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Issue of the day: Jet fighters, war boats ready to launch attack
Ryamizard Ryacudu - JP/P
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Ryamizard Ryacudu - JP/P.J. Leo
June 19, p4
Following maneuvers by Malaysian war boats and planes in Ambalat waters, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said he is ready with the Operasi Perisai Sakti (Operation Invincible Shield).
He said that Malaysian forces were frequently illegally entering Indonesian territorial waters located at the eastern coast of Kalimantan when the country was off guard. 'Now we have jet fighters ready in Makassar [South Sulawesi],' he told reporters on Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Ryamizard said that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is currently running the operation, which involves five jet fighters and three war ships, to attack the Malaysian craft.
Your comments:
News like this often gives one pangs and makes one tremble like a cat on hot bricks.
There are more vital maritime issues that must be addressed such as rampant piracy ravaging the Straits of Malacca and human trafficking.
It is my only hope that the TNI and President Jokowi's administration will not be easily tempted into a
tug-of-war with a neighbor simply because anti-Malaysian public sentiment is scoring high on social media.
Marsilla Dewi Cohen
It's time that the dominant regional power in ASEAN take action. We must show them who we are. Give them a lesson if they dare to push against us.
Arip
Maybe they can stop pirates as part of their duty.
Fire
It's nice to know that the art of diplomacy is not dead as far as the Defense Ministry is concerned. At which academy did some of these ministerial and former general dunderheads learn strategic planning and international communication skills? Hogwarts, perhaps?
As for the five jet fighters and three warships, if Indonesia does unilaterally attack Malaysian military targets in the long disputed area with such a 'vast array of weaponry', then just maybe she had also better be ready for a sizable and powerful retaliatory punch from Malaysia and international sanctions to boot.
At least calmer and more intelligent heads prevail within the Foreign Affairs Ministry itself and even the actual TNI commander Gen. Moeldoko has been advocating for diplomacy.
May cooler and more rational action win the day as saber-rattling can sometimes end up having some very nasty and unintended consequences.
Sinking an unarmed and unmanned fishing boat is one thing ' attempting to sink an armed and fully crewed warship is quite another.
May Ling Pfe
Only a juvenile and delinquent military leadership, whose members have never experienced a real war and who lead an organization that has come no nearer to a military conflict than a very minor UN role in Kosovo, could make such crass statements as this.
Indonesians who have educated and enquiring minds and an historical knowledge of world affairs need to find a democratic way of ridding themselves of these buffoons before the ridicule of the world is reinforced by a local holocaust; a holocaust that won't of course kill the buffoons, as they will be hiding away inside their Puncak villas, but innocent young kids from Depok.
Guerindo
Good for Moeldoko. Better to solve things with a clear diplomatic approach. Don't be too provocative, and that's the same for Malaysia as well.
Simba
