Malaysia-Indonesia Relations Surmount Negative Publicity

For the past two months, the bilateral relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia has been quite ‘tense’ due to the Sulawesi Sea dispute. Although the Malaysian press was relatively muted regarding the incident, the Indonesian Press gave wide publicity to the issue, much of it with
negative overtones concerning Malaysia. The negative publicity was cited by some factions in Malaysia as evidence that the Indonesian Press was trying to discredit and humiliate Malaysia and thus ‘force’ Malaysia to relinquish its claim in the Sulawesi Sea. To them, the Indonesian media
appeared to be functioning as a ‘force multiplier' during the diplomatic spat and became the front line in Indonesia's ‘psychological warfare' against Malaysia.