VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Two neighboring countries, Singapore and Malaysia, are still sensitive to border issues. Tuesday, October 5, 2021, there was an incident by a Malaysian police helicopter crossing Singapore's airspace illegally. In response to the incident, Singapore reportedly deployed F-16 fighter jets to drive the Royal Malaysian police helicopter back into its airspace.

Singapore seems to be seriously responding to the incident. Singapore's Ministry of Defense commented on it as a potential air threat. Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said the Malaysian police helicopter passed through Malaysian airspace as it flew to Tanjung Penglih in Johor. The Singaporean side at that time had made a call and warned it not to cross Singapore's air border. Channel News Asia reported that the F-16 fighter jet was then flown in to repel the Malaysian helicopter. In addition to the Ministry of Defence, the response to the airspace violation was also conveyed by the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs. So far there has been no clarification from the Malaysian side regarding the incident.

Relations between Malaysia and Singapore are quite sensitive in terms of the borders of the two countries, be it at sea, air or land. The last problem related to the border occurred in 2018. The two countries had an argument over the expansion of the Port boundary. At that time, the Singapore government expanded the boundaries of the port off the Tuas waters, supposedly in response to Malaysia's expansion of the Johor Baru port area. The Singaporean government calls the expansion of the Johor Baru Port an invasion of its territory.

The ebb and flow of relations between the two neighboring countries, especially regarding border issues, can occur at any time. National borders are indeed a sensitive matter. Therefore, in order to maintain good relations and improve cooperation, the possibility of actions that can be called intrusion or even invasion need to be avoided. Regarding the police helicopter flight incident which was deemed by the Singaporean authorities to have violated airspace boundaries, Malaysia needs to provide an explanation. In this way, tensions between the two neighboring countries can be avoided.