The Singapore connection

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's working visit to Jakarta earlier this month marks the beginning of an era of Indonesia's reinvigorated bilateral relations with Singapore. To say that Singapore, as a hub of modernity in Southeast Asia, is of the utmost importance for the progress of the region and particularly of Indonesia -- and that a stable and developing Indonesia is of strategic importance to Singapore -- is to spell out a redundant geopolitical reality.

That reality, after all, is why quite early on, at the beginning of Gen. Soeharto's New Order administration in 1966, one of the first moves he made was to terminate the so-called konfrontasi (confrontation) policy toward Singapore and gradually repair the damaged bilateral relations.

In practice, however, the geopolitical truism that both countries need each other has been difficult to realize. All sorts of psychological handicaps have stood in the way of elevating relations between Singapore and Indonesia and, for that matter, with other countries in the region. President B.J. Habibie's emotional remark that Singapore was just "a red dot on the map" was perhaps a fitting expression of what has long been in the subconscious of many Indonesians.

Indeed, Singapore's astounding success in its modernization efforts, which prompted Newsweek in a recent edition to refer to the island state as the regional bank of Southeast Asia, also raises a dilemma. On the one hand, sober-minded leaders in Jakarta realize that given the swift-moving globalization process, Singapore, with its modern and sophisticated financial facilities and wide-ranging information network, could be helpful in pushing development in Indonesia. This is especially true since Indonesia has much to catch up with in the wake of the 1997 monetary crisis and the recent political upheavals triggered by reformation efforts.

Be that as it may, it is no exaggeration to say that a new historical era has dawned in this region with the emergence of new leadership in Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. It is in this context that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's recent visit to Jakarta cannot be viewed as an ordinary working visit by a newly installed head of government to a neighboring country. The buzzword here is "opportunity," in the sense that this new historical stage opens up a host of opportunities that beg to be seized -- without, of course, underestimating the difficulties that remain.

It seems that Prime Minister Lee is seriously trying to erase the long prevailing perception of Singapore as a country that is intent merely on cultivating its self-interests. He has stated that it is in Singapore's "fundamental interest that our relations with Indonesia are good and that Indonesia is stable and prosperous and thriving and at peace with the region".

The setting up of a joint cooperation council is apparently, in this context, in the offing to take on existing opportunities in the fields of trade, investment, civil air transport, science and technology. As far as we remember, a similar joint commission was set up as a result of a meeting between prime minister Goh Chok Tong and president Megawati Soekarnoputri on the island of Batam near the end of 2003. As far as we know, however, that commission made little progress as neither side could agree on formulating the terms of reference.

We hope that, this time, the common strategic outlook, as displayed by both President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is also well-perceived by senior officials on both sides, so that the proposed joint council can indeed be functional. A binding and extensive plan of cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore obviously cannot be realized in one visit.

On the Indonesian side, many things have to be put in order to maximize the benefits of cooperation with Singapore. On the Singaporean side, the new leadership, as epitomized by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, needs to push the younger generation to pay greater attention to the region, especially Indonesia as the largest archipelagic state in the world. In the meantime, the world is moving on. We who live in this region need to step up the pace of our efforts so that we are not left too far behind.