00:00Did you know Indonesia once fought a hidden jungle war against Malaysia during the Cold War?
00:05In 1963, Malaysia was formed by uniting Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.
00:11But Indonesia's powerful president Sukarno fiercely opposed the new country.
00:16Sukarno accused Malaysia of being a British puppet designed to expand Western influence
00:21across Southeast Asia during the tense global Cold War.
00:24Just months earlier, Indonesia had forced the Netherlands to surrender Dutch New Guinea,
00:30boosting Sukarno's confidence as a rising regional power.
00:34Soon after, rebels backed by Indonesia launched the Brunei Revolt in 1962.
00:40But British Kroger soldiers crushed the uprising within hours.
00:44The following year, Indonesian fighters secretly crossed from Kalimantan into Malaysian Borneo
00:49and attacked a police station, starting an undeclared war.
00:52Most battles unfolded deep inside Borneo's vast rainforests,
00:57where thick jungle, heavy rain and almost no roads turned the island into a brutal battlefield.
01:03Soldiers from Britain, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand hunted Indonesian infiltrators
01:08through long jungle patrols, rivers, helicopters and hidden bases.
01:13Indonesia received weapons from the Soviet Union and China,
01:16while Malaysia relied on powerful military support from Britain and its Commonwealth allies.
01:22By 1965, secret British cross-border raids called Operation Claret
01:27pushed Indonesian forces onto the defensive across the jungle frontier.
01:31After a failed coup weakened Sukarno in 1965,
01:36Indonesia sought peace,
01:37and in 1966, both nations signed an agreement ending the hidden Borneo war.
01:42Subscribe for more videos of Southeast Asian history.
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