Mr Gilang Kembara is a Research Fellow with the Maritime Security Programme (MarSec).

He holds a MA in International Relations, and a BSc in Business Management from the University of Birmingham. He has seven years of experience working as a Researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Indonesia where his research covers maritime policies; Indonesia’s foreign policies; Indo-Pacific strategies; as well as strategic and security issues. His research interests include Maritime Security; Maritime Safety; Indonesia’s/ASEAN’s Maritime Policy; and Strategic Studies.

Policy Reports

• Indonesian Navy’s Post–Defence Modernisation Challenges and Implications

  30 May, 2025

IDSS Papers

• IP25082 | Security by Design: Beijing’s Gradual Defence Pivot in Southeast Asia

  25 August, 2025

• IP24106 | Scaling up the Ladder: Expanding Indonesia’s Naval Defence Diplomacy

  18 December, 2024

• IP24075 | Countermeasures against China’s Maritime Militia Operations in the South China Sea

  20 September, 2024

• IP24038 | Revisiting EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy

  27 March, 2024

• IP24021 | Ensuring ASEAN Maritime Security Resilience

  04 March, 2024

• IP23072 | ASEAN States and the South China Sea Disputes: Going it Alone or Together?

  09 October, 2023

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Hook, Line and Cooperate: A Three-Staged Approach to Regional Fishery Cooperation” in Gilang Kembara, Nguyen Hung Son & Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, The South China Sea: The Geo-political Epicenter of the Indo-Pacific?. Singapore: Springer, 2025, pp. 81-92
• “The Peaceful Resolution of Territorial and Maritime Disputes” in Emilia Justyna Powell and Krista E. Wiegand, The Peaceful Resolution of Territorial and Maritime Disputes. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute , 2024, pp274
• “The Other Side of the Sea: How Indonesia Could Develop the Bay of Bengal” in Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury and Harsh V. Pant, Observer Research Foundation – Anchoring the Bay of Bengal in a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. Delhi, India: Durham University & Wiley, 2024, p.30-38

Op-Eds

• “Indonesia’s ‘thousand friends, zero enemies’ approach sees President Subianto courting China and US”, The Conversation, 7 May 2025
• “Indonesia wants an aircraft carrier. No one knows why”, ASPI – The Strategist, 25 March 2025
• “Indian Ocean Security and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy”, Asia-Pacific Bulletin, 18 October 2024
• Nusantara can unlock Indonesia’s maritime potential