Singapore sting<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid may have his personal reasons for
\nmaking such stinging attacks on Singapore at the weekend, but he
\ncould have put them less bluntly and more diplomatically to avoid
\nundermining ties between the two countries. Instead, he may have
\ndone some irreparable damage to existing bilateral relations
\nwhich have been built and nurtured for over three decades.<\/p>\n
Some of his remarks, such as his suggestion that Indonesia
\ngang up with Malaysia to punish Singapore by cutting its water
\nsupplies, were totally uncalled for. Others, like his accusation
\nthat Singapore \"has underestimated the Malays\" were in no wise
\nsufficiently substantiated so as to be taken seriously. He may
\nhave been offended by the failure of the summit of ASEAN plus
\nthree (Japan, China and South Korea) to address the problems of
\ndeveloping countries, but that in itself was no excuse for him to
\nhurl insults at Singapore, who, after all, was playing host to a
\nmeeting whose agenda was worked out by the participants,
\nincluding Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Going by the President's remarks which he made before the
\nIndonesian community in Singapore on Saturday, he appeared to be
\nmost irritated by his encounter with Singapore Senior Minister
\nLee Kuan Yew earlier in the week, and not by the summit. The
\nPresident recalled how the elderly statesman had turned down his
\nproposal to bring East Timor and Papua New Guinea into the ASEAN
\nfold. But what really riled him the most was Lee's recent public
\nremarks that he thought the President would soon resign.<\/p>\n
Senior Minister Lee, whom Abdurrahman has named among his
\nimpressive board of international advisors, has somehow touched a
\nsufficiently raw nerve for the President to launch such a crude
\ntirade. This is an abrupt change from the way Abdurrahman has
\ntreated Singapore since the early days of his presidency.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman made Singapore his first overseas stop
\nshortly after his election to the presidency in October 1999. He
\nhas met Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan
\nYew on several occasions. One would have thought that their
\nrelations would be warm and cordial by now so that every problem
\ncould be addressed one at a time by them.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, Abdurrahman's tireless campaign to woo Singaporean
\ninvestors to Indonesia has not paid dividends. The administration
\nhad assumed that once Singaporeans start investing in Indonesia,
\nthe rest of the world would follow. This is attaching too much
\nhope and importance to the role that Singapore could play in his
\neconomic strategy, certainly more so than the Singaporeans could
\never hope to deliver. Singapore was never counted as being among
\nthe largest sources of foreign investment in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
With most investors, Singaporeans or anyone else for that
\nmatter, sitting on the sidelines waiting for the return of some
\nsemblance of stability in Indonesia, the President has come under
\nattack at home. His claims that his extensive foreign trips were
\nneeded to bolster investor confidence have started to ring hollow
\nand make him prey to criticisms. Undoubtedly, this lack of
\nforeign investment, particularly from Singapore, influenced the
\nPresident in making his scathing attacks at the weekend.<\/p>\n
What is not clear is where the relationship between the two
\ncountries is headed after this episode. We would like to think
\nthat this was simply another one of the President's emotional
\noutbursts, something which he is now famous for, and does not
\nhail a new approach in the way Indonesia deals with Singapore.<\/p>\n
Neither country can afford to let relations deteriorate. The
\nexperience of the last three decades has shown that the two
\ncountries have mutually profited from building harmonious
\nrelations. Precisely because of the warm and close ties which we
\nhave enjoyed, leaders of both countries, particularly President
\nWahid and Senior Minister Lee, must show greater sensitivity and
\nexercise caution when commenting on the state of affairs of the
\nother country.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/singapore-sting-1447899208",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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