{"id":32238,"date":"2017-06-05T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=32238"},"modified":"2017-06-04T23:01:40","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T13:01:40","slug":"durian-pact-five-power-defence-arrangements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/durian-pact-five-power-defence-arrangements\/","title":{"rendered":"The durian pact: the Five Power Defence Arrangements"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"713\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-32239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/durians-1024x713.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/durians-1024x713.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/durians-205x143.jpg 205w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/durians-768x535.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/durians.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A five-nation defence pact for which the peak ministerial council has met only 10 times in 46 years is a happy institution. Threats can\u2019t be pressing and the military machinery must be running smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the durian pact, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austlii.edu.au\/au\/other\/dfat\/treaties\/1971\/21.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Five Power Defence Arrangements<\/a> of Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Durian is Southeast Asia\u2019s pungent fruit (think rich, soft, juicy flesh with rotting aroma). Although more aeronautical than aromatic, FPDA shares durian characteristics. Just as the strange smell doesn\u2019t deter durian lovers, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/fpda-not-fade-away\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">odd nature<\/a> of FPDA doesn\u2019t worry its members\u2014the taste is what matters.<\/p>\n<p>The durian has a formidable husk, and the FPDA\u2019s endurance means it\u2019s preparing for 50<sup>th<\/sup> birthday celebrations. The fruit and pact are distinctly Southeast Asian, yet both draw adherents from beyond the region. As durian is an unusual fruit, so FPDA is strange but useful\u2014and none of the five powers wants to give up the habit.<\/p>\n<p>For the latest tasting, four of the Defence Ministers gathered in Singapore for the 10th meeting of their \u2018pinnacle decision-making platform\u2019 (Britain\u2019s Minister stayed home electioneering). Their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mindef.gov.sg\/imindef\/press_room\/details.html?name=02jun17_js&amp;date=2017-06-02#.WTOGuWiGNPY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joint statement<\/a> averred:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>FPDA is a \u2018constructive multilateral agreement and remains an integral part of the region&#8217;s security architecture\u2019<\/li>\n<li>the pact has built trust and enhanced military interoperability among the five powers<\/li>\n<li>FPDA contributes to peace and security in Southeast Asia, playing a \u2018vital confidence-building role\u2019<\/li>\n<li>terrorism poses a clear and present threat. Ministers agreed to \u2018share intelligence to deal with terrorist threats against Malaysia and Singapore, and further measures to strengthen counter-terrorism activities\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The why and the way of FPDA\u2019s creation tell much about what it is today. This distinctive pact was born in 1971 in response to three great breaches in Southeast Asia:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Indonesia\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/eresources.nlb.gov.sg\/history\/events\/f950e04d-44d7-47ad-a10c-16dfb0cc9ce3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Konfrontasi<\/em><\/a> military campaign against Malaysia and Singapore from 1963 to 1966. FPDA was insurance against the return of a bellicose, aggressive Indonesia. <em>Konfrontasi <\/em>still has a place in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.awm.gov.au\/articles\/event\/indonesian-confrontation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">regional<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsis.edu.sg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/CO15054.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memory<\/a> of the five powers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Singapore was ejected from Malaysia\u2019s Federation in 1965 because of \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/eresources.nlb.gov.sg\/history\/events\/dc1efe7a-8159-40b2-9244-cdb078755013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">deep political and economic differences<\/a> between the ruling parties of Singapore and Malaysia\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Britain\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/eresources.nlb.gov.sg\/infopedia\/articles\/SIP_1001_2009-02-10.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2018East of Suez\u2019<\/a> withdrawal of\u00a0forces from Malaysia and Singapore in 1971.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Indonesia no longer pays much attention to the anti-Indonesia roots of this \u2018integral\u2019 bit of the region\u2019s security architecture. Jakarta\u2019s benign view was expressed by the former Defence Minister, Benny Murdani, when he said \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rsis.edu.sg\/wp-content\/uploads\/rsis-pubs\/WP195.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">if FPDA makes its members feel secure<\/a>, then regional security is enhanced and Indonesia is happy\u2019. Murdani was speaking at a Canberra conference on Australia\u2019s 1994 Defence White Paper, and at the time I saw it as Jakarta offering an embrace to Oz and assurance to Singapore and Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p>Australia and New Zealand stepped up as Britain exited; FPDA still matters far more in Canberra than in does in London. Because the Brits departed in haste, FPDA had to be a practical bit of working kit from birth. The Integrated Air Defence System (IADS) HQ at Malaysia\u2019s Butterworth Air Base started in September 1971, two months before the British Far East Command was terminated.<\/p>\n<p>Controlling the joint air defence of Singapore and Malaysia, IADS has always been commanded by an Australian RAAF officer. Neither Singapore nor Malaysia could allow the other to have titular command of their defence; the Australian at the top was the solution that keeps-on-keeping-on. For decades, Australian Defenceniks boasted that with IADS at its heart, FPDA was Southeast Asia&#8217;s only \u2018multilateral security arrangement with an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/21536609?fsrc=scn\/fb\/wl\/ar\/echoesofdreamland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">operational dimension<\/a>\u2019. Not bad for Arrangements that merely oblige consultation.<\/p>\n<p>The RAAF thinks of Butterworth as a patch of Oz, especially for regular long range patrols. The bit-of-Oz sentiment has faded but still matters. As a journo, I went to Butterworth with Defence Minister Kim Beazley, to cover the 1988 withdrawal ceremony as Australia ended its basing of an <a href=\"http:\/\/australianaviationmuseum.com.au\/the-collection\/dassault-mirage.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RAAF Mirage fighter squadron in Malaysia<\/a>. While Australia might rotate its new <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/McDonnell_Douglas_F\/A-18_Hornet_in_Australian_service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">F\/A-18 Hornets<\/a> through Butterworth, a squadron could no longer be based there,\u00a0 because of growing Malaysian sensitivities about sovereignty and the particular touchiness of Prime Minister Mahathir.<\/p>\n<p>As capabilities evolved and confidence grew, the IADS initials were restructured at the start of this century to become the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regionalsecurity.org.au\/Resources\/Files\/vol3no1Thayer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Integrated Area Defence System<\/a>. FPDA keeps its form but grows.<\/p>\n<p>FPDA is a one-way security guarantee offered by Australia, New Zealand and Britain to the two Southeast Asian members. By contrast, in its two security agreements with Indonesia (first under Paul Keating and then a larger framework treaty under John Howard) Australia got reciprocal pledges from Indonesia.<\/p>\n<p>The FPDA is all about Singapore and Malaysia. The pact takes its strength from its limitations. Singapore\u2019s Defence Minister, Dr Ng Eng Hen, notes that for all its evolution, the pact keeps to its Singapore-Malaysia remit. When asked if FPDA had a role in the South China Sea, Dr Ng adopted his medical persona to say that FPDA wouldn\u2019t have a specific or direct role: \u2018in medicine we call it a \u201cdose response\u201d, so it does not\u2019. FPDA\u2019s dose purpose is to soothe dealings between Singapore and Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p>Writing often on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-future-of-the-five-power-defence-arrangements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FPDA\u2019s<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/opinion\/developing-the-five-power-defence-arrangements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">role<\/a> as a communication channel and security promise between Singapore and Malaysia, Tim Huxley from IISS Singapore judges relations between the two the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/opinion\/developing-the-five-power-defence-arrangements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2019best they have ever been<\/a>\u2019. Granted, that relationship has often been deeply lousy. Today\u2019s happy state owes something to the endurance and mutual enjoyment of the durian pact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A five-nation defence pact for which the peak ministerial council has met only 10 times in 46 years is a happy institution. Threats can\u2019t be pressing and the military machinery must be running smoothly. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":32239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,1922,8,102,73,50,141],"class_list":["post-32238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-fpda","tag-indonesia","tag-malaysia","tag-new-zealand","tag-singapore","tag-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The durian pact: the Five Power Defence Arrangements | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/durian-pact-five-power-defence-arrangements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The durian pact: the Five Power Defence Arrangements | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; A five-nation defence pact for which the peak ministerial council has met only 10 times in 46 years is a happy institution. 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