The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsAnalysis: Indonesia, Singapore’s ties hit another diplomatic rough patch
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Prabowo Subianto (right) speaks with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting at the President's private residence in Hambalang, Bogor regency, West Java. (Courtey of Presidential Secretariat/Laily Rachev/Laily Rachev)
I
ndonesia and Singapore maintain a relationship best compared to that of siblings: deeply interdependent with shared strategic interests, yet periodically strained by sharp divergences in perspective.
When Singapore’s extraterritorial investigations into companies linked to Indonesian forest fires and transboundary haze provoked fierce indignation in Jakarta, a critical question resurfaced: How far is the Indonesian government willing to push back before national pride compromises a partnership that transcends any single dispute?
The friction escalated rapidly after Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) issued legal notices to 10 firms operating in Indonesia suspected of involvement in land-clearing fires. Rather than treating the inquiry as an environmental or technical issue, several Indonesian cabinet officials framed the initiative as an affront to sovereign authority, channeling a resurgent wave of resource nationalism to signal Jakarta’s refusal to be policed by its smaller but wealthier neighbor.
This nationalist fervor spilled over into strategic energy policy. Following a plenary cabinet meeting on Oct. 21, Coordinating Energy Transition Minister Bahlil Lahadalia announced that Indonesia would curtail natural gas exports to Singapore by 31 billion British thermal units per day (BBTUD), approximately 8 percent of its pipeline supply to the city-state. While Bahlil framed the policy as a constitutional mandate to prioritize domestic energy sovereignty within contractual thresholds, the timing was unmistakable.
Adopting a combative stance, Bahlil demanded "mutual respect" from Singapore and pointedly declared that Jakarta would review all bilateral energy contracts, leveraging Indonesia's vital natural endowments as an instrument of geopolitical leverage.
This assertion of economic independence quickly permeated other portfolios. Deputy Haj and Umrah Minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, known as a hardline supporter of President Prabowo Subianto, urged Indonesian pilgrims to bypass regional transit hubs like Singapore and Malaysia in favor of direct flights on domestic carriers such as Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air.
Framed as a patriotic imperative to retain capital and bolster national aviation, the move reflected an administration eager to flex its domestic muscle. The rhetoric peaked when Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid clashed publicly with former Singaporean lawmaker Calvin Cheng.
