusantara, political relationships were often built through islands, trading routes, alliances, tribute, family relationships, and maritime connections.

The sea helped hold these networks together.

This gives us an important lesson.

A maritime kingdom is not always shaped like a land kingdom.

Its strength can come from connections across water.

One island may be separated from another geographically, but maritime relationships can bring them together politically, economically, and socially.

The Spice Islands and the Wider World

There is something else fascinating about Sultan Baabullah’s story.

The history of Ternate was not happening only in one small corner of the world.

Maluku was connected to something much larger.

Spices from these islands travelled enormous distances.

They became part of trade networks linking Southeast Asia with other regions.

This means that communities living in relatively small islands could have enormous importance in global history.

Isn’t that amazing?

Sometimes we look at a map and think that a small island must also have a small story.

But maritime history teaches us otherwise.

A small island can sit at the centre of a very large network.

What Makes a Maritime Leader Strong?

Sultan Baabullah’s story is often remembered because of resistance and military victory.

But CitaNesia invites us to look a little deeper.

How could a leader maintain influence across many islands?

Physical strength alone would not be enough.

A maritime leader also needed:

Strategy — understanding when and how to act.

Unity — bringing different communities together.

Knowledge — understanding people, places, routes, and relationships.

Determination — continuing even when a struggle became difficult.

These qualities helped turn separate communities into a stronger network.

CitaNesia Insight

Sultan Baabullah reminds us that a maritime mindset can also be about understanding interdependence.

One island cannot always stand alone.

Communities depend on other communities.

Ports depend on maritime routes.

Trade depends on relationships.

And leaders depend on the trust and support of people.

Sultan Baabullah’s story therefore offers us several important maritime values:

Courage — standing firm when something important must be protected.

Unity — recognising that collective strength can be greater than individual strength.

Strategy — thinking carefully before acting.

Connection — understanding that islands become stronger when relationships across the sea remain strong.

His story also reminds us of something important about Indonesia.

The sea does not make islands isolated.

The sea can make islands part of a network.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine you are given one stick.

It might break easily.

Now imagine many sticks tied together.

Would they be harder to break?

Communities can be like that too.

When people stand alone, challenges can feel very large.

But when people cooperate, share knowledge, and help one another, they can become much stronger.

That is one lesson we can take from Sultan Baabullah and the maritime world of Ternate:

Strength does not always come from being the biggest. Sometimes it comes from being connected.

And perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons the islands of the Nusantara can teach us.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values, and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.

Serial Punggawa Laut Episode 3: Hang Tuah

The Admiral Who Connected Kingdoms Across the Sea

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

Long ago, around the fifteenth century, there was a powerful maritime kingdom called Melaka.

Its port was busy.

Ships arrived from many places.

Traders brought spices, textiles, ceramics, knowledge, languages, and stories.

The sea around Melaka was not empty space.

It was a great highway connecting people across the region.

And in this busy maritime world lived one of the most legendary figures of the Nusantara.

His name was Hang Tuah.

A Young Man with Courage and Intelligence

Stories about Hang Tuah describe him as brave, clever, disciplined, and deeply loyal.

He was known not only as a skilled fighter, but also as someone trusted by the ruler of Melaka.

As his responsibilities grew, Hang Tuah became associated with the role of laksamana, or admiral.

But being an admiral was not only about fighting battles.

Hang Tuah also travelled as a royal envoy.

That meant he represented Melaka when meeting people from other kingdoms.

Imagine that.

He had to understand how to speak carefully.

He had to know how to behave.

He had to protect the dignity of his kingdom.

And he had to build trust with people from faraway places.

This makes Hang Tuah more than a warrior.

He can also be remembered as a maritime diplomat.

The Sea as a Bridge

When we think about the sea, we sometimes imagine distance.

One island is here.

Another kingdom is far away.

Between them is water.

But for maritime communities, the sea can also do the opposite.

It can bring people together.

Ships carried goods.

Sailors carried knowledge.

Diplomats carried messages.

And travellers carried stories from one society to another.

Hang Tuah lived in this connected world.

His journeys remind us that the sea was not only a place for conflict.

It was also a bridge of civilisation.

Through maritime routes, kingdoms could trade, negotiate, exchange ideas, and learn about one another.

What Makes a Good Maritime Leader?

Imagine that you are asked to represent your community in another country.

What would you need?

Strength?

Perhaps.

But strength alone would not be enough.

You would also need:

Courage — to travel into unfamiliar places.

Wisdom — to know when to speak and when to listen.

Responsibility — because your actions may affect other people.

Trustworthiness — because others need to believe your word.

These qualities help us understand why stories about Hang Tuah have lasted for generations.

He represents an idea of leadership that reaches beyond physical strength.

A maritime leader may need to defend.

But a maritime leader may also need to communicate.

To negotiate.

To understand differences.

And to create relationships.

The Question of Loyalty

One value especially associated with Hang Tuah is loyalty.

Many stories describe his devotion to the Sultan of Melaka and to the kingdom he served.

There is also a famous phrase often associated with his story:

“Takkan Melayu hilang di bumi.”

It is commonly understood as an expression of confidence that Malay identity and culture will endure.

Over generations, Hang Tuah has therefore become more than a historical or literary character.

He has become part of wider conversations about loyalty, identity, leadership, and belonging.

But his story also gives us something interesting to think about.

What does it mean to be loyal?

Does loyalty simply mean following someone?

Or should loyalty also include responsibility, wisdom, and concern for the community?

These are questions that make the story of Hang Tuah continue to be discussed today.

A Maritime World Built Through Relationships

Melaka became important partly because of its position along major maritime trade routes.

But geography alone does not create a successful maritime centre.

People must also be able to cooperate.

Merchants need trust.

Leaders need diplomacy.

Communities need rules.

Visitors need places where they can communicate and exchange goods safely.

Hang Tuah’s story helps us imagine this broader maritime world.

A world in which ships connected ports, but relationships connected people.

CitaNesia Insight

Hang Tuah reminds us that a maritime mindset is not only about protecting the sea.

It is also about understanding connection.

The sea can connect different islands.

It can connect different languages.

It can connect different cultures.

And it can connect different kingdoms.

A strong maritime leader therefore needs more than courage.

They also need the ability to build relationships across differences.

Through the story of Hang Tuah, we can see three important maritime values:

Loyalty — understanding what and whom we are responsible for.

Diplomacy — building relationships through communication rather than conflict alone.

Identity — knowing where we come from while still engaging with a wider world.

Perhaps this is one of the most important lessons from the maritime history of Melaka:

The sea does not only separate people. It can teach people how to meet.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine you meet someone from a place very different from your own.

They speak differently.

They eat different foods.

They have different traditions.

Would those differences stop you from becoming friends?

Or could curiosity help you understand each other?

Hang Tuah’s maritime world reminds us that travelling across the sea often meant encountering people who were different.

Learning how to communicate across those differences was part of maritime life.

And perhaps that is still an important maritime mindset today:

Know who you are, but remain curious about the world beyond your shore.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values, and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.

Serial Punggawa Laut Episode 2: Cut Nyak Malahayati

The Admiral Who Turned Courage into Strength

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

Let us travel to the western edge of the Nusantara.

There, in Aceh, the land meets the wide Indian Ocean.

For hundreds of years, ships travelled through these waters. Traders, sailors, travellers, and powerful kingdoms crossed the sea, making Aceh an important part of the maritime world.

And from this maritime land came one of the most remarkable women in Indonesian history.

Her name was Cut Nyak Keumalahayati, better known as Laksamana Malahayati.

She was a woman who did not simply live beside the sea.

She became a leader upon it.

When the Sea Became a Place of Courage

During Malahayati’s time, in the late sixteenth century, the Sultanate of Aceh was an important maritime power.

Its position near major sea routes brought opportunity.

But it also brought danger.

Foreign ships arrived in the region, and competition over trade and influence could sometimes lead to conflict.

Malahayati lived within this challenging maritime world.

She had also experienced personal loss.

Her husband, who was also a military figure, died in battle.

Imagine how difficult that must have been.

She could have stepped away.

She could have allowed grief to stop her.

But Malahayati chose another path.

She turned loss into courage.

The Women of Inong Balee

Malahayati became associated with a remarkable group known as the Inong Balee.

In Acehnese, inong balee refers to widowed women.

Many of these women had lost their husbands in conflict.

But their stories did not end there.

They came together.

They trained.

They learned to defend their homeland.

And under Malahayati’s leadership, they became part of Aceh’s maritime defence.

The Inong Balee were not simply remembered because they were women.

They were remembered because they demonstrated something powerful:

People who experience loss can still find strength through solidarity.

Instead of facing their grief alone, these women became part of a community with a shared purpose.

Malahayati and the Ships from Far Away

One of the best-known stories about Malahayati concerns the arrival of Dutch ships commanded by Cornelis de Houtman.

In 1599, tensions between the Dutch expedition and Aceh developed into armed conflict.

Malahayati and Acehnese forces confronted them.

Historical accounts associate Malahayati closely with the conflict in which Cornelis de Houtman was killed.

Over generations, the story has often been told as a dramatic encounter in which Malahayati herself defeated him.

Whether every detail of the famous story can be reconstructed with certainty today, its place in Indonesian maritime memory is powerful.

Malahayati became remembered as a woman who stood at the centre of maritime leadership during a difficult period in Aceh’s history.

And that alone makes her extraordinary.

Can a Woman Lead at Sea?

Imagine being a child living hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps you had been told that certain jobs belonged only to men.

Then imagine seeing Malahayati.

A woman giving commands.

A woman organising maritime defence.

A woman leading people.

A woman standing in one of the most demanding spaces of her time.

The sea did not ask whether she was a man or a woman.

Leadership depended on something else:

knowledge, courage, responsibility, and the ability to bring people together.

Malahayati’s story reminds us that maritime history was not created only by kings, male sailors, explorers, and soldiers.

Women were there too.

They led.

They organised.

They protected communities.

And they helped shape the maritime history of the Nusantara.

Strength Does Not Mean Having No Sadness

There is another lesson in Malahayati’s story.

Sometimes we imagine courageous people as people who never feel afraid, sad, or hurt.

But courage does not necessarily mean living without those feelings.

Malahayati experienced loss.

The women of Inong Balee experienced loss too.

Their strength did not come from pretending that nothing painful had happened.

It came from continuing to move forward.

Together.

That is a different kind of strength.

What Does Malahayati Teach Us About Maritime Mindset?

When we hear the words maritime strength, we might immediately imagine:

big ships,

powerful fleets,

weapons,

ports,

or naval forces.

But CitaNesia invites us to look deeper.

Behind every ship are people.

Behind every maritime community are relationships.

And behind strong relationships are values.

Malahayati’s story highlights three of them:

Courage — facing difficult situations even when we are afraid.

Solidarity — standing together rather than facing challenges alone.

Dignity — understanding that people and communities have something worth protecting.

These values can also form part of a maritime mindset.

CitaNesia Insight

Laksamana Malahayati reminds us that a maritime mindset is not only about knowing how to sail or understanding the ocean.

It can also grow from the way people respond to difficult circumstances.

Loss can become solidarity.

Uncertainty can become courage.

And individuals can become leaders when they recognise that others need them.

Malahayati’s maritime world was very different from ours today.

Most of us will never command a fleet.

We may never stand on a ship facing an approaching enemy.

But we will all experience our own waves.

Sometimes the waves are disappointment.

Sometimes they are uncertainty.

Sometimes they are change.

And sometimes they are loss.

The lesson is not that we should become warriors.

The lesson is that a difficult wave does not always have to make us sink.

Sometimes it can teach us how to stand together.

Sometimes it can teach us how to lead.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine that one of your friends is going through a difficult time.

Would being brave mean telling them not to feel sad?

Or could being brave mean staying beside them and helping them move forward?

That is something we can learn from the story of Malahayati and the Inong Balee:

strength can grow when people support one another.

The sea may bring powerful waves.

But people do not always have to face them alone.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values, and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.

Serial Punggawa Laut: Episode 1 Ratu Sima

The Queen Who Taught a Kingdom to Be Honestejujuran dari Pesisir Jawa

Hello, Friends of Cita & Nesia!

Long, long ago, on the northern coast of Java, there was a kingdom called Kalingga.

It was a place close to the sea.

Ships travelled across the waters. Traders came from distant places. People carried goods, stories, languages, and new ideas from one harbour to another.

And in this busy maritime kingdom lived a remarkable ruler.

Her name was Queen Sima, or Ratu Sima.

Ratu Sima was known for something very important.

She believed that a strong kingdom needed honest people.

Not only honest traders.

Not only honest citizens.

But also honest leaders.

And there is an old story about her that has been remembered for generations.

The Mysterious Bag of Gold

One day, a visitor wanted to find out whether the people of Kalingga were really as honest as everyone said.

So, he placed a bag filled with gold beside a road.

Then he waited.

People walked past it.

Some may have noticed it.

Some may have wondered who had left it there.

But nobody took it.

One day passed.

Then another.

And another.

Still, the bag remained in the same place.

Imagine that!

A bag of gold sitting beside a busy road, and nobody carried it home.

Why?

Because the people knew that something that did not belong to them should not be taken.

Then one day, someone from the royal family passed along the road.

By accident, his foot touched the bag.

When Ratu Sima heard what had happened, she faced a difficult decision.

Should she ignore it because the person belonged to her own family?

Ratu Sima said no.

Rules could not be only for ordinary people.

A leader and her family also had to respect them.

According to the story, Ratu Sima first ordered a very serious punishment. After discussion with her advisers, the punishment was directed only towards the foot that had touched the bag.

The story may sound very strict to us today.

But the message remembered through generations is much simpler:

Honesty matters, even when nobody is watching.

What Does This Have to Do with the Sea?

You might be wondering:

“Cita, Nesia, this is a story about a bag of gold. Where is the ocean?”

Good question!

Kalingga was part of a world connected through the sea.

Ships could carry spices, ceramics, textiles, food, and many other things.

But successful maritime connections needed something else too.

Trust.

Imagine being a trader arriving by ship in a place you had never visited before.

Would you feel comfortable trading with people you could not trust?

Would you return to a harbour where agreements were often broken?

Probably not.

Ships and ports may connect places physically, but trust connects people.

That is why values such as honesty, fairness, and responsibility can also be part of a maritime society.

A Maritime Mindset Can Begin with Character

Sometimes, when we hear the words maritime nation, we imagine big ships, busy ports, fishing boats, sailors, or naval fleets.

Those things are certainly part of a maritime world.

But CitaNesia invites us to look a little deeper.

A maritime society is also made of people.

And people bring their values wherever they go.

They bring them onto boats.

Into markets.

Across harbours.

Into communities.

And into the decisions they make.

Ratu Sima’s story reminds us that maritime strength is not only about how many ships a country has.

It can also be about the character of the people who live within that maritime world.

CitaNesia Insight

Ratu Sima’s story gives us a simple but powerful lesson:

A maritime mindset is not only about understanding the sea. It is also about developing the values that allow people to live, trade, travel, and work together across it.

Honesty creates trust.

Trust strengthens relationships.

And strong relationships help connect communities across islands and seas.

Indonesia’s maritime story, therefore, is not only a story of ships, ports, sailors, and oceans.

It is also a story of people and values.

Perhaps that is one of the most important things we can learn from Ratu Sima.

The sea connects our islands.

Character helps connect our people.

A Little Question for KawanCita

Imagine you found something valuable that did not belong to you.

What would you do?

And why do you think honesty is important when people live and work together?

Maybe the first step towards developing a maritime mindset begins with something very small:

learning how to become someone others can trust.

— Cita & Nesia

Part of CitaNesia’s Serial Punggawa Laut, sharing stories of people, values, and ideas that have shaped the maritime world of the Nusantara.