Transcript of Remarks on Indonesia-Singapore Relations by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof S Jayakumar in Parliament, 16 May 2002

Mr Chairman Sir, as both Dr Ong Chit Chung and Mr P Ravindran said, we attach great import ance to our relationship with Indonesia and our relations are excellent. Indonesia is one of Singapore's closest neighbours and a major trading partner. Actually, we have a deep and abiding interest in Indonesia's stability as a unitary state, its growth and prosperity. Indonesia is also strategically important to the region. Therefore, events in Indonesia, such as political strife or Islamic militancy, can have severe repercussions on Singapore as well as the other ASEAN countries. This underscores the importance of Indonesia, the importance of our bilateral relations and the impact of Indonesia in the region.

Both Mr Ravindran and Dr Ong Chit Chung asked about the cooperation on terrorism. Let me say that at the official level, our agencies are cooperating closely with the Indonesian authorities and providing them with the information to conduct their own investigations, and we had assured them of giving them access to the people that we had arrrested. But, I hope Members will understand when I say that our cooperation in such areas of counter-terrorism and intelligence cooperation have to be kept confidential.

Mr Ravindran asked what else can we do to nurture this relationship. It's a relationship that has been based on very strong fundamentals, especially the close personal and institutional ties built over some 30 years with Presidents, Ministers and officials.

Recently with President Megawati, we have also established good relations between her and our leaders. As you know, she was in Singapore soon after she was inaugurated as Head of State. We had good discussions with her and her delegation. Our Ministers have visited Indonesia, and vice-versa, and have had good discussions with their counterparts. They have also met at the sidelines of various meetings. There is also good contact between officials. I agree with Mr Ravindran that these are matters we must constantly nurture because there are new actors and personalities. It is not static and you have to keep working at it. And, I can assure you that my Ministry as well as other Ministries are very cognisant of this, particularly with Indonesia when we have so many new personalities at the centre as well as in other parts of Indonesia. For economic cooperation, I believe Minister George Yeo picked up on this when the cuts for the Ministry of Trade and Industry were discussed.

We do want Indonesia to recover economically, and to play a leading role in enhancing stability in the region. Therefore, we remain ready to help Indonesia within our limited capabilities as a small country. That is why we have said that we can play a catalytic role and find creative ways of assisting Indonesia's economic recovery. A good example was what Mr Ravindran mentioned, such as the extension of the US-Singapore FTA to cover Indonesian IT products. It is in these ways that Singapore, although we are small, can demonstrate that we have a deep and abiding interest if we want to work with Indonesia and that we will try to be helpful when we talk to other countries to generate in them an interest in Indonesia and its future.