by: Christian Chau Lasa
Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation has been considered as one of the important events that shapes Malaysia’s history until now. At that time, the idea of merging Tanah Melayu, Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia was introduced by Tunku Abdul Rahman, first Malaysian Prime Minister and the process of the formation is still ongoing before it was formally declared on 16 September 1963. The formation of Malaysia received fierce opposition from Sukarno, first Indonesian president as he sees that the formation of Malaysia is a form of neo-colonialism by United Kingdom to strengthen its influence in Southeast Asia. As a result, on 20 January 1963, Subandrio, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister at that time declared the policy of Konfrontasi (confrontation) and Indonesian troops were deployed to infiltrate and attack Malaysia. Malaysia, saw the policy as a threat to its sovereignty, took counter measures by preparing its armed forces personnel with the help from United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the war between the two nations is not just about sovereignty. Instead, through the perspective of international politics, the undeclared war is a proxy war involving two superpowers at that time, the United States and Soviet Union.
As the confrontation emerges, the world was facing an ideological war known as Cold War after the end of Second World War. Cold War involves two parties: joint United States-United Kingdom-led Western Bloc which consists of capitalist countries and Soviet Union-led Eastern Bloc which consists of communist countries. The term ‘Cold War’ was used to describe the tensions between the two blocs as there is no direct armed conflict between them and only involving espionage and proxy wars in Third World countries as a show off strength. This makes the Cold War tension influences the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in which United States and Soviet Union supported either side. The confrontation become more obvious due to huge ideological gap between Indonesia and Malaysia. Malaysia’s pro-Western foreign policy saw the country aligned with United Kingdom, Commonwealth member states and also includes United States. Through this close relations, Malaysia signed Anglo-Malaysian Defence Agreement in 1957 and received military aid from United States after Tunku’s visit to the country in 1964. On the other hand, Indonesia pursues a pro-communist approach on its foreign policy although Indonesia is not a communist country during presidency tenure of Sukarno. The policy was created due to Sukarno’s anti-imperialist view in which he perceived Western nations as colonizer. As a result, he visited some communist countries like Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China, Cuba and Eastern Europe communist state. In fact, in terms of Indonesia’s domestic politics, Sukarno was friendly with the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) to consolidate his power. The ideological differences between two nations led to the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in which Malaysia were assisted by United Kingdom with the support from United States while Indonesia was supported by Soviet Union and China. Therefore, it can be said that Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation is a battle between capitalism and communism in Southeast Asia.
The 30 September tragedy (G30S/PKI) and appointment of Suharto to succeed Sukarno as President of Indonesia reduced the degree of conflict. After a series of peace agreements signed between two countries, the confrontation finally came to an end on 11 August 1966.
In conclusion, Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation is a manifestation of capitalism-communism global rivalry and not just merely a sovereignty issue. The ideological differences, if not tackled properly, will lead to diplomatic crisis and worst, the eruption of war. It is hoped that our leader should be more cautious and be wise on establishing foreign policy to preserve the nation’s sovereignty and at the same time preventing war from happen.
References:
Ali Maksum & Reevany Bustami. (2014). The 1965 coup and reformasi 1998: two critical moments in Indonesia-Malaysia relations during and after the Cold War. SpringerPlus, 3(1), 1-9.
Azlizan Mat Enh, Zubaidah VP Hamzah, Mohd. Samsudin, Rupawan Ahmad, Farah Afizah Yacob & Nadiah Yunos. (2010). Kajian Perbandingan Dasar Luar Malaysia dengan Yugoslavia Era Perang Dingin (pp. 159-172). Institut Pemikiran Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Universiti Utara Malaysia
Mohd Noor Mat Yazid. (2013). Malaysia-Indonesia Relations Before and After 1965: Impact on Bilateral and Regional Stability. In Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the Asia Pacific, Berlin (pp. 7-9)
Mohd Noor Mat Yazid. (2016). Indonesian Relations with the Eastern Europe, Soviet Union and China before 1965: Systemic and Domestic Factors. Review of European Studies, 8, 253.
Pamela Sodhy. (1988). Malaysian-American Relations During Indonesia's Confrontation against Malaysia, 1963-66. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 111-136.
Namri Sidek. (2018, 16 Ogos). Sejarah ‘Zaman Konfrontasi’ Malaysia -Indonesia. Iluminasi, Diambil dari https://iluminasi.com/bm/sejarah-zaman-konfrontasi-malaysiaindonesia.html
Comments