diff --git a/SWIG/Lib/java/javahead.swg b/SWIG/Lib/java/javahead.swg
index 5e89b02e5..7c0e61412 100644
--- a/SWIG/Lib/java/javahead.swg
+++ b/SWIG/Lib/java/javahead.swg
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ typedef struct {
 %}
 
 %insert(runtime) {
-void SWIG_JavaThrowException(JNIEnv *jenv, SWIG_JavaExceptionCodes code, const char *msg) {
+static void SWIG_JavaThrowException(JNIEnv *jenv, SWIG_JavaExceptionCodes code, const char *msg) {
   jclass excep;
   static const SWIG_JavaExceptions_t java_exceptions[] = {
     { SWIG_JavaOutOfMemoryError, "java/lang/OutOfMemoryError" },