On Indonesia-Singapore relationship

On Indonesia-Singapore relationship

It is a fact that Singapore, a dot on the map of Southeast
Asia, is bordered by the fourth-largest country in the world. But
to characterize that dot as red, which Indonesian President B.J.
Habibie did a while ago, or to label it a Chinese enclave, as his
senior adviser Dr. Dewi Fortuna Anwar has done, amounts to
political and racial commentaries that go beyond stating the
geographically obvious. ...

They are unfortunate, unfair and indeed provocative. The
legacy of three decades of close bilateral relations, and of
happy co-existence as members of the ASEAN family, is eroded
every time uncalled-for remarks such as these appear.

... Why, then, is Jakarta casting aspersions on Singapore? It
could well be that the compulsions of Indonesian domestic
politics created by its economic crisis are weighing heavily on
its foreign policy choices. The city state, a neighbor as small
as it is close, is witnessing the fallout from that process.
However, as a sovereign and independent state, it is not going to
bow to the unwarranted pressure that is being exerted on it.

-- The Straits Times