Thursday, February 6, 2014

Naval Interest: SINGAPORE AND INDONESIA

Singapore Voices Concern Over Naming of Indonesian Navy Ship

6 comments:

  1. Hi Johnas, we are from a Singapore media organisation and would like to tap your views on the issue and maybe reproduce your article on our website. Is there an e-mail address we can reach you at?

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    Replies
    1. Feel free to reprint, quote, or use as you see fit in whole or in part. Be on the look out for an expanded reply from the Johnas Presbyter "gcircle" site. Don't forget to solicit opinion from your own excellent naval authorities on this matter. for E mail try Americanadmiralty.books @gmail.com. If you have any problem getting through to me there just drop another comment and we;ll try to establish contact.-Johnas

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    2. Beware of the Singapore mainstream media. It is state controlled and 159th in the press freedom rankings.

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    3. Thanks for the warning. We print the truth as we perceive it regardless of official government views, including our own government's. The United States media isn't as free as we like to believe. The big electronic media outlets and multi city newspapers are controlled by a very small number of people who define the politics of the Democratic party. Much of talk Radio is controlled by a small number of people who define the politics of the Republican party. The Republicans also control one TV network.Whistle blower statutes are unenforced, and every government branch and agency has spin doctors available. But the truth is always out there. It gets through via the internet, independent radio, small town news papers, and foreign sources. Additionally sometimes even the government version is in fact true. Its good that people everywhere take the government news sources with a critical eye. We are aware that governments including the U.S. government often take actions in suppression of free speech. This is one of the reasons we use pen names. It's certainly not a comprehensive form of protection but it does close some legal avenues of attack here in the U.S.. That the government of Singapore may be more authoritarian than some Western governments and runs tight controls on the "mainstream media" doesn't mean that we believe that the people of Singapore don't have a profound influence on the government. Your use of the term "mainstream" and the fact that we are exchanging posts tells us that government control of media is far from absolute. Our dashboard informs us that we have hundreds of readers in China, yet we have never exchanged comments with anyone from China. We think that tells us a lot about the control of not just "mainstream media" in China but also the level of real control of free speech in any and all forms. The government of Singapore is protesting the naming of these Indonesian vessels because of public opinion. As neutral observers with experience in these sorts of things we are reaching out to that public opinion in the hopes that understanding and healing can be happen between Indonesia and Singapore which need each other due to clear and present dangers and joint responsibility for the security of one of the world's most strategic areas of ocean real estate. If you read our post on the subject today we try to apply lessons learned from our own bitter civil war to the situation. WE also suggest that this situation might be successfully resolved by navy to navy contacts if the politicians on both sides would allow it. Indonesians are reading this series as well. As new as both navies are both have shown some serious capability at naval diplomacy. Keep reading our posts on this, there is another one today and probably a final tomorrow. A unique thing about naval diplomacy. Through the astute use of naval naval ceremony, navies can often convey a lot of meaning including messages of both partial disagreement and firm alliance without words. Read our coming third post on the issue for an example.

      Johnas

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  2. Such a neutral and well thoroughly thinking view and analysis, i wish the best for our Indonesia-Singapore relations in the future

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  3. Thank you DwiPutra. Please check our blog tomorrow for another essay on this subject. We wish the present generation of military professionals of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia who we admire greatly, successful cooperation in providing security for the region unburdened by the disputes of previous times , generations governments, and past events. Tomorrow or possibly even later today we will offer another insight from our own American civil war and subsequent historical needs for us to unite and cooperate. In my native South we didn't lose an occasional office building but two cites Richmond, and Atlanta were laid waste to the ground, much of the country side devastated, and a generation held under brutal military occupation.Yet the grandsons of the veterans of both armies just a little more than 40 years later combined seamlessly to defeat a mutual enemy, and then did again roughly 25 years later. Your region is similarly challenged today. All three nations however have sacrificed to provide competent and skilled armed forces. The regional powers need to cooperate despite past differences. The eye of the world are on the region and anything that threatens unity of purpose is viewed with concern. You are facing a communal global responsibility and need each other too much to let the past interfere with the cooperation needed today. Than you for commenting

    Johnas Presbyter

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