A visitor from Singapore
Singapore's deputy prime minister and defense minister Tony Tan is paying an official visit to Indonesia. His counterpart, Defense Minister Matori Abdul Jalil, will be his official host. During his stay in Indonesia, Dr. Tan will meet with the president and vice president and a number of other senior officials.
Minister Tony Tan's presence is the highest-level contact on Indonesian soil that has taken place between Indonesia and Singapore since President Megawati Soekarnoputri succeeded Abdurrahman Wahid exactly a year ago. Since Tony Tan is a senior member in Singapore's cabinet, his visit offers a good opportunity for the two sides to discuss not only matters of defense cooperation between the two countries, but the whole complex of bilateral relations in the framework of the ASEAN family of nations as well.
During the weekend, a spokesperson for Singapore's defense ministry said that Dr. Tony Tan's visit underscored the close and friendly relations between the two countries. That should exactly be the theme in the number of conversations between the Indonesian officials and our Singaporean guests, because in all fairness it must be said that there is something wrong in the current relations between members of the ASEAN family of nations.
To see Singaporean leaders assuring their people that the water supply crisis that has arisen because of disagreement with Malaysia will be overcome, shows that the spirit of ASEAN brotherhood holds little meaning these days.
We should not allow Singaporeans to feel as if they were being besieged with no friends around. Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew even reminded his people that "the country has been through much tougher times in the 1960s and 1970s, when its very survival was at stake." Although Indonesia is currently bending under a host of problems, it is our duty as the largest and most populous country within the ASEAN family to stretch out a hand of friendship to Singapore. After all, we refer to our homeland as tanah air, our land and water.
Surely, we could use Dr. Tony Tan's visit to further discuss the possibility of Indonesia supplying water to Singapore. Although due to sophisticated technology Singapore could most probably be self-sufficient in supplying its water needs, a much more crucial point is at stake -- namely that Singapore should not feel alienated in the family of ASEAN nations since the rest of the family are idly standing by while it is facing a serious crisis.
Indonesia's offer to supply water to Singapore is certainly not meant to slight Malaysia because of that country's tough stance in expelling what it refers to as illegal Indonesian workers.(And then reversing that decision after Malaysian construction companies complained because many of them were rendered stagnant as a consequence of it.)
We should offer Singapore a helping hand because the very principle of ASEAN cooperation is exactly the moral obligation to help each other in times of crisis.
Therefore, it is important that Jakarta should make use of the present visit of Singapore's deputy prime minister, Dr. Tony Tan, to review all aspects of our bilateral relations and to come up with joint initiatives in order to improve the weakening sense of mutual cooperation between the members of ASEAN.