Dr Ng Eng Hen, the minister for Defence has said that Singapore will accept Indonesia’s apology “at face value”.
He said on Sunday that both Singapore and Indonesia need to get over this incident and move forward.
What is puzzling is that Dr Ng seems to be responding to an apology that was never given. It was originally reported that Indonesia’s Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces has apologized to Singapore over the naming of warship KRI Usman Harun, however he later clarified that this was not the case.
General Moeldoko said that his ‘apology’ was in fact just him saying ‘sorry, but the name is final’. He expressed that his original interview with Signapore’s Channel News Asia had been twisted.
However, despite the clarification, Dr Ng Eng Hen has said that the retraction of the apology is an Indonesian domestic politics issue and Singapore should not get involved.
He emphasized that Singapore will still accept the apology at face value and work on moving forward from this incident instead.
Related:
NG ENG HEN: WE WILL CONTINUE COOPERATING WITH INDONESIA NOW THAT GENERAL MOELDOKO APOLOGISED
INDONESIAN CHIEF OF ARMY APOLOGISES FOR THE NAMING OF KRI USMAN HARUN
GENERAL MOELDOKO: SINGAPORE MISUNDERSTOOD ME, I NEVER APOLOGISED FOR WARSHIP'S NAME