What do you think of this?

Ding

Member
I was in a defence forum of a neighbouring country just browsing through and I saw a thread that deals whether Singapore should come to Malaysia's aid if Indonesia attacks. I think part of this scenario came about because of the friction between Malaysia and Indonesia in regards to the Ambalat islands and some other border issues. Obviously in that thread a lot of chest thumpings by Singaporeans, Indonesians and Malaysian's (sadly). I'll leave the ugly part out of it.

Now I know that this is a highly unrealistic situation, there is a scenario that was laid out. Please bear with me:-

Indonesia sends 4 div of infantry accross Kalimantan border to Sarawak and Sabah which has only 1 div of infantry plus a few brigade of mech support (if i'm correct). This would leave east Malaysia "easy" to take over before Indonesia takes over west Malaysia. Some of the forumers in that thread believe that Singapore would do better by siding with Indonesia and help take over west Malaysia as the Indonesians have bigger infantry force and Malaysia just cant defend the onslought...

Q1 : There was an argument in regards to the FPDA. Is it a binding agreement of mutual defence ie Aus, NZ and UK will come to the aid of Msia or Sing in the event of either country getting attacked? Is it true that the FPDA covers only west Malaysia but not east Malaysia in the agreement.

Q2 : Since that thread was covered with nonsense, I would like to push the question here, how does Malaysia deal with the (highly unlikely) scenario? What would she do? How would Malaysia deploy it's forces? What would Singapore military stance be? Side with Malaysia (FPDA issues), Indonesia or remain neutral? How would Indonesia deploy it's forces to gain the upperhand? How would she deal in logistics in order not to falter the attacking momentum?

note: I do not want to ask "who would win" as that would be a stupid question to ask as all involved in war are the losers. I would like to apologise to any Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesian if this is an inappropriate questions to ask. It's not a representation of our countries relationship nor it is a representation of my feeling or prejudice. I understand that war is not about numbers and weapons only. A lot of other issues plays into account.

That said, I'm looking for answers that can tell me what factors to look for in regards to defending, attacking and factors to consider as a third party caught in the middle of war. Also how can the defensive forces be deployed to maximise coverage and in turn how can an offensive force be deployed to maximise attack. I'm posting it in this forum as there's a lot of you that can give an objective view of the situation as a defence professional.

Thanks alot. ps Mods (if this post is illegal, please inform me and i will take it down)
 
Last edited:

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Q1 : There was an argument in regards to the FPDA. Is it a binding agreement of mutual defence ie Aus, NZ and UK will come to the aid of Msia or Sing in the event of either country getting attacked? Is it true that the FPDA covers only west Malaysia but not east Malaysia in the agreement.
In my understanding, the FPDA is not binding in case of defense. It is set up to allow the nations in it to cooperate on training, and to cooperate on defense itself as well, if they want to. The members also intend to "consult" each other in military matters. I.e. it is not a mutual-defense treaty per se, it it is a defense cooperation treaty.
The cooperation between the members on certain stuff (e.g. Integrated Air Defense) is close enough though that i couldn't see one member bowing out in case of war.
The thing with only West Malaysia (i.e. Malaya) being affected was in the old AMDA mutual-defense treaty between Malaya, Singapore and the UK. The UK canceled the AMDA in 1967, and the FPDA was set up in 1971 to "replace" it in some regards. All documents i've read regarding FPDA (original sources) refer to Malaysia, not just Malaya, for some sort of cooperation.
 
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