It has seldom turned out the way, it is turning out now.

And if it is supposed to act out the charter of its founding spirit; all states of the Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) nations should rightly be resolving outstanding issues in a mutually, amicable way.

But lately, what has been happening in the region reads more like a script people ordinarily reserve when the Cold War was in progress, or of when nations on opposite divides resort to tit for tat measures to get back at one another.

That just seems to be what is happening between Indonesia and Singapore over the issue of toxic waste an issue that should simply have not been allowed to escalate in seemingly acts of war by the defacing of embassy walls etc!

And if memory serves us all right, it is happening so very soon after Malaysia itself went through its own mill with Indonesia; characterised by the high-drama of warplanes and warships being sent to disputed areas around the Sulawesi sea.

But now the winds of confrontation are blowing Singapore's way and the spark that lit the tinder was a shipload of compost destined for the Indonesian island of Batam.

Apart from the effrontery of defacing the embassy gate, is the ingratitude Singapore feels when memories of the recent tsunami disaster; documented in full spectacle the almost unparalleled humanitarian instincts of Singapore.

On top of that, the statesman-like role Singapore played in hosting a tsunami summit should also be reason to know, that Singapore has always meant well for Indonesia.

And, like any other true friend she had never flinched from helping Indonesia whenever she is in need of such aid; as was during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when the republic committed money to help Jakarta tide over financial difficulties.

But now all those past memories are taking a somewhat different turn a turn towards some kind of deprecation.

Is goodwill reciprocated?

Because what is at issue here is a shipload of compost that Indonesian protestors at the Singapore embassy are charging as toxic waste - and not something as pernicious as spying or territorial invasion; the matter on the surface surely must be more than what meets the eye.

Happening as all these unhappy moments do, something may perhaps be rotten in the state of Indonesia.

First and foremost, it has come at inopportune times. The incidents are occurring so very soon after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had visited Malaysia and Indonesia where he was warmly received and where lots of goodwill was fostered, boding what was in the minds of people then to an infectious climate of goodwill.

But has it really turned out that way? It is a far cry to even imagine that.

Secondly, it is increasingly becoming common knowledge that the president's popularity is slipping in his country and that has been further fanned by the winds of discontent arising from the state's decision to raise fuel prices.

So in respect of all this, what these discontented parties and its media look to is create distractions away from the main issues, hoping possibly for these disaffected elements to find a real outlet for their grievances.

Yet other sources indicate that rivalry among the powers to be, is also what is that is keeping the Batam issue from continuing to simmer.

The issue as it risibly lays out; and which perhaps any expert on toxicity may point out, has much to improve the soil conditions in Batam and thus subsequently going to elevate the lot of its farmers in that island!

Primordial instinct

Yet that act of improving the lot of its people has fallen prey to adventurers, intent on turning it into political toxic to poison relations with states.

Now, nationalism or tribalism is always something that is easy to arouse and fan. And when it happens, it takes on a primordial instinct or resorting to the defacing of walls first; and then to something more provocative like raiding an embassy and holding hostages like how it was in Iran in 1979, with the US hostages.

So in such tenuous such as this what is called for is calmer heads and not irrational counter measures; potentially provocative and potentially confrontational-material.

The only way forward for both Indonesia and Singapore at this moment, it seems is to jointly agree to the appointment of an independent panel of experts who can accurately verify the true nature of the contents in the shipload of cargo destined for Batam.

That move saves time and puts to rest the seething cause of anger in the shipment. Importantly, it tells Indonesia that true friends like Singapore will always remain true to her and continue to embody the spirit that caused her to help during the tsunami crisis.

By also saving Asean, such a move will also serve to dilute the pangs of ingratitude Singapore presently feels about the issue, in its strategic goal of always continuing to be on good terms with its neighbours.

JAYA PRAKASH lectures in journalism at Beacon School of Technology.