Confrontation with
Indonesia
1962-1966
The Indonesian
Confrontation (or Konfrontasi in
Indonesian) was a small undeclared war
fought from 1962 - 1966 through which
President Sukarno of Indonesia tried to
destroy the newly created nation of
Malaysia.
Sukarno argued that the
new nation was in fact just a way of
maintaining British colonial influence
in the area.
Indonesia had recently
gained control of West Irian (formerly
West New Guinea) from the Dutch, giving
it a shared border with Australia in
Australian-controlled Papua-New Guinea.
Australia did not want any armed
conflict with Indonesia on its border,
but it also wanted a strong, united,
anti-communist Malaysia.
But when Malaysia was
created, Indonesia declared its
opposition and hostility to it.
Indonesian President
Sukarno was a militaristic, tough,
nationalist, who was also trying to
balance two great powers in his nation -
the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI),
and the Army. He hoped that his
opposition to Malaysia would keep both
of them together and in support of him.
During 1963 the
Indonesians sent small parties of
regular and irregular soldiers to wage
terrorist and propaganda actions in the
former British areas of Borneo (Sarawak
and Sabah). In 1964 they stepped up
their actions to include raids on the
Malaysian peninsula.
The Australian
government was reluctant to commit its
troops to actions against Indonesian
soldiers, but finally decided to do so
when repeatedly asked by the Malaysian
government.
 The main focus of
Australian attention was in the
Malaysian areas of Borneo (Sabah and
Sarawak). Fighting was in difficult
terrain and in an oppressive jungle
climate. The troops were sited along the
border to protect population centres
from enemy attacks. But they also made
frequent though secret incursions into
Indonesian territory, forcing the
Indonesians to defend themselves rather
than be an attacking force.
3 RAR had four major
contacts with Indonesian forces and
suffered two mine casualties in 1965. In
1966 they were replaced by 4 RAR, which
had a quieter time. In addition, two SAS
squadrons, artillery batteries,
engineers and RAN ships were involved.
23 Australians were
killed, seven of these on operations,
and 108 wounded.
There was very little
press coverage in Australia at the time,
because of the sensitivity of the
operations and the cross-border
activities. The Australian troops were
all sworn to secrecy about having
entered Indonesian territory, and it was
not until 1996 that the ‘invasion’
was publicly admitted.
In 1965 Indonesian army
leaders staged a coup against Sukarno,
and massacred thousands of PKI members.
Once firmly in command, they stopped the
policy of Konfrontasi, and recognised
the new nation of Malaysia in 1966.
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