Uh-oh! The big, strong, proud Indonesia has just announced it's cutting gas exports to Singapore. This comes a week after it threatened to "review energy exports" to countries that "disrespect" it, following the haze disaster caused by the massive forest fires still raging in the country.

It's really hard to say what it wants to achieve, because the cuts add up to just 2% of Singapore's daily consumption – way too low to cause any meaningful problems.

Not to mention that the island has several months worth of energy reserves and can even switch its power plants from natural gas to diesel, if needed. It also operates a massive LNG terminal allowing it to import millions of tonnes of gas from any place in the world.

And, of course, it has the money to pay for it, even in the current market reality, with prices inflated by the war with Iran.

For a country whose president was whining about it being "insulted" just a few days ago, he picked the wrong methods, and against the worst of targets.

Singapore is rich, well-prepared and widely trusted.

Indonesia is an impoverished 3rd world backwater, producing about $5,000 in GDP per capita, and in enduring demand for foreign investment to help elevate its huge population.

The last thing that a country like this should do is sabre-rattling against the globally trusted financial centre in the region.

And yet, its dimwitted elites decided to do just that.

It's a spectacular public relations suicide.

Just look at the sequence of events:

  1. Indonesia – yet again – triggers a regional environmental disaster.
  2. Complains about its neighbours who demand action and accountability.
  3. Tries to punish one of them by cutting contractually agreed energy supplies.

If you're an international investor or a potential buyer trying to source some resources from Indonesia, what impression do you have of the country seeing this? That it's a reasonable, trustworthy partner? That it's a good idea to do business with it? That it is safe to pour billions of dollars into it?

Hell no.

Of course, foreign capital comes to all sorts of places – including those which are far worse than Indonesia. But the more risky the endeavour, the higher the premium demanded.

An unreliable partner needs to offer discounts and/or other preferential conditions for the investor or client to accept the heightened risk.

This, by the way, came days after MSCI's suggestion of a ratings downgrade of Indonesian stock exchange sent the index into freefall, wiping out tens of billions of dollars in value.

So, what do Indonesian authorities do five minutes later? Do they try to reassure everyone that they can be trusted? No, they take a pointless jab at the one place that international investors in the region go through – Singapore.

Now, all of this may just be a desperate attempt to appease the angry local public. Prabowo could be looking for a scapegoat, trying to sell people a narrative that would rally them 'round the flag.

Perhaps that's why he's trying to blame outside forces – ungrateful neighbours, former colonial masters, or ratings agencies – emphasising that the country will never be robbed again and will not bow to pressure. Typical, nationalistic distraction.

But can that really work when millions of Indonesians are suffocating in the fires that the administration is unable to control? And after it declined foreign offers of help?

Maybe regular Indonesians do not harbour all that much sympathy for Singapore. Maybe they do think that it's a financial haven for many corrupt local tycoons, who park their ill-gotten gains here, enjoying a jet set life, while millions suffer back home.

But I'm not convinced that they blame Singapore for the fires or the corruption and incompetence of the authorities who claim they don't need outside assistance to put them out.

I don't think they're buying the whole idea of self-sufficiency or that their "proud, strong" nation can do everything on its own. They can see that it can't.

Prabowo & Co. appear to be determined to escape accountability for the mishandling of the crisis. But by refusing to accept at least some responsibility, they are only undermining themselves and the entire country they govern.

As a result, it's increasingly unlikely that anybody is going to treat them seriously – whether in Indonesia or outside of it.