Indonesian War (Alternity)

The Indonesian War was a conflict of the Cold War-era (non-Communist aligned) that occurred mainly in the southeast Asian and Oceanian nation of Indonesia, as well as former Indonesian territory on the island of New Guinea. It was fought from January 10, 1972 to June 13, 1979 between the forces of the Philippine Empire supported by its Manila Pact allies West Australia, Burma (then-Myanmar), and Canada and the Republic of Indonesia, supported by its allies - mainly the United States of America, United Kingdom, Korea, Siam, and the Netherlands. Unofficially the war began as early as February 1970, namely the result of continual Philippine expansion into Borneo and heavy skirmishing between Indonesian and Imperial troops.

The Lowlands Incident
The first skirmishes were intiated by a chance encounter in the lowland rainforests of Borneo on February 19, 1970 (what is today the Bentuang Kerimun National Park) between a group of some thirty to forty-odd Indonesian Army personnel on a training exercise - mostly recruits - and a small Imperial recon party sent to scout Indonesian positions and assess their troop strength in the region. As the Philippine party (consisting of around fifteen or sixteen of their 'elite' recon personnel) were crossing a small jungle clearing to access a moutain trail for a better vantage point, some of the Indonesian trainees sighted them, and thinking the Filipinos were a part of the exercise, opened fire, hitting and immobilizing three of the scounting team with stun rounds. The Imperials, however, returned fire with live rounds, killing five of the recruits and sending the rest scrambling for cover in the dense foliage.

Over the next three to four hours, the Indonesian and Imperial troops engaged in crude guerrilla warfare, most of the casualties were experienced by the relatively inexperienced Indonesians, while the Imperials used their superior training and equipment to virtually ensure they retained their complement. But by mid-afternoon, three fully armed Indonesian Air Force (INDAF) UH-1 'Huey' helicopters arrived to extract wounded and land a heavily armed platoon to drive the Filipinos out. Seeing no choice, the Imperial party retreated into the jungle and presumably back across the border.

Declaration of war
In August 1971, the Netherlands, former colonial masters of Indonesia and a close ally of the beleaguered nation, warned the Philippines to halt further aggression, but the Filipino Imperial Command igorned the warning and continued to engage Indonesian forces in both New Guinea and Borneo. Four months later, on December 22, Brunei swiftly collapsed under the heel of the Imperial military and, on January 10, 1972, the Netherlands declared war on the Philippine Empire. Two days later, West Australia declared war on the Netherlands and Indonesia in accordance with the Manila Pact of 1958, followed quickly by Canada and Myanmar. The United States would soon enter the conflict, along with Australia and Korea, on the side of the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Conclusion
Concluding in the Treaty of Singapore on June 13, 1979, the war yielded an estimated 1,236,440 military casualties, while civilian casualties have been estimated to be as high as 3.6 - 5.2 million, though exact figures are unknown to this day. The war revived flagging American spirits after their defeat in Indochina by the Philippines and established the current American policy of foreign aid to its major allies. It also ended the final phase of Philippine Imperial Expansion and resulted in tenuous peace between the Empire and much of the western world.