The Indonesian Confrontation By Zam

If you are below 50 years of age, please read these links very carefully. It is a quick eyewitness account by the eminent journalist Zam (Tan Sri Zainuddin Mydin) of the four year war which Indonesia launched against Malaysia from 1962 to 1966.  

Peninsula Malaysia saw the landing of some Indonesian saboteurs and infiltrators in Johor and elsewhere who were all captured.  Nothing much really happened on the Peninsula. It was a different story in Sarawak (and Sabah) where for four years there was real shooting along the border between our boys and the Indonesians.  The British SAS Regiment earned their "colours" in Sarawak during this time as well.  

What is more interesting (and quite terrifying 50 years ago) was that these Indonesian infiltrators  were welcomed by Fifth Columnists or 'musuh dalam selimut' who existed in Malaysia at that time.  Zam says they included PAS supporters.  It was a complicated time. 50 years ago there was a significant number of people who saw our future tied to Indonesia. 

When I was in lower secondary school in the early 1970s some of my friends spoke about this. Obviously they were repeating what they heard in their homes. In primary school during the 1960s another friend had lost his brother (who was in the Army) in the Indonesian Confrontation. He always had a frown on his face. 

Here is a picture of President Sukarno of Indonesia. He was a great womaniser. Here he is with Marilyn Monroe.    The story also goes that the Russians once filmed Sukarno in bed with a white woman. They wanted to use the film to blackmail Sukarno. To their chagrin, Sukarno offered to play the film in movie theatres throughout Indonesia - to show how great Bapak really was.

Although he launched a war against Malaysia, there is no doubt that Sukarno was a great man. We cannot deny Sukarno his greatness in winning  freedom for a 100 million Indonesians and giving them a sense of pride and nationhood that persists until today.  That itself is a great achievement.  The red and white UMNO flag is modelled after the 'Sang Merah Putih' or Bendera Negara Indonesia which itself reflects the ancient flags of Majapahit, Kediri, Aceh, the Batak lands and other empires in the Nusantara. 

Here is the link which I strongly recommend for your quick reading.

SAAT PALING MENDEBARKAN DALAM KONFRANTASI

Posted by Syed Akbar Ali