Here is a news report that Indonesia is going to establish a Coast Guard. This is more evidence that the importance of an independent Coast Guard is being recognized. Interesting that Japan as well as the US are sited as being willing to help set up the new service. Japan’s Coast Guard of course, traces its roots back to our own, when the occupation forces under MacArthur were reshaping Japanese institutions. Clearly the Japanese have a vested interest in the security of Maritime commerce through the Straits of Malacca, but I had not previously heard of them offering security assistance and training. On the other hand, during WWII, then Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was about the only place where Japan’s vision of a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” actually seemed to be cooperative.