Why Konfrontasi?

[Edited, 1/4/2022]

If you search "Why did Konfrontasi happened?" you will get some "official" answers.

If you are like me, you would be dissatisfied with the answers. 

Officially, this is Singapore's sanitised history:

Konfrontasi (or Confrontation, 1963–1966) was Indonesia’s response to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, arising from the British decolonisation process in Southeast Asia. Konfrontasi involved armed incursions, bomb attacks and other subversive acts aimed at destabilising the states that were to be included in the Federation, namely, Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo (now known as Sabah).
When the concept of Malaysia was first mooted publicly by Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman in May 1961, the Indonesian government initially did not raise any objections. It began to express opposition to the Malaysia proposal shortly after the Brunei Revolt of December 1962.

You may be satisfied with the above. Or you might dig deeper. Like what were the basis of Indonesian objection or opposition to the formation of the Federation? Further along, you read:

Indonesia criticised the Malaysia plan as a British “neo-colonialist project” and a threat to their country’s security. 

Which is diplomat-speak for "because I don't like!"

[Afternote: The research for this began several years ago, and at that time I did not provide links and references. This revision (1/4/2022) seeks to remedy that.]

And you have to ask yourself: So the Indonesians, or rather, more precisely Sukarno was so against a neo-colonialist project, that they would wage an undeclared war against the Federation? How would that help matters? What were the military or political objectives?

Yeah, sure, war. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. But why wage war against a fake Federation? Who is the real enemy here? 

The explanation leaves a lot to be desired. Or a lot of context to to be desired.

Unless there is another explanation.

The video below explains why the Indonesian capital needs to be moved, but early in the video it covers Sukarno's vision of a Greater Indonesia (or Maphilindo) that encompasses Malaysia today, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines (at about 1:13 in the video) with Indonesia. 

See if this rings true with you.

Indonesia saw itself as the big brother, and the natural leader of a Greater Indonesia (Indonesia Raya) that encompass Borneo, Peninsula Malaysia, and even the Philippines.

Sukarno had dreams of re-creating an Indonesia Raya (based on the historical Majapahit Empire, or something). 

Hence the creation of a Federation of Malayan States would be an obstacle to the creation of an Indonesia Raya. 

Thus, armed opposition to the Federation, might cause the Federation to sunder, and leave the little states ripe for assimilation to the Indonesia Raya.

This makes the most sense to me, and this is the working theory I have for the REAL REASON for Konfrontasi.

But feel free to believe the "official" (limited) answer you may find on official, "no fault", tactful version of history.

Mar 2023 edit: Or watch this video:

This video provides a wider perspective and context for Konfrontasi, and provides a lot of historical details, such as the Brunei Sultan's reluctance to share political power (and wealth) resulting in the Brunei Revolt, the fledgling independence movement in Indonesia, proposals for a Federation of North Borneo, and a proposal for Maphilindo to marginalise the Chinese, and the Federation of Malaya undermining the Maphilindo proposal, and how all these contributed to Konfrontasi. Which was a war, but not exactly.

It is not one thing, but a series of small things. That's history for you.

[31/10/2023 Edit

I found this video:

At 1:15 in the video: Konfrontasi was waged by then President Sukarno, who saw the British proposal for a Unified Malaysian State as a threat to his vision of a larger union of Indonesia, Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, Sabah, and Sarawak." So there it is -- Sukarno's vision for a Greater Indonesia. Under Sukarno. That I can understand.]