• Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa floated the idea of imposing a toll for passage through the Strait of Malacca, but later clarified he was not entirely serious.
  • The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Asian policymakers to question the security of other maritime chokepoints, especially the Strait of Malacca, which handles about 22% of international maritime trade.
  • Political scientist Nikolaus Scholik warns that individual states are trying to legally dominate strategically important maritime straits, potentially turning them into geopolitical levers.
  • According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), geopolitics is experiencing a ‘return of geography’ where straits like Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, or Taiwan become strategic levers of power.
  • International law guarantees free passage through international straits, but political realities often override legal norms, as seen in the South China Sea where China ignored a court ruling.

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