Contrary to what Farish A Noor says in his column , the Indonesians are no brethren of ours. This is amply proved by the deployment of their military to our territory in the Sulawesi Sea . Why are we in this sad state of affairs? The answer lies in the 22 years of narrow-minded policies perpetrated by the Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Umno.
The 'illegals' have now become a cause celebre for Indonesia, hence the clarion call 'Ganyang Malaysia 2' (Crush Malaysia 2). These illegals are the 'fifth column' . One wonders how many counter-intelligence operatives, commandos and other assets the Abri (Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia) has in place in Malaysia.
Make no mistake, the Indonesian psy-war campaign is coordinated with Malaysian websites being hacked and waves of anti-Malaysia protests in Indonesia with local television stations showing footage of demonstrators stomping and burning Malaysian flags.
The chickens have finally come home to roost, so to speak. Looking back at Umno-led thuggery, in 1996 there were efforts to bring into Malaysian public view the atrocities perpetrated by Abri in East Timor.
These efforts were stifled by the then deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob with the blessings Mahathir. Subsequent development saw participants of the Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor ( Apcet II ) in Kuala Lumpur - there to seek a peaceful solution to the East Timor conflict - being terrorised by the so-called 'Malaysian Peoples' Action Front' (MPAF).
As the conference was about to begin at Hotel Asia, a 400-strong group from the Umno Youth-led MPAF stormed the conference venue, broke down the doors and threatened participants present.
Police moved in about an hour later however, arrested the Apcet II participants who were held in police lock-ups for between one to six days. Then in January 1997 , four Umno Youth wing members were slapped with a paltry fine for trespassing, rioting and disrupting the conference.
The then newly-elected chairman of the Umno's youth wing, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had allegedly ordered them to disrupt the Apcet conference.
Who are the true patriots then? They are people like Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Malaysian prime minister. His strong support of counter-subversion operations to break up Indonesia and incorporate Sumatra into Malaysia is detailed in David Easter's article, 'British and Malaysian covert support for rebel movements in Indonesia during the Confrontation, 1963-66'.
Singapore's crucial role in sustaining the high tempo of Commonwealth military operations in Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo, meanwhile, is documented in The undeclared war: The story of the Indonesian Confrontation 1962-1 966 by Harold James and Denis Sheil-Small.
But Indonesia is bent on engaging in old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy. Like a 'dirty old man', the lust is there but not the capability . Indonesia does not have a power projection advantage. Indonesia desperately wants to assert rhetoric with bravado albeit with a broken navy .
The four F-16 fighter jets sent out by the Indons are, if anything, antiquated. They have a short radar range with an even shorter missile range. Indonesia has a grand total of 12 F-16s and none of them have spare parts.
The Indonesians have put a battalion of marines on standby for deployment. Do they intend to land and dominate the closest landfall, Ligitan and Sipadan? For this reason alone, Malaysia must not back down.
In the last Konfrontasi , it was the Indonesians who were 'ganyang-ed' with over 600 killed and over a thousand wounded. They were thrashed soundly and it will happen again if they do violate our territorial integrity.
If Indonesia overplays its hand, it should not forget that Malaysia is a member of the Five Power Defence Arrangements .
During the last Confrontation, there was no shortage of volunteers from all the races to defend Malaysia. Let's hope that the intolerance and discrimination inflicted over the past 30 years on Malaysians has not withered the patriotic spirit.
