Have been thinking about this for sometime.
The FDPA is not a big thing in UK. I am not surprised that most
brits have not even heard of it..... but this is not the point
here. The original plan is to defend msia & spore. should
external threats arose, the 5 nations are not consult each other.
this arrangement is not a binding...in the words of LKY, to consult
is better than not to consult.
with the passage of time, the indonesians and communists are no
longer a threat, as well, UK isn't the UK it used to be...... they
can seems to build anything on time nowadays.....and yes they are
miles away. The aussies are still a force to reckon with but
without the brits in it, they will not participate anyways... the
kiwis..... hell, why did i mentioned this name in the first
place?
given the increased defence spending in both msia & spore and
the increasing sophisication of both armed forces, do we still need
this defense framework? is this framework outmoded? will this
framework continue to create mistrust amongst ASEAN member nations
(especially indonesia)? With so many planes and ship conducting
exercise in south china sea, i bet even the americans want to send
their EP-3s there to check things out....
But not all is bad, given UK's role in Nato, they have the skills
and knowledge in anti-sub warfare. This is useful for both msia and
spore are building a sub arm. the FDPA exercise can allow them to
improve on sub warfare.
both aussies and UK have combat experience, training with them can
help improve the profiency and professionalism of both armed
forces......
FDPA is also a platform for both the armed forces of both msian and
spore to come work together. it will not clear all the mistrust but
to have a platform to work with is better than no
platform.....
so the decision is a military point of view vs political point of
view..... it is pretty obvious that the politicans still view this
FDPA as a useful tool if not it would be gone long time ago......
but still this topic can generate a lot of interesting responses
and counter-responses. would be happy to hear them all with the
view that all of us can have a better understanding of this issue.
It would be more interesting to hear from msians on this issue.
enough of those paper rivalry......maybe we can discuss something
that effect us all.
