Posted on 06/26/2013 8:02:01 PM PDT by TexGrill
There is a new haze being generated by Indonesia – on whether it’s sorry.
First Indonesian ministers talked tough to Malaysia and Singapore, the two countries most hurt by the haze, with the harshest words aimed at their smallest neighbour.
One minister said there would be no apology to then hard-hit Singapore and another even called Singapore “childish”.
Then in a surprise turn of events, the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono apologised to Malaysia and Singapore, which went down well with his neighbours, but in his own country, not so much.
The latest, tough words again. This time from the President himself, quoted in the Jakarta Post headline yesterday, “Indonesia is not afraid of Malaysia or Singapore.”
All in the space of seven days.
Yudhoyono told the media in a press conference yesterday that he monitored social media after he apologised to the Malaysian and Singaporean governments and noticed that people thought Indonesia was afraid of its neighbours.
The influential national daily quoted his response to this: “There is no any sovereign state that should be afraid of other countries.”
It was quite a different tone when Yudhoyono apologised to the neighbours on Monday evening, when he said: “For what has happened, as President, I say sorry and seek the understanding of our relatives in Singapore and Malaysia.
“Indonesia had no intention to cause this. And we will continue to bear responsibility to overcome what has happened.”
That sparked an uproar in the media with Republika daily saying he had "hurt the people", and another, Media Indonesia, saying he had "dragged down national pride".
Politicians and the public decried the Indonesian head’s apology as submissive.
(Excerpt) Read more at themalaysianinsider.com ...
Whenever I entered a port in pirate areas I would question the docking pilot as to the status of piracy in the area.
A Singapore pilot told me, if we were boarded by pirates in the Singapore Straits, how to tell where the pirates were from. If the pirates were carrying machetes they were from the Malay Peninsula because firearms are strictly forbidden.
If the pirates had automatic weapons they from Indonesia and were off duty Indonesian navy. Never did find out how much of that was in jest.
Singapore banks have most of Indonesia’s money. They had better play nice. :)
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