By Jonathan Manthorpe
Vancouver Sun (British Columbia, Canada)
On the streets of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta last week, dozens of vigilantes armed with sharpened bamboo poles set up barricades and demanded identification from every passing pedestrian, motorcyclist and driver.
They were looking for Malaysians and were threatening to impale them on the bamboo poles if they found any.
Fortunately, they did not.
This sinister incident stems directly from the bizarre story of Indonesia alleging -- absolutely erroneously -- that Malaysian authorities used images of a traditional pendet dance from Indonesia's island of Bali in tourism promotion ads.
But this silly squabble is a symptom of much deeper strife between Indonesia and Malaysia, which share a common language and ethnicity, as well as similar cultures. Not least of these problems is the arbitrary, often brutal way Malaysian authorities and the police deal with Indonesian migrant workers.
The darker side of the relationship can be seen immediately in the name of the vigilante gang. They are called Ganyang Malaysia (Crush Malaysia) and were founded in the mid-1960s by Indonesia's founding president Sukarno to fight against the formation of the Malaysian confederate state out of several former British colonies.
Sukarno roused Indonesia to a hysteria of fear about Malaysian expansionism and for years pursued a policy of threatened invasion of neighbouring countries.
The threat to regional security posed by Sukarno led to his own overthrow by the army's commanding general Suharto in 1966, with American backing.
With Suharto as president, it also led to the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. A prime aim of ASEAN, which 42 years later now includes all 10 countries of Southeast Asia, was to bring Indonesia into the regional fold and stop it being a threat to its neighbours.
There is no doubt that ASEAN has achieved much in its four decades, but as it prepares for the annual summit of leaders, who will be joined by government heads from India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in Thailand next month, the organization seems to have stalled.
Several member states are showing serious political fragility, and others are in the hands of authoritarian regimes which show no signs of embracing political, social or in some cases economic liberalization.
This ragged appearance raises questions about how effective or impressive the gathering of ASEAN and its four neighbours -- a potential G16 with great clout -- can be. It also puts a question mark over plans to turn ASEAN into a common market along European lines by 2015.
Ironically, Indonesia is not among the causes for concern. Since the ouster of president Suharto in 1998 Indonesia has defied gloomy expectations and become one of the region's most stable democracies with a good deal of economic and social forward momentum.
The fact that this year's ASEAN summit is to be held in the northern Thai coastal resort of Cha-am illustrates part of the story. The summit started in Pattaya in April, but was abandoned and ministers rushed for their limousines when the hotel was attacked by red shirted-supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thailand is now under the control of an increasingly authoritarian government of monarchists and the military, which is in a perpetual paralysing confrontation with the red shirts.
At the same time Thailand faces a continuing uprising by majority Muslims in its three southern states ordering Malaysia. There are disturbing stories of the government and the palace arming militias in the Buddhist villages of the three states. These are meant to be self-defence forces, but there are many reports of them acting as vigilantes against Muslims.
On its eastern border Thailand is in a military standoff with neighbouring Cambodia over the ownership of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple complex, a UNESCO world heritage site. At least nine soldiers on both sides have died in fighting since the confrontation began in June.
Despite attempts by the United Nations to bring democracy to Cambodia, the country remains firmly under the thumb of Prime Minister Hun Sen who was first put in power after the Vietnamese invasion in 1979.
Hun Sen's showed his disdain for any voice of authority other than his own when he lashed out last week at the Pre-Trial Chamber of the war crimes court trying former members of the Khmer Rouge for "killing fields" atrocities.
The Pre-Trial Chamber ruled that more former members of the Khmer Rouge should be investigated than the five now in custody and facing charges.
Hun Sen has always tried to limit these trials to a few chosen scapegoats. He warned last week that broadening the inquiry could lead to civil war, his usual threat when thwarted.
The Malaysian government got a nasty jolt last week with the news that Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party was conclusively dumped by voters after five decades in power.
Malaysia has been ruled by one party, the Barisan Nasional coalition, since independence from Britain in 1957.
And despite trying to tone up its image with the introduction of a new prime minister, Najib Razak, he is so tainted by murder, corruption, and arms deals scandals that a Japan-like experience seems certain.
Singapore, when founding father Lee Kuan Yew was more active, was the brains and backbone of ASEAN. Not any more.
Burma remains a grubby military dictatorship that is now an economic colony of China. Ruling communist parties in Vietnam and Laos resist change and no one has ever taken the Philippines very seriously. Brunei, an absolute monarchy, bobs merrily on its bubble of oil.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
They were looking for Malaysians and were threatening to impale them on the bamboo poles if they found any.
Fortunately, they did not.
This sinister incident stems directly from the bizarre story of Indonesia alleging -- absolutely erroneously -- that Malaysian authorities used images of a traditional pendet dance from Indonesia's island of Bali in tourism promotion ads.
But this silly squabble is a symptom of much deeper strife between Indonesia and Malaysia, which share a common language and ethnicity, as well as similar cultures. Not least of these problems is the arbitrary, often brutal way Malaysian authorities and the police deal with Indonesian migrant workers.
The darker side of the relationship can be seen immediately in the name of the vigilante gang. They are called Ganyang Malaysia (Crush Malaysia) and were founded in the mid-1960s by Indonesia's founding president Sukarno to fight against the formation of the Malaysian confederate state out of several former British colonies.
Sukarno roused Indonesia to a hysteria of fear about Malaysian expansionism and for years pursued a policy of threatened invasion of neighbouring countries.
The threat to regional security posed by Sukarno led to his own overthrow by the army's commanding general Suharto in 1966, with American backing.
With Suharto as president, it also led to the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. A prime aim of ASEAN, which 42 years later now includes all 10 countries of Southeast Asia, was to bring Indonesia into the regional fold and stop it being a threat to its neighbours.
There is no doubt that ASEAN has achieved much in its four decades, but as it prepares for the annual summit of leaders, who will be joined by government heads from India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in Thailand next month, the organization seems to have stalled.
Several member states are showing serious political fragility, and others are in the hands of authoritarian regimes which show no signs of embracing political, social or in some cases economic liberalization.
This ragged appearance raises questions about how effective or impressive the gathering of ASEAN and its four neighbours -- a potential G16 with great clout -- can be. It also puts a question mark over plans to turn ASEAN into a common market along European lines by 2015.
Ironically, Indonesia is not among the causes for concern. Since the ouster of president Suharto in 1998 Indonesia has defied gloomy expectations and become one of the region's most stable democracies with a good deal of economic and social forward momentum.
The fact that this year's ASEAN summit is to be held in the northern Thai coastal resort of Cha-am illustrates part of the story. The summit started in Pattaya in April, but was abandoned and ministers rushed for their limousines when the hotel was attacked by red shirted-supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thailand is now under the control of an increasingly authoritarian government of monarchists and the military, which is in a perpetual paralysing confrontation with the red shirts.
At the same time Thailand faces a continuing uprising by majority Muslims in its three southern states ordering Malaysia. There are disturbing stories of the government and the palace arming militias in the Buddhist villages of the three states. These are meant to be self-defence forces, but there are many reports of them acting as vigilantes against Muslims.
On its eastern border Thailand is in a military standoff with neighbouring Cambodia over the ownership of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple complex, a UNESCO world heritage site. At least nine soldiers on both sides have died in fighting since the confrontation began in June.
Despite attempts by the United Nations to bring democracy to Cambodia, the country remains firmly under the thumb of Prime Minister Hun Sen who was first put in power after the Vietnamese invasion in 1979.
Hun Sen's showed his disdain for any voice of authority other than his own when he lashed out last week at the Pre-Trial Chamber of the war crimes court trying former members of the Khmer Rouge for "killing fields" atrocities.
The Pre-Trial Chamber ruled that more former members of the Khmer Rouge should be investigated than the five now in custody and facing charges.
Hun Sen has always tried to limit these trials to a few chosen scapegoats. He warned last week that broadening the inquiry could lead to civil war, his usual threat when thwarted.
The Malaysian government got a nasty jolt last week with the news that Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party was conclusively dumped by voters after five decades in power.
Malaysia has been ruled by one party, the Barisan Nasional coalition, since independence from Britain in 1957.
And despite trying to tone up its image with the introduction of a new prime minister, Najib Razak, he is so tainted by murder, corruption, and arms deals scandals that a Japan-like experience seems certain.
Singapore, when founding father Lee Kuan Yew was more active, was the brains and backbone of ASEAN. Not any more.
Burma remains a grubby military dictatorship that is now an economic colony of China. Ruling communist parties in Vietnam and Laos resist change and no one has ever taken the Philippines very seriously. Brunei, an absolute monarchy, bobs merrily on its bubble of oil.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
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