Konfrontasi Essay

BACKGROUND

1. Konfrontasi was a policy of confrontation by Indonesia from 1963 to 1965, in opposition to the formation of Malaysia from the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. While there was no all-out war, there were numerous raids by Indonesian volunteers on targets within then-Malaysia, which included Singapore. The Philippines were aligned with Indonesia due to its claim for Sabah. It broke off diplomatic relation with Malaysia, and did not participate in the hostilities.

POST-WAR DECOLONISATION

2. Prior to World War II, countries in South East Asia were colonized by European nations. Singapore and Malaysia were British colonies while Indonesia was under direct control by the Dutch. After the Japanese surrender in the Pacific, the British took over governance of Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesia proclaimed independence on 17 August 1945, two days after the surrender of the Japanese, with Sukarno declared as President and Mohammad Hatta as vice-president.

CAUSES OF KONFRONTASI

3. In the 1960s, several major events that took place in South East

The MacDonald House bombing occurred on 10 March 1965, at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building (now known as MacDonald House) along Orchard Road of Singapore, which was then part of Malaysia. The time bomb was planted by a duo of Indonesian saboteurs, during the period Konfrontasi. The explosion killed three people and injured at least 33 others. Within four days, Singaporean police arrested two Indonesian marines, Harun Said , then 21 and Osman Mohamed Ali, then 23, for the bombing. The two saboteurs had arrived in Singapore from Java at 11am on that fateful day, wearing civilian clothes. They had been instructed to bomb an electric power house but instead headed to MacDonald House. As they were in civilian clothes and had targeted a civilian building, the men were tried in Singapore for the murder of the three people who died in the blast. They were convicted of murder and hanged in