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View all search resultsSingapore braces as Indonesia slaps back at neighbours
Singapore, in particular has been the target of sharpened rhetoric from Jakarta, with Indonesian officials warning pilgrims to avoid transiting through the city-state.
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President Prabowo Subianto (right) speaks with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan during a closed-door meeting at the President's private residence in Hambalang, Bogor regency, West Java on Oct. 28, 2026. According to the Presidential Secretariat, the meeting was held upon Singapore's request. (Courtey of Presidential Secretariat/Laily Rachev)
I
ndonesia's swipes at its neighbours are set to last as its embattled government tries to blunt criticism of its handling of welfare programmes, market regulation and persistent wildfires that have choked the region in haze.
Singapore, in particular has been the target of sharpened rhetoric from Jakarta, with Indonesian officials warning pilgrims to avoid transiting through the city-state.
Jakarta has also trimmed gas supply to Singapore with its energy minister saying "so-called brothers and sisters" should not lecture Indonesia on honouring contracts.
Singapore has tried to play down the spat and its foreign minister made a visit to Indonesia this week to meet President Prabowo Subianto.
But the city-state has also summoned representatives of companies suspected of having fires on their plantations in Indonesia.
Analysts say Jakarta's nationalistic rhetoric, which intensified when Singapore and Malaysia complained about the haze, will likely stay as long as Indonesia's woes remain.
Prabowo has often blamed foreign actors for problems and Singapore, with its majority Chinese population, is an easy target, said Yohanes Sulaiman, of Indonesia's Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani.
