S'pore delivers aid to Indonesia despite tension

S'pore delivers aid to Indonesia despite tension

SINGAPORE (Agencies): Despite delivery of the first batch of
Singapore's humanitarian aid for Indonesia, tensions between the
Southeast Asian neighbors appear to be strained.

The tiny city-state promised S$12 million (US$7 million) in
rice and medicine for its large neighbor earlier this month, as
food shortages and staggering economic difficulties shake the
world's fourth most populous nation.

According to The Straits Times, the first installment of
Singapore aid arrived in Jakarta Monday. It will be followed by
the visit of Singapore's Education Minister and Second Minister
for Defense Teo Chee Hean starting today.

But tensions between the neighbors have risen lately, with the
Indonesian government accusing its neighbor of not doing enough
to help.

President B.J. Habibie indicated his displeasure with
Singapore in an interview published yesterday by the Asian Wall
Street Journal.

"You see, a friend in need is a friend indeed," he said. "I
don't have that feeling from Singapore."

"I have that feeling from the U.S., from Japan, Australia,
mainland China, from Malaysia, from Europe, Germany. But I don't
have that feeling (from Singapore).

"They (Singapore) are pro-active in the negative direction,
and that, I feel so sorry for."

Teo will visit Jakarta for three days to meet Habibie and
other senior officials, and will attend a ceremony marking the
arrival of the humanitarian aid.

"Ties are not moving in the right direction," Tanri Abeng,
state minister of state-owned enterprises in Habibie's new
government, said in late June.

He was referring to the lack of progress on Singapore's
proposed trade finance plan for Indonesia, which was mooted last
year but has yet to materialize. The $3 billion program would
commit the Singapore government to guarantee payments of key
imports into the country.

But Habibie's special envoy, Iman Taufik, was quoted as
telling a news conference in Singapore Monday that the project
was stalled because Indonesia was having difficulty meeting some
of the conditions. He did not specify what they were.

Besides the proposed trade financing scheme, Singapore
committed $ 5 billion to the massive $43 billion Indonesian
rescue package orchestrated by the International Monetary Fund.

Habibie is irked by more than things said before he became
vice president, according to the Journal. When he took office on
May 21, he says, he received congratulations from a host of other
nations that day or the next.

Singapore, he said, didn't send theirs until "almost June,
very late." (In a letter dated May 25, Singapore Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong offered his "warmest congratulations" to Habibie
and "sincere good wishes that under your leadership, Indonesia
will restore social and political stability, and start on the
path of reform and recovery.")

After complaining about the timing of the Singapore note,
Habibie hastened to add: "By the way, I have a lot of Singaporean
friends. The Singaporean people are hard-working people, OK, and
real good friends."

Gesturing across the wood-paneled office, he pointed to a
relief map of Indonesia and the surrounding region mounted on the
far wall. "It's OK with me, but there are 211 million people (in
Indonesia)," he says. "Look at that map. All the green (area) is
Indonesia. And that red dot is Singapore. Look at that."