{"id":84591,"date":"2026-04-26T17:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/84591\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T17:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:37:29","slug":"indonesia-shuts-down-malacca-strait-toll-talk-distancing-from-hormuz-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/84591\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia Shuts Down Malacca Strait Toll Talk, Distancing From Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indonesia sought to reassure the international shipping community they will not have another potential \u201cpay-to-pass\u201d scenario<\/a> on their hands at the Strait of Malacca.<\/p>\n

Indonesia<\/a>\u2019s top foreign diplomat said the country will not pursue tolls on ships passing through the strait, seeking to calm concerns after its finance minister floated the idea at a symposium in Jakarta earlier this week.<\/p>\n

More from WWD<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a trading nation, Indonesia supports freedom of navigation and expects open sea lanes,\u201d Indonesian foreign minister Sugiono said Thursday. \u201cIndonesia is not in a position to impose such charges\u2014that would not be appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day prior, finance minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa questioned whether it was \u201cright or wrong\u201d that Indonesia does not charge tolls on vessels transiting the waterway, which runs between the country\u2019s largest territory, Sumatra, and peninsular Malaysia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we split it three ways between Indonesia, Malaysia<\/a> and Singapore, that could be quite something, right?\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

The idea of a toll was floated as Iran has reportedly installed a tool booth system for ships seeking the Strait of Hormuz. The Hormuz, which is a supply chain chokepoint that typically harbors the transit of 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas supply on a given day, has seen a fraction of traffic<\/a> pass through due to safety concerns stemming from the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

Iranians have reportedly charged as much as $2 million for some commercial vessels to travel through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>. That\u2019s on top of the concerns shipowners and crews already have regarding a potential attack.<\/p>\n

But the Strait of Malacca would have much wider implications from a cargo trade standpoint, with the Ports of Singapore<\/a> and Malaysia\u2019s Tanjung Pelepas sitting at the channel\u2019s southern entrance. Another major regional transshipment hub, Malaysia\u2019s Port Klang, lies near the midpoint of the strait.<\/p>\n

An estimated 22 percent of the world\u2019s maritime trade passes through the 550-mile strait, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Malaysia\u2019s Marine Department said more than 102,500 ships, mostly commercial vessels, transited through the Malacca Strait in 2025, up from around 94,300 in 2024.<\/p>\n

Asia-to-Europe or intra-Asia trade lanes often go through the strait, and vessels carrying cargo from other apparel manufacturing countries including China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Myanmar are likely using the passage.<\/p>\n

A levy on Malacca traffic would be illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).<\/p>\n

\u201cIndonesia is in a position where, as an archipelagic state, it must of course respect UNCLOS,\u201d Sugiono said. \u201cHistorically, UNCLOS includes an understanding and an agreement that recognizes us as an archipelagic state, as long as we do not impose tolls or fees on the straits within our territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purbaya walked back initial concerns after Sugiono\u2019s comments, telling reporters Friday: \u201cI wasn\u2019t serious about it. We had never planned to charge a fee\u2026we understand our commitments to UNCLOS and we will uphold them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the Strait of Hormuz, it is not a constructed waterway like the Panama Canal or Suez Canal that is controlled by one country. The Strait of Malacca is primarily controlled and managed by the three states bordering it: Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n

As bordering states, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are legally obliged not to \u201champer transit passage,\u201d and there \u201cshall be no suspension of transit passage\u201d under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

Diplomats at Malaysia and Singapore have both taken a pro-free passage stance since Sadewa\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Malaysian foreign minister Mohamad Hasan told a forum on Wednesday that no unilateral decisions can be made about the strait, noting that Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand conduct joint patrols to ensure the waterway remains open.<\/p>\n

Vivian Balakrishnan, the foreign minister of Singapore, has said passage through the Malacca and Singapore straits must remain free and open, stressing that the city-state does not support efforts to restrict navigation or impose new costs on vessels using the route.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not have tolls. All of us are trade-dependent economies,\u201d Balakrishnan told CNBC at the Converge Live event in Singapore Wednesday. \u201cAll of us know it is in our interest to keep it open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balakrishnan said Singapore has told both the U.S. and China the city-state operates on UNCLOS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not participate in any attempt to close or to interdict or to impose tolls of traffic, maritime traffic, and overflight in this age,\u201d Balakrishnan said.<\/p>\n

Best of WWD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indonesia sought to reassure the international shipping community they will not have another potential \u201cpay-to-pass\u201d scenario on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12940,102,2073,30176,7391,30175,1876,101,10772],"class_list":{"0":"post-84591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-foreign-minister","9":"tag-hormuz","10":"tag-indonesia","11":"tag-malacca","12":"tag-malaysia","13":"tag-peninsular-malaysia","14":"tag-singapore","15":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","16":"tag-strait-of-malacca"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116472226940104653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}