Malaysia and Indonesia bilateral ties forum

“We can choose our friends but we cannot choose our neighbors, so we’re bound to have misunderstandings, therefore we need to solve them amicably”. With that statement by Prof Madya Dr. Mohamad Agus Yusoff, a well known political scientist from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and a favorite among the media, the Forum was under way.

The Malaysia Indonesia Forum was planned as part of the SEBUMI 2010 conference to shed some light, discuss and try to find possible solutions on the serious issues surrounding these two neighboring countries. Issues of brutality on maids, the redundant claims on Ligitan-Sipadan, workers without permits and the most recent issue of fishermen from both sides caught in each other’s waters were addressed.

Prof. Dr. Samsudin A. Rahim from the School of Media and Communications, UKM moderated the forum with four panelists on each side. Indonesia was represented by Prof. Dr. Bambang Shergi Laksomono, Dean from the Faculty of Social Science and Politics from Universitas Indonesia (UI), Dr. Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf from ANTARA, Dr Musni Umar, EPG Panel of Indonesia and Prof. Dr. Erman Anom from Universiti Esa Unggul, Indonesia.

In the Malaysian corner, was Prof Madya Dr. Mohamad Agus Yusoff from the School of  History, Politics and Strategy, Datuk Ahmad Rejal Arbee, Corporate Communication UKM and former group editor of Berita Harian Sdn. Bhd., Zulkifli Salleh, Deputy Chief Editor of BERNAMA and Prof Madya Dr. Abd Rahim Aman from the School of Malay Languages, Literature and Culture Studies.

Malaysia and Indonesia no doubt have a very strong history together regardless good or bad. We have a shared culture, which of late has also been thrown into controversy as we have been accused of capitalizing on their culture, namely songs and batik. Explanations and justifications from both sides fell on deaf ears with both parties trying to defend what was theirs. In the end, the media was blamed for blowing the issues out of proportion.

Dr. Agus reiterated this point when he said there were about 320,000 Indonesia maids in Malaysia but when one or two cases were brought to light, there was again the media frenzy. “We, of course do not condone these kind of abuse and action has been taken against the employer. But we also need to question the agents that bring these maids in as they are the ones responsible for the placement in homes regardless of race or religion. That is the root of the problem” he said.

He also believes that the issue of fishermen apprehended on either side of sea boundaries, must have a logical explanation. They either experienced strong winds that caused their vessel to move of out of bound of our own waters, they didn’t have enough diesel and drifted or they made a mistake while reading the compass. These justifications brought laughter from both sides.

I was surprised when Dr. Ahmad Mukhlis from ANTARA, one of their leading news agency and Datuk Ahmad Rejal, did not defend the media. Instead Dr. Mukhlis said that news is a very fast business and it was very frustrating for them when the Malaysian Ambassador had refused to comment on issues pertaining to Malaysia/Indonesia. He further said that “the dialogue of today would be a good start but in news it would be the competitiveness of tomorrow that would rule”. Statements that are released late do not help the situation at hand.

Datuk Ahmad Rejal was of the idea that the media, especially if it’s free and without restrictions, need to be more responsible. “We need to know what to do with the freedom” he stressed. But more importantly it would be a big task to try to change the perception of the people for them to understand the issues better as not to act out of control by having riots and burning flags.

Prof. Dr. Erman Anom point was simple and precise; for UKM to take the lead to research these issues. Scholars from both sides would be given the platform to have an intellectual discourse and propose possible solutions and provide advice for the next action plan. This idea was very well received by participants.

Zulkifli Salleh from BERNAMA did not mince his words when he commented that because we recognize ourselves as ‘serumpun’ (same group of people) we have managed to abuse even that. “Maybe because we are so serumpun that we feel it’s okay to be the way we are, to abuse, to say things that might hurt each other’s feeling, because we feel that the other party would understand and we also assume that it would be okay ”. He further suggested putting aside this serumpun business and only use it as a safety net and as a last resort.

Dr Musni Umar was passionate in his presentation of his ideals. He basically gave solutions to improve and enhance the good relations the two countries with new approaches. The first step and the most urgent is to do public relations campaign to change the negative image that has been ingrained in the Indonesian public collective memory against Malaysia and vice versa.

The second step, inward looking – Indonesia should immediately change and perfect the law on placement and protection of Indonesia workers abroad. They must stop sending maids to work abroad who have no job skills, do not have placement agreements and employment agreements while Malaysia should increasingly provide legal to migrant workers from employer abuse.

The third step, to be pro-active and open to the media to describe any event that happened in Malaysia or in Indonesia. If still in doubt, then immediately conduct joint investigation to determine who is right and wrong in the incident. It should not be silent and let the media proclaim an event according to various sources which may not be true.

Dr Musni strongly suggested that the silaturrahim diplomacy to the government, parliamentary, universities, media, NGO’s, political parties and local governments to be continued and strengthen further. This was his fourth point put across. His last point was to promote and improve relations and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring progress within the framework of people-to people between the two countries.

Dr. Abd Rahim summed up most of the points already brought forward but did explained to the audience that the Malaysian Ambassador was without doubt answerable to the Malaysian government and any statement given had to be cleared form here.

Overall the discussion was heated at some points but nevertheless a good start to take off on the issues enveloping these two countries. The scholars were all of the opinion that they could contribute positively to the issues at hand and advance ideas to their heads of government on the best action plan.

It was a privilege for this writer to be given the opportunity to sit in and be part of this scholarly dialogue especially to hear first hand from the delegates that were in the closed door round table discussion on bilateral ties.

But I concur with Dr. Agus when he said “We might be different in terms country, different in terms of language but we are not different in terms of religion. If all else fails, I believe that we can always use this foundation to solve our differences”