2/12/2014

Wisdom in a tricky situation

The blow up on the naming of the Indonesian naval ship was, like many commented, a storm in a tea cup. Was it a tricky situation? I don’t think so. It was unnecessary and a throwing of tantrum at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. We are in a time when relations with our neighbours are extremely good and things can be sorted out over a cup of tea. To raise all the ruckus over this issue is bad judgement. Things have to dealt with wisely, from the right perspective, the right context and the right timing. Beating the drums and thumping the chest are not always the right thing to do.
 

Indonesia is blessed with several wise leaders in Yudhoyono and in Marty Natalegawa. They spoke wisdom. They could behave like young punks and responded with more tantrums as well and the situation could have blown out of proportion with both sides unable to fall back to a conciliatory mood. We benefitted from wise leaders, and this particular incident shows how valuable wise leaders to their countries and how they could affect their neighbours as well.
 

Yudhoyono cautioned against the slippery step of destroying a relationship built over the years without hinting at any signs of retaliation. Marty spoke calmly, like a wise man many times his age on the issue, without ruffling any feathers. That was not his intention. He explained that the naming of the ship was done without malice or ill intent. He needed not have to explain and neither does any other Indonesian leaders. And it would be even more embarrassing for our leaders if they did not back up their aggressive response with another level of provocations. Now Marty has given them an excuse to back down with some dignity. Let’s hope no one is trying another one upmanship to raise the temperature.
 

Thank you Marty. Indonesia and the region are blessed to have wise leaders like you and Yudhoyono in charge. Let’s hope the next president and his team will be as equally wise as your team today. The three candidates of Wiranto, Subianto and Wibowo are technocrats and highly educated and looking in the same mould as Yudhoyono. Indonesia and Asean have benefitted from Yudhoyono’s wise leadership and hopefully this will continue when the baton is passed to another wise leader.

22 comments:

oldhorse42 said...

It is true that the Indonesian leaders handled the situation much better than our leaders.
They tried to cool things down and did not even stop their pilots from participating in our air show.
our leaders are too trigger happy and fired the disinvite bullets too liberally.

Anonymous said...


love yourself &

be kind to others

Anonymous said...

Could we have this undoubted foreign talent Dr. Marty as our Foreign Minister? in terms of ability, experience in foreign affairs, he would beat Sham hands down.Whilst we see shadows at every street corner (pace the paper general) the Indonesians were calm in their response to the unprovoked attacks and insults. The irony is that they thought the chapter of Konfrontasi had been closed only to be resurrected by this little red dot. The flurry of photos of the bombing and lurid reporting by the MSM smacks of a concerted effort to raise the hackles here.

agongkia said...

Cannot afford to offend anyone but I have been praying hard that we can forget about this incident,and you people keep mentioning.
Uncle,can avoid this subject or not.
And please dun be a teng ah gee or ting tong and tai tai claim that we are a small but hot chilly.
Be wise and humble.
Nothing to do ,go and buy some toys to play but please do not play with fire and get me into trouble.
Like many,I need to go there frequently and I hope that my access there is smooth and safe like before.

Anonymous said...

Wow, saw the news when the Indonesia's foreign minister spoke last night. You must be scratching your head why our ministers lack EQ and handle the matters as though like how they handle the opposition party.

Anonymous said...

The game plan has just begins...

Raised the red curtain. Imprint days of rage to scare the sheep, create tensions and scare mongering.
Once the herd panic, go in for the kill...a prelude to 2016?

Anonymous said...

The ST devoted two pages on the MacDonald House bombing. What is the message?

Want to play with fire? Seow!

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

redbean:

>> Indonesia is blessed with several wise leaders in Yudhoyono and in Marty Natalegawa.

You named 2, where got "several"?

Indonesia is blessed with many more corrupt motherfuckers, but they also have delicious food and plenty of hot women to bang.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

They have so many ministers, if they have two good ones, there should be a few more good ones around. I am being generous.

You not happy?

Anonymous said...

U write as if u r privy to development behind the scene.... haha

What were the trade off... to enable the papigs quietly settle this fiasco n look they having the upper hands over the Indonesian

Knnccb... cum on, rb... give us your inside stories

Anonymous said...

The Psychology and Methodology of Governing a Country.

Government operating in a country are very much aware of the emotions that drive citizens (YOU)in their daily lives. They does and will take full advantage of the situation wherever possible. The effect is either a fearful or hopeful emotion.

The average citizen are intelligent people, but they have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to the underlying cause of such situations.

Anonymous said...

when it was revealed s'pore spied on indonesia for the americunts, the rhetoric from indonesia was much milder than now. real damage to indonesia was done in the spy issue. in this ship-naming case it was just hurt feelings.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@1132:

"Intelligence" (intellectual) has got nothing to do with emotions.

Humans are easily manipulated because they respond quickly to emotional stimulation.

If humans cannot be manipulated by emotions, then people like me will be out of business ;-)

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The basics:

3 Ways to manipulate people

More detail:

Emotional Manipulation

I am, of course available for consult :-)

Anonymous said...

LKY ideology is affecting the brains of our PAPigs.
Methinks they read too many LKY books.
Now some more they will be watching two musicals.
Guaranteed to go even more crazy very soon.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

If those boys and girls think they can act, behave and do what LKY did, we are in for some serious troubles.

They must know that there is just one LKY and time and circumstances have changed. What was right or ok is definitely wrong and not ok today.

Anonymous said...

I read that it was Singapore that cancelled the invitation extended to the Indons to the airshow.

The same treatment that they extended to Tan Cheng Bok.

Some people are born petty, obviously mentored in pettyism (if there is such a word) and seems to believe in it's effectiveness.

How fortunate that leaders of our neighbours, not of first world, are so diplomatic. How sad that a first world government cannot differentiate between wisdom and pettiness.

b said...

All politicians are evil not wise. If they are wise, they will not make their own people live next to rubbish dump, look for food in rubbish dump, make their own people prostitutes, exploited their own people for pathetic wages etc. Indonesians are better off living under dutch rule than rule by their own kind. They were also con by their own greedy kind to kick out the dutch.

Anonymous said...

http://www.republika.co.id/berita/en/international/14/02/12/n0uqtn-singapores-threepoint-agenda-over-ship-naming-issue

Anonymous said...

How true when you said Indonesia has wise leaders. Ours pale in comparison. Paper general Kee Chiu was made to look like a small kid uttering nonsense to adults. Maybe thinking that talking big will frighten them. Bloody clown !

Anonymous said...

LKY at 35 was unusually mature for his age. Many of the ministers in their 40s, 50s are still young and wet behind their years.

It shows. You can't hide immaturity in public.

Anonymous said...

LKY has a powerful wife. 100% smarter than him.