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.