Does Indonesia want a war with China?
The Malacca Straight is 100% as dangerous to global stability as Hormuz.
139
Merlins_Bread1 day ago
+58
Fighting China and Australia at the same time would certainly be a choice.
58
zucksucksmyberg1 day ago
+28
I think Japan and SK would also join the fight.
28
YourAutoModsSucks1 day ago
+5
Can we wait until Japan have built Australia's new ships first though?
I also don't think the USA are going to make good on the submarine deal...
5
okbutjustsoyouknow16 hr ago
+1
The US stated a few weeks ago that the submarine exchange was still on track for the timeline at that point, regardless of hormuz,
whether or not that can be taken at face value \*shrug\*
1
jpharber2 days ago
+18
Not unless Indonesia was sending out attack subs to sink ships that would simply bypass the area.
If every strait in Indonesia was closed, it would actually block about half of the trade that closure of the Hormuz does.
https://www.economist.com/interactive/briefing/2026/03/27/the-nightmare-scenario-for-global-trade?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17210596221&gbraid=0AAAAADBuq3KyEit76BHbr0fQzURPvrm4N&gclid=CjwKCAjwhqfPBhBWEiwAZo196sJAzeyWjw6el-sR2l-sMB0ogVMpMjO4kmbYuZlbu8--1snSQOoKEhoCOlkQAvD_BwE
18
noir_lord2 days ago
+43
Indonesia imposes fees, China refuses to pay them, does Indonesia a) board Chinese vessels and invite a visit from the PLAN b) ignore it and then have all the other countries who are paying hit the roof.
Not sure what Indonesia is angling for but I doubt they’ll get transit fees, may just be a negotiating point since some idiot in the White House opened a can of worms.
43
son_et_lumiere2 days ago
+9
What does Singapore have to say about this?
9
noir_lord2 days ago
+17
Against it as you'd expect given their colossal shipping industry and that they exist almost entirely on trade.
17
son_et_lumiere2 days ago
+4
They've also been upping their military air capabilities. I don't think they'd let a fee/blockade happen either.
4
gaylordJakob1 day ago
+5
They can't do anything militarily offensive against Indonesia without Chinese or Australian backing.
5
big_cock_lach1 day ago
+5
Singapore wouldn’t have any issues getting backing from them (or plenty of others). If Indonesia actually tried to do this, they’d somehow be creating a military alliance amongst numerous sworn enemies.
Fortunately though, the bit that everyone is overlooking is that this claim comes from a minor minister in Indonesia that was already considered an embarrassment before this (and now the world can see why). It’s extremely unlikely that this will actually go through and it’s not coming from anyone who actually has the power to set it up. But it’s safe to say it wouldn’t work out as well for Indonesia if they did try this. The last time they pissed off Australia it didn’t work out, and Australia is a lot richer and more powerful now than it used to be.
5
ryapeter1 day ago
+3
New president fired old finance minister because shes smart. New finance minister is a yes man. Spend almost all the savings and now need new income. The thing is most citizen font trust new government and font want to pay tax.
3
jpharber2 days ago
-8
You’re forgetting c) just sail around it
-8
thenelil2 days ago
+12
The problem with that option, it adds additional month to the voyage, which would cause some logistical issues in the long run because there’s not enough freighters.
12
jpharber2 days ago
-5
I never said it wouldn’t cause problems. Just that the straight of hormuz closure is worse.
-5
Keep-Darwin-Going7 hr ago
+1
Indonesian sub probably sink before they can sink other ships to be honest.
1
Aussie-Bandit1 day ago
+3
50% of the worlds shipping goes through that straight. It is much, much worse.
Yes. It would 100% lead to conflict.
3
Rich_Housing9712 days ago
+8
This is a ridiculous question, like asking if the US and Mexico will fight a war.
China and Indonesia are heavily involved in mutual trade, with China helping it obtain high speed rail, leapfrogging its neighboring rivals Malaysia and Philippines.
China's seen this coming so they're making it very unpalatable for Indonesia to do anything against it. It also wants good relations with Indonesia to counteract against the Philippines.
If the Strait is closed (if), the can choose to give China free passage (just like Iran did) or make its vessels pay a very small fee.
There is no scenario where either country will enter a war, or that Indonesia will try to enforce Chinese vessels right in their backyard with their navy possibly standing by.
8
Mixander1 day ago
+45
They casually left out the last bit of his speech. lol
here is the full transcript in Indonesian that I type it myself. "Indonesia ini bukan negara pinggiran. Kita ada di jalur strategis perdagangan dan energi dunia. Tapi kapal lewat selat Malaka ndak kita charge ya. Nggak tau betul apa salah. Sekarang Iran mengecharge kapal lewat selat Hormuz katanya. Kalau kita bagi tiga, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore lumayan kan? Punya kita jalurnya paling besar paling panjang. Singapore kecil. Malaysia sama kita bagi dua lah. Kalau bisa seperti itu, tapi kan ndak begitu."
it could be roughly translated as following, I will try to keep the nuance intact as this guy has a habit of making an unserious cassual speech in a joking tone.
"Indonesia isn’t some peripheral country. We sit on a strategic global trade and energy route. But ships pass through the Malacca Strait and we don’t charge them—I don’t know if that’s actually right or not.
Now Iran is charging ships that go through the Strait of Hormuz, they say. If we split it three ways—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore—it could be pretty significant, right? Our stretch is the biggest and longest. Singapore’s is small. Malaysia and us could just split it evenly between the two of us.
If only it worked like that—but of course, it doesn’t."
the last bit "If only it worked like that—but of course, it doesn’t." is casually left out to spice things up. lol
45
ImaginationKind92201 day ago
+9
That's the media for you. They are in the business of selling news, no news = no money. News headlines are click baits, they are just as bad as fake thumbnails on Youtube videos.
9
whimsicism1 day ago
+3
The comment on Singapore being small is exactly why we maintain a conscription military, lol.
If we didn’t have one, Indonesia/Malaysia would have tried to swallow us already. As it is, they stay away for fear of the stomachache they would get if they tried.
3
Mixander1 day ago
+4
😂😅
The valuable part about Singapore isn't the natural resources but instead their skilled people. So it would be kinda pointless to start a war and drive away the most valuable thing about Singapore and make them their enemy. But some stupid leader exists so just keep doing what you guys are doing bro, we know our leader sucks. Best regards from Indonesian people. 🙏
4
whimsicism1 day ago
+2
Peace, I bear no ill-will towards the peoples of our neighbours 🙏🏻
The ones who want war and will do this nonsense are always those who know that they can sit back and order other people to do all the fighting and suffering for them. With many politicians, it seems that the more powerful they get the more they lose their humanity too.
2
Kaito__14121 day ago
+44
Not happening. But not for the reason most people would think.
Iran seems to be succeeding at this primarily because they have nothing to lose. Their economy has been in the dumpster for 5 years, they have been politically insolated for decades, so when the US attacked them they had absolutely nothing to lose anymore.
Indonesia has everything to lose. It's not Iran. Not by a very long shot.
44
DecidedUser1 day ago
+3
Yep, this will be shot down instantly by both Australia and China. Think it’s just talk for the domestic indonesian audience.
3
uberusepicus2 days ago
+37
So back to the time of pirates..
37
aether282 days ago
+9
Well surely avoid scurvy if we all eat an orange…
9
YourAutoModsSucks1 day ago
+1
Modern day pirates are still pirating, often off the coast of Somalia with just a rubber dinghy and a bazooka/RPG - and I'm not talking about obtaining dodgy copies of software/media - one tiny armed boat can influence a large unarmed ship quite readily.
1
SheSaidOtaku2 days ago
+13
Dont think Singapore is keen on it.
13
mutantmagnet1 day ago
+3
The Indonesian rep is saying he wants to do this with cooperation with Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore response so far is a hard no. No word on Malaysia on this offer.
3
shirak22031 day ago
+8
Malaysian Transport Minister said no yesterday, and the Foreign Minister reiterated no this morning.
Indonesian Foreign Minister hastily called for a press conference this morning, and said no.
Then, this afternoon, Indonesian Finance Minister was basically forced to call for another press conference, where he walked back on his dumb comments.
TLDR - Dumb Indonesian minister shot off his dumb mouth, while pretending to have the backing of his boss (President) to “consider things”, got fucked the next morning, and ended up doing the diplomatic version of public apology.
8
mutantmagnet1 day ago
+1
That's good to hear. It's bad enough that Hormuz is still closed. We don't need copycats.
1
shirak22031 day ago
+3
He was always talking out of his arse. Any SEAsian would know it instantly, which is why the response was so quick.
As the Malaysian Foreign Minister took pains to point out, ASEAN operates on consensus (both a good and bad thing, but that’s a separate topic), and that dumb idea was never even on the table.
The dumb arse did throw in a lot of disclaimers yesterday at the end of his interview though, which some others have pointed out in other comments.
In any case, only those not from SEA, and not keen military observers, will think that Indonesia actually has the military capability to pull it off. They can’t, period.
Drawing Middle East parallels is laughable, as the TNI is extremely far from Iran’s capabilities.
3
PainRack1 day ago
+1
To be fair. The TNI is working up to be the 2nd most powerful navy in SEA. They still in a 3rd place though.
When Singapore has a stronger navy than you, even AFTER you finish buying the carrier, I doubt this idea will work.
1
Organic-Motor19692 days ago
+57
Possible tolls and fees for all shipping in our future may contribute to rising inflation and global recession.
For 80+ years, the US has been the stabilizing force around the shipping world at ensuring free trade, until Trump attacked Iran and caused the cascading effects that precipitated today's events. Now we have Iran imposing (at least trying to) a toll in the strait of Hormuz and Indonesia "suggesting" transit fees (read: tolls) in shipping lanes. Other countries and nation states may follow suit in other waterways and guarded passages once seen as open to all for free.
57
beebs9142 days ago
+8
1 time use fee - $15million
Monthly subscription- -$500 million.
Yearly subscription- $1.5 billion (20% less than monthly think of the cost savings!)
/s
8
alex81552 days ago
+6
wait until they start introducing ads
6
beebs9141 day ago
+2
I could definitely see them putting billboards in the ocea
2
beebs9141 day ago
+1
Add free is an extra $1 billion 😆
1
Organic-Motor19692 days ago
+1
Bargain! /s
1
Protato9002 days ago
+29
Can't wait for Egypt and Panama to jack up canal fees threefold knowing that there's no repercussions. Maybe it'll actually help us decouple from the c**** low-quality consumer goods produced overseas and spur domestic manufacturing... actually no it probably won't, it'll just cause a rise in prices.
29
Organic-Motor19692 days ago
+19
Panama already charges fees, but they are in line with maintenance costs because it needs electricity for operating the locks and port control. Same with the canal through Suez.
Think non-manmade passages and straits through international waters where there have been long-time disputes that could easily trigger incidents. Things could get out of control quickly.
19
Leafy02 days ago
+10
If they did that Saudi Arabia would burry the hatchet with Israel and Oman and build a pipeline from the Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea so they could ship oil in either direction regardless of the situations on either sea they boarder.
10
Impressive-Weird-9081 day ago
People better get ready to go back from $10 shirts and dozens of Christmas presents.
0
TapCat132 days ago
+4
Against that famous.. International Law so many peeps throw with..
4
zaevilbunny382 days ago
+7
There is nearly 100 official acts of piracy in the Malacca Strait each year, and likely the same number that aren't reported. All they have to say is the Navy will no longer response to attacks on vessels that don't pay fees. The insurance increase alone will be more then the new transit fees
7
PainRack1 day ago
+2
Yup....
Piracy rose to 103 last year following a drop when the 3 powers coordinated policy patrol.
2
metadatame2 days ago
+5
This is interesting. Wild West on the open ocean.
5
MarkG12 days ago
+5
God here we go
5
T_J_Rain1 day ago
+2
Make protectionism great again.
2
ElApple1 day ago
+1
[you gotta pay the troll toll if you wanna get in that boys hole](https://youtu.be/cZiEAdpX3_o?t=23&si=yA424_nggKEOmIOw)
1
Fragrant-Peony1 day ago
+1
Thailand better get to work on that canal
1
Raltia1231 day ago
+1
He just said is as a joke and know it will not happen, if you read his full comments... But the media headlines lol...
1
ThrustmasterPro1 day ago
+1
I guess Australia have been doing those freedom of navigation exercises in the wrong patch
1
Banthian1 day ago
+1
So we keep the $300mil p.a.in foreign aid from now on?
1
houstonrockets331115 hr ago
+1
Indonesia is frequently mentioned as the least visible or notable large country, punching below its weight in global power projection (including soft power). Perhaps they woke up remembering they have an extremely strategic position in global trade with a shit ton of valuable natural resources.
1
External-Plastic-1542 days ago
-16
The most important country in Southeast Asia. Militarily allied with the United States.
-16
noir_lord2 days ago
+12
The most important country in terms of ability to influence the world in that part of the world is China.
12
WhydoIexistlmoa1 day ago
+1
China isn't Southeast Asia. It's East Asia. The other person isn't necessarily wrong.
60 Comments