Their close Soviet-era strategic cooperation before General Suharto’s mid-1960s coup serves as a nostalgic reference point for the level of relations that their contemporary leaders are eager to revive.
Without fighting wars or changing regimes, Russia has quietly increased its influence in Southeast Asia. Between the US, China, and India, now it is easier to keep a balance with a long thread to Moscow. The Malacca Strait is more likely to be safe from politics, although not quite from the pirates. Introducing the cooler heads is like adding cold water to a boiling pot; it calms everything down. The fire that heats everything is still there, though.
Sukarno was a nationalist and anti-imperialist. Suharto, I have no doubt, was popped up by CIA. Given Indonesia's social needs right after WW2 all the way to today, the nationalist approach (protect domestic resources from imperialistic looting, whether from China or the US) is much more important than some fake facade of US-styled democracy. The massacre against the Chinese was not so much against infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party, although the CCP did try. The real cause is more likely economy-related. Around that time, the Chinese minority controlled more than half of Indonesia's burgeoning business. The native entrepreneurs were no match for the Chinese oligarchs (who sometimes behaved like mob bosses, ditto all across SE Asia). After the massacre, there was large chunks of wealth transfer. Similar things happened in Malaysia, although the Communist guerrilla was far more active, but the anti-Chinese purge was smaller in scale and slightly less violent. Maybe a difference between British colonies and Dutch colonies.
I have some personal experience interacting with two ladies from Indonesia: one from Sumatra, the other from Java. Their stories are somewhat similar. Indonesia has some very nice and hard-working people. But Alas! too many of them for all the islands they have.
Regarding Melania whom I respect -- there is another side:
Melania’s letter about long-ago refuted “abducted Ukrainian children” fraud has been the height of obscenity of Trump’s meeting with "gnjida" Zelensky and seven EU dwarfs -- while 60,000 children were murdered by Trump's "war hero"
Gaza-genocide snake Trump CAN’T ever be trusted – no trace of morality or empathy
Some might think it curious that Indonesia has turned to Russia, a geographically distant "Euro-Asian" nation when next door neighbour Australia appears to have everything to offer. The reality is that Australia, although located within Asia, is saddled with old colonial attributes and thus doesn't trust or relate to Asians. Russia, on the other hand accommodates 40+ million citizens of Muslim belief, plus numerous other smaller ethnic communities within its Mother Land. Despite forward thinking efforts to create a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural paradise in the Southern Hemisphere, historically embedded influences think it imperative that all Australians, regardless of place of birth, should automatically bow to a monarch who lives far from our shores and who is the titular head of a class riven system of arrogant dominance. Ethnic and cultural diversity brings sideways glances that signify disapproval rather than unconditional tolerance. Slavish ties to the American Hegamonth continue this disconnect of Australia's integration with Asia.
Without fighting wars or changing regimes, Russia has quietly increased its influence in Southeast Asia. Between the US, China, and India, now it is easier to keep a balance with a long thread to Moscow. The Malacca Strait is more likely to be safe from politics, although not quite from the pirates. Introducing the cooler heads is like adding cold water to a boiling pot; it calms everything down. The fire that heats everything is still there, though.
Sukarno was a nationalist and anti-imperialist. Suharto, I have no doubt, was popped up by CIA. Given Indonesia's social needs right after WW2 all the way to today, the nationalist approach (protect domestic resources from imperialistic looting, whether from China or the US) is much more important than some fake facade of US-styled democracy. The massacre against the Chinese was not so much against infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party, although the CCP did try. The real cause is more likely economy-related. Around that time, the Chinese minority controlled more than half of Indonesia's burgeoning business. The native entrepreneurs were no match for the Chinese oligarchs (who sometimes behaved like mob bosses, ditto all across SE Asia). After the massacre, there was large chunks of wealth transfer. Similar things happened in Malaysia, although the Communist guerrilla was far more active, but the anti-Chinese purge was smaller in scale and slightly less violent. Maybe a difference between British colonies and Dutch colonies.
I have some personal experience interacting with two ladies from Indonesia: one from Sumatra, the other from Java. Their stories are somewhat similar. Indonesia has some very nice and hard-working people. But Alas! too many of them for all the islands they have.
Regarding Melania whom I respect -- there is another side:
Melania’s letter about long-ago refuted “abducted Ukrainian children” fraud has been the height of obscenity of Trump’s meeting with "gnjida" Zelensky and seven EU dwarfs -- while 60,000 children were murdered by Trump's "war hero"
Gaza-genocide snake Trump CAN’T ever be trusted – no trace of morality or empathy
Some might think it curious that Indonesia has turned to Russia, a geographically distant "Euro-Asian" nation when next door neighbour Australia appears to have everything to offer. The reality is that Australia, although located within Asia, is saddled with old colonial attributes and thus doesn't trust or relate to Asians. Russia, on the other hand accommodates 40+ million citizens of Muslim belief, plus numerous other smaller ethnic communities within its Mother Land. Despite forward thinking efforts to create a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural paradise in the Southern Hemisphere, historically embedded influences think it imperative that all Australians, regardless of place of birth, should automatically bow to a monarch who lives far from our shores and who is the titular head of a class riven system of arrogant dominance. Ethnic and cultural diversity brings sideways glances that signify disapproval rather than unconditional tolerance. Slavish ties to the American Hegamonth continue this disconnect of Australia's integration with Asia.
BRICS is dead. Once Bessent brings out the US BT Bonds it’s all over.