Is INDONESIA truly the RICHEST, most POWERFUL nation in the SOUTH EAST ASIA?

Show all answers

Spawn

I'm Indonesian. You are ten years too late asking this question.

The truth is, Indonesia has the richest natural resources and the largest population in South East Asia. But Indonesia is among the world poor countries.

Before the 90's economical crisis in Indonesia, YES, it's the richest, most powerful nation in south east asia. Even in the whole Asia we're in the top three along with China and Japan.

But when the economical crisis hit hard (caused by wide and large corruption), Indonesia falling down so fast into the bottom.

In history, YES, we we're once declared a war to Malaysia during President Soekarno rules. It's caused by border problems. There's not a single shot actually, because Malaysia is so affraid back then, run like a chicken.

But after the 90's economical crisis, Malaysia already invaded and take over two island in the border. Then, not long ago they want to take another Islands named Ambalat Islands (rich with oil). But our weak government under President Susilo B. Yudhoyono is make peace with them. Even peoples all over Indonesia roaring asking for war with Malaysia, but Mr. Weak President ignore it.

If there are any war, who will win ? Indonesia has large army, Malysia is nothing compare to it. But since Indonesia is poor country, we don't have the sophisticated war machine like Malaysia. I don't know who will win, but I hope Malaysia will not try to take over another Indonesian Island again.

anderson

Indonesia is not the richest country, there are many counrty like malaysia, brunei , thailand singapore is richer than indonesia.
in terms of power, may be because they have 3rd most people in the world.
as for the war, there is no war between malaysia and indonesia. may be a an economy war.

hawla_gurlz

Indonesia once is a powerful country if the crisis in 97 didn't hit hard. I would not say Indonesia is now but once...that's different story. But if you look to a more clear view to the government...yes they are rich and powerful but the problem is the money don't goes to public but to individuals (corruption)...I dare say this because if you look closely you'll find rich and powerful people that didn't actually recorded in SEA economics leader...

For the war, it's not an open war exactly but maybe you refer to the border conflict few years ago.
I dare not to think Indonesia and Malaysia at war and it shouldn't happen at all costs.

dionell_dizon

i think Indonesia could be the most powerful country in South East Asia in terms of its people. Knowing that it has the largest population in the whole of SEA, it can actually drag its neighbor countries behind when a war occurs. You have mentioned Japan and China. They are rich in ECONOMIC terms. Indonesia is also the largest nation in SEA and therefore President Soekarno attributed the richness of the country in its natural resources that can be found in its vast land area.
For me, Malaysia has the greatest possibility of winning the war. why? Malaysia is wealthier than Indonesia in economic terms. It can invest a large amount of money for war equipment and so on. Lastly, why would 2 Muslim countries fight with each other?

Ajeet M

I would think Malaysia is Economically and Financially stronger than Indonesia and their Armed forces are constantly on Alert status on the Thai border giving them a lot of experience .Indonesian forces have been active in many of the External Provinces against Anti Indonesian forces: So I would guess them to be about even.

You can get some idea about 1963 - Konfrontasi

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/about_us/history/birth_of_saf/v01n09_history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia-Malaysia_confrontation

fBass

the fact of indonesian is a poor country won't make it lose the war, especially with malaysia, which has much much smaller population than indonesia.. i think it'd be MUCH easier to deploy militia or concript from poor people... wealthier people tend to 'THINK TWICE' before they join any war.. right? ;)

indonesia population: 240 millions
malaysia population: 16 millions

one on one combat? you do the math!

anyway, both countries cannot afford to war against each other.. they are brothers and sisters

pika

hey dude,

seriously this is a really lame question. Theres no war between this two countries.U should asked if theres gonna be a war between Singapore and the whole asean continent. this is the hottest issues now.

If u read the books, Malaysia and Indonesia are 2 neighbours that lived side by side with trust on each other. futhermore both country are muslim country.
No one can argue, they have a confrontatation in 1963, that was a long time ago. and if u check the reason on both side u will got two different reason. 1 is from indonesian side and 1 from the malaysian point of view.
for me u have to be really listen to both reason.
both are wrong at that time. this is because theres no right answer. they learn from their mistake.
If u asked me, who gonna win if this two country fight again... i really have no answer

if u calculated the population size. indonesian will win, bcoz malaysia only have around 24million people compared to indonesia that are 200 millions people but this will only happens if indonesian are clever enough to planning their strategies interms of guerilla tactis because this country doesnt have any sophisticated weapons compared to the malaysian army.
but im seriously sure this two good neighbour will never end up in war again and will settle everything on the discussion table if they encountered any problems. peoples who are stupid enough will fight again but both country are nor chicken. In 2001, this two country together with philipines fight for sipadan island right that located in borneo sea. Both country settled it up in international court that have give the right to malaysia.

The earthquake in yokyakarta and tsunami in acheh recently, showed how closed this two neighbours are. Malaysia are among the first country arrived in the scenes to give help to their neighbour.

If u really knows the history, Indonesian are very rich interms of natural resourses but the corruption in the government make this marvelous country poorer. Malaysian now are improving and known in the world for their economic performance. They are the largest exporter for palm oil and also rubber in the world. For indonesia, from my perception, they can be really economic player in the south east asian if they settled up their internal conflict first.

Dave Star

Watermelon is so right. With a strong alliance with the US and Japan, the Philippines seems to the most powerful. The Philippines, being a former American colony, too was second in terms of economy after Japan up until the 70s.

Malaysia is so greedy, they took parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. Sabah was part of the Philippines. Ever wonder why there is no Sultan in Sabah? Because the Sultan of Sabah is in the Philippines deprived of it's rich tradition by the Malaysians.

watermelon

singapore is the richest albeit not the most powerful. with its alliances with the US and japan, i would say that the philippines is the most powerful.

angel_arrow

Currently Indonesia is absolutely not the richest country in SE Asia due to economic crisis in 1998. Though actually Indonesia should be the one..Indo has many natural resources compared to other countries in SE Asia, which can make it the richest country if been managed well.

Regarding to the most powerful, I think Indonesia still be the one..
I won't say much about this issue because its critical..But if we see from the human resources side, yeah i think Indonesia is the most powerful in SE Asia..

There was a dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia in Presiden Sukarno era. I think both countries win as it solved by signing peace agreement. About your if question, I will say neither the two countries will win nor will lose..Why we sould be in total war anyway..if we can cooperate and getting better result in all aspects...

â™¥ Chelsea Blue â™¥

Concerning natural resources, actually it is! It's all about the corruption. If those assholes weren't like that, Indonesia would be far much improved than what it's now! OK, it surely will be a freakin' long process that will take years and years, but it might be something.

Ã‰m

BRUNIE is the richest. Dont know about the most powerful.

littlemunkay

man, that's completely untrue.
I think...in Southeast asia, Singapore is the richest.

malaysia and indonesia has been best friend since so long ago, why would they declare war?

Hana

no. no. heck no.
although i really, really wish.

well, indonesia used to be a rich and powerful nation. although that time indonesia wasn't quite yet on the level of an established power, indonesia had such large potential, it was pretty much a leader in SEA.
unfortunately corruption finally took its toll, and unfortunately the people's mentality (consumptive, lack of compatriotism...) wasn't the type to immediately lift the nation up again.
indonesia (economy-wise) has been getting a little better lately, but if indonesia wants to be what it used to be, what must most be improved, fixed even, is the people's attitude. i love this country, and i hope that we can prosper again.

yes, there has been tension a few times before between indonesia and malaysia, but there has never been an all out military conflict. honestly, i don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. neither countries are in a position to have war. if it were to happen, there's just too much to be lost, there's no telling who will win, although indonesia can cause serious damage (though malaysia might be more financially able to finance itself for war), though in turn may suffer crippling hard-to-heal damages.
despite all the heat, i sincerely hope there will never be a war between indonesia and malaysia.

sere s

richest is probably singapore and then brunei then malaysia and then indonesia, and again most powerful is singapore...(singapore and brunei are first world country, malysia is in second world country and indonesia is in the third world country).

and i don't know abt the war...i'm a Malaysian and i don't know anything abt it.

Enlightenme!

I think it would have made more sense to rephrase this question (no offense to the writer) to: Is Indonesia truly the most corrupt nation in South East Asia?

Yes it is!

PS. I liked "Spawn's" post above.

Kuchiki Rukia

there was a time when Indonesia WAS the richest and most powerful nation in SEA, but for today era? not anymore. they started to have a downfall on economy and followed by many things later on since 1997.

Spongebob

yes, indonesia is the richest, but you know all those governments there will always make the citizens looks poor. They got million of mines so thats why once all the people from europe was occupying their nations. (portugese, england, spain, netherland, japan)... they wanted resources. I learnt history about indonesia, mostly are about resources resources and whatever things related to it

No war. it isn't true.

cemnyc

Indonesian military preparedness and capabilities suffered with the military embargo imposed by the US Congress. A good portion of the equipment is US made. Numerically, it has the third largest force in Southeast Asia. Vietnam and Thailand have larger forces in that order.

It's difficult to measure military strength. We can use military budgets, troop strengths, and other quantitative measures to form an opinion, but other factors come into play, such as combat experience which Indonesia and Thailand have but largely against domestic insurgencies.

I would put my money on Vietnam. The Vietnamese pushed the US out of Vietnam, managed to hold off the Chinese in the 1980's, and rolled over Pol Pot in Cambodia. The emphasis has shifted from the military to free trade and economic development in recent years.

Some consider Singapore having the most sophisticated and powerful force in Southeast Asia. Technologically, hands down, Singapore possesses the most advanced weaponry in the region. It's Navy is far superior to that of Indonesia and Malaysia. This capability has never been put to the test in an actual combat, and some are skeptical as to how well Singaporeans could/would stand up in actual hand-to-hand ground combat.

The Indonesians would say they won the war referred to as the Konfrontasi. Avoiding a detailed discussion of the international politics behind the war, Soekarno was largely playing to a domestic audience. He used the war to avert attention away from domestic issues. Soekarno was tossed from power before the war came to an official end.

The Malays backed by Australia, New Zealand, and the UK held off the Indonesians. In 1965, Indonesia, under Suharto, and Malaysia signed a peace treaty. Neither side lost any territory.

camsean73

You have asked this question before. Didn't you like the answers last time?

cuti3

yes its true that indonesia is the richest natural resources and the largest population in south east asia. but indonesia is also the poorest country in south east asia. why? yes its true what dreamweav.. and hawla said.. there are a lot of corruption in government. we pay for the tax and everything, but it goes to the government ppl's personal wallet... not return to us..
i mean for building indonesia to be a better country.
its actually true that lot of native work as maids in other countries.. , and its also true that they raped and racist with christian and chinese.. im not gonna deny it.. coz its the fact.
lot of controversy and problems in indonesia.. but its just getting a bit better nowadays.. (rather than back in 90s, esp in 1998 riot)
i think its gonna be a better country if the government manage it well (not corrupt!!@$%)..

madonna_toller

Talking about South East Asia I'd rather say that Thailand is better off. But everything has to been seen from different points.

drjenlee

S'pore is the most richest and powerful nation in SEA... ffollowed by malaysian and third in rank will b thai. Indonesia is definetely not the richest in SEA. And there never have war between indon n m'sia. will most likely never in future.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: