Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen says controversial Indonesian vessel KRI Usman-Harun will not be allowed to dock here and that the Singapore Navy will not go on joint-exercises with it.
The naming of the warship after Usman Hj Mohd Ali and Harun Said — two Indonesian marines convicted and hanged, for the bombing of Singapore’s Macdonald House in 1965 during the Indonesian confrontation — sparked a lot of tension in the bilateral ties between the two countries.
Singapore arrived at the decision after Dr. Ng and several ministers voiced the Republic’s concern to Indonesia that naming the ship after the MacDonald House bombers, which claimed three lives and injured more than 30, would reopen old wounds.
The Indonesian government, which views the two men as fallen war heroes, refused to back down when calls were made to reconsider renaming the KRI Usman-Harun.
Dr. Ng explained that Singapore has worked hard at improving bilateral relations ever since the 1965 incident, highlighting occassions like the SilkAir Flight MI185 flight crash and the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in Aceh, where the military from both countries worked side by side, but strong defence ties have to be built on mutual trust and respect.
He added that the naming of the ship came as a surprise and expressed disappointment over the move, which would be an obvious setback to bilateral ties between Indonesia and Singapore.
Source: Today
Photo: Indonesian Navy via globalindonesianvoices.com
