There is an interesting dynamic in the relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia (much like its relationship with Singapore) which needs to be studied seriously. The recent tussle over the Ambalat islands has proven yet again, if anything, how much these two countries are so interwoven and dependent on each other, even if only to divert attention from burgeoning domestic issues.

On Dec 26, 2004 Indonesia suffered one of the most devastating natural disasters in human history when the massive earthquake and giant tsunami wreaked havoc in Aceh, where upwards of 250,000 people died.

The massive scale of the disaster and the unexpectedness of the event notwithstanding, subsequent reports have shown that the Indonesian government was ill-equipped and ill-prepared to handle the disaster. The situation was made worse by the fact that up until then, Aceh had been in a state of civil emergency effectively closed off to journalists, non-governmental organisations and aid agencies.

Aceh had been the arena of a long-running conflict between the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Prior to 2003, when martial law was imposed on Aceh, a peace process was established to solve the issue diplomatically. Lack of political will on the side of the Indonesian military led to the breakdown of the peace talks.

Despite all the resources at its disposal (bestowed upon the military by the weak Megawati Sukarnoputri), the TNI have not been able to "crush" GAM as was its objective and instead, its military operations have resulted in widespread human rights abuses as documented by Indonesia's own Komnas Ham (National Commission on Human Rights).

During the first few days of the tsunami crisis, a Financial Times reporter said that only two TNI helicopters were available to drop off food supplies to victims in Aceh. Not until the US and Australian choppers arrived did the relief aid really swung into action. The TNI seemed lethargic in their efforts.

Yet, not long after that when the Ambalat crisis erupted, there seemed to be no shortage of military reinforcements and naval ships from the TNI that went to reinforce their military strength there.

The Indonesian media, with the encouragement of some politicians, cried out nationalism and appealed to student movements to protest against Malaysia. Evidently, it was not difficult to raise anger against Malaysia, especially in light of the contentious issue of illegal migrant workers being sent back to home countries.

Attention diverted

The Ambalat crisis was enough to divert attention within Indonesia to some of the explosive issues at home, such as the handling of the tsunami tragedy, alleged mismanagement of tsunami aid funds, rising fuel prices and soaring unemployment. Not surprisingly, if we were to trace back the history of Malaysia and Indonesia hostilities, we would find that this diversion effect to be quite dominant.

Malaysia, too, benefitted from the counter-reaction to Indonesia's Ambalat response. For some odd reason, Malaysians generally tend to have a negative perception of Indonesia some sort of weird love-hate relationship.

The rising 'nationalistic' sentiment fueled during the Ambalat crisis would divert the attention of the Malaysian public from problems back home government inefficiencies, rising unemployment and the general 'nothing is progressing' feeling. Under the not-so-new prime minister, the initial optimism about promised reforms has certainly fizzled out, leaving us with a sense of stagnation.

The outlook does not appear too bright for Malaysia. A number of government missteps along the way has contributed to this as well. A huge chunk of fresh graduates are unable to find jobs.

Sending home thousands of Indonesian workers who had been the life and breath of our economic development also threatens the economy. The prime minister's failure to embark on quick and effective reforms is likely to prove a giant mistake.

In fact, the Ambalat crisis seemed to be the most 'exciting' piece of news of late that is, until malaysiakini ran the April Fool's news story about the impending 'prosecution' of ministers and a menteri besar for corruption. The reason why there was such hostile reaction, from the Umno camp especially, is because this piece of news sought to remind the government of its promises, rather than diverting attention from it.

Malaysiakini columnist Farish Noor suggests that Malaysia and Indonesia actually have a lot in common singer Siti Nurhaliza being one of them. (I would also say that it works the other way round too, just ask the thousands of Malaysian fans of Indonesian bands Sheila on 7, Dewa or Padi). Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim suggests that Malaysia, and indeed the world can learn from Indonesia as an example of an Islamic democracy.

Domestic issues

The problem is that we have barely any collective memory of this commonality. Young people in both countries are not exposed to our common history and how interconnected our pasts were. Our young people do not communicate with each other and share similar experiences.

This ignorance will likely continue because our leaders are in no hurry to clear these misconceptions after all, when the next 'big issue' happens, from which we need to divert the people's attention, who else is going to be the easy target?

Malaysia and Indonesia seem to display all the characteristics of nations with misguided priorities at the expense of one another. It is important that the citizens of both countries do not fall prey to these tactics of 'convenient nationalism' designed to cloud our vision from issues that really need to be dealt with at home.

I was happy to read recently that an Indonesian columnist had rebuked student organisations who were easily bought into this tactic and burnt the Malaysian flag in street protests. He suggested instead that they should "carry banners to protest against rising fuel prices".

The Ambalat crisis can, should and will be solved via diplomatic means. Domestic issues unemployment, territorial conflicts, corruption, human rights abuses are the real 'killers'.

ARIANI RUSTAM is currently pursuing graduate studies in Economics at Columbia University, New York.