ABSTRACT
Being the largest and "potentially wealthiest" state of Southeast Asia, Indonesia was keen on creating a peaceful atmosphere in the region by way of promoting regional consciousness, economic cooperation and regional security. Indonesia and the Indochina countries already affected by the European colonialism since 17th century, were further invaded in the early 1940s by the Japanese fascists who tried to draw them into their orbit of "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere". In Jakarta's perception, the Cambodian crisis was a problem of national interest since Cambodia was regarded as the "soft underbelly" of Southeast Asia. The fall of Lon Nol government in Cambodia in 1975, Indonesia temporarily suspended its diplomatic relations with the new government of Democratic Kampuchea (DK). The Vietnamese military interference in Cambodia drastically affected Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN's) policies and perceptions towards the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV).
