Divide and Rule is the game for US in South East Asia

Amber Chye, Kuala Lumpur

The United States of America and its military ally, the Nato, are trying to pull South East Asia into a wider community of warring factions with the sole intent to control the rest of the world and with it the major strategic sea and air routes that comes with it.

While this seems far fetched since there are a few nations in South East Asia that are Muslim majority states, the fact on the ground remains implacable. 
The United States is definitely at work in South East Asia and has taken hold of the ASEAN in particular in a bid to fracture the movement and cause a major split among the neighboring nations. 

The only reasons why the US would want a split in the Asean and among its member states are as follows: 

A divided house is easier to handle as there will be no unity among the Asean member states. The unity that currently exist between the Asean member states has hampered the US from pushing forward its military agenda of conquest of the sea routes and the air routes of the countries that are of interest to American 'security'. This unity has cemented the presence of other 'super powers' such as China and Russia in the ASEAN with which the Asean member states still has good relations, and this too is not in favor of the US agenda in the area. If these are not sufficient to expose the current attempts by the US to break down the Asean grouping into a kowtowing one, instead of the one that is solid and is unitary towards its members, is the fact that the US has launched or is sponsoring a series of 'military exercises' in the South East Asian region as well as within the South Asian seas where China and Russia are mostly concerned. 

It has to be noted that four days after US state secretary Hilary Clinton left Seoul, South Korea, the U.S. launched the Invincible Spirit joint war games in the East Sea/Sea of Japan with South Korea, the following  month the latest of annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises with 30,000 American and 56,000 South Korean troops, and in September anti-submarine drills in the Yellow Sea.

Following this, the US supported the June and October 2010 naval and air exercises involving Malaysia, a largely Muslim nation member of the Asean forum, and  code named the exercise 'Bersama Shield' and the 'Bersama Padu', which was intented to comfort the Malaysian authorities that the exercises were to help the malaysians
secure their seas and protect their territorial integrity. These exercises has been seen with frowning eyes from Indonesia, the largest Muslim populated nation on earth with which the Americans are making 'secret deals' that could undermine the Indonesian-Malaysian relationships further. The double dealings by the US with Malaysia and Indonesia serves only the interest of the US in the Asean as it is intended to deeply divide Malaysia and Indonesia on military and diplomatic lines. The Bersama Padu exercises involving Australia is altogether another attempt by the US and Britain this time, to undermine the already soured relations between Malaysia and Indonesia as the Indonesians views the Australians as the powerhouse in South East Asia that has an eye on its territory, including remote Islands and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) that Indonesia has difficulty protecting.

World Future Online or WFOL.TV, the Malaysian based website campaigning for a demilitarized Asean region and against Nato's penetration in the area wrote: 
"Washington is using the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional group for a bigger military purpose and this strategy is becoming clear  to observers due to the U.S. push for greater influence in Asia.

By reaching out to nations like Vietnam, Laos and even Myanmar (Burma) as it has lately - ASEAN consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - "The United States is fomenting a long-term strategy to contain both China and  Russia in Southeast Asia....Before the Afghan war, the Americans could count on Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia along with Brunei in the region. Today the U.S. has Vietnam and Cambodia on its side." (In July U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Army Pacific led the Angkor Sentinel 2010 multinational exercises in Cambodia.)

Furthermore, Washington's recruitment of ASEAN nations, initially over territorial disputes with China, will lead to "turn ASEAN into a...military corps to fight for American causes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and surely Georgia and North Korea....Once the U.S. has achieved such goals, it will control the Malacca Straits and the seaways of the region."
The only way for the US to have a better control of the Malacca Straits, which is a very busy and strategic commercial sea route, is to divide Indonesia and Malaysia further diplomatically and create a military tussle between the two Muslim states. This is what is being achieved with the various military exercises and the many diplomatic efforts by the US to woo Malaysia while it keep Indonesia in the waiting for better deals...at least this is what the Indonesians are hoping to get from the US.

By putting Australia and Malaysia together on the same line of defense in the seas and the air, the Americans with their British partners are playing a dangerous game that could spark unprecedented military conflicts along the Malacca Straits. And it is by sparking such a conflict that the US and Britain with their minion partners Singapore will be able to have a definite and long term military control of the sea routes in South East Asia, including the South China Sea.