Remembering Bandung<\/p>\n
Exactly 50 years ago, 29 newly independent Asian and African
\nnations covering half of mankind met in Bandung, Indonesia, to
\nmake their way up a global class structure in which they had been
\nno more than flunkeys and coolies.<\/p>\n
A few years later, in 1961, the leading countries formed the
\ncore of the Non-Aligned Movement to beat a middle path between
\nthe contending East and West of the Cold War. To this day,
\nBandung's spirit of assertive neutrality continues to backbone
\nthe external posture of the Third World.<\/p>\n
It has remained a standard text in the foreign ministries that
\nnow represent three-quarters of the planet's population. That
\nspirit, if less in deed than in word, was celebrated as more than
\na hundred countries gathered in Jakarta for the Asia-Africa
\nSummit, before going on to West Java to make pilgrimage to
\nBandung on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Yet, apart from the powerful symbolism of the half-centennial,
\nthe 1955 conference's ambitions remain woefully unfulfilled. The
\nweight of the world's majority continues to count for little, and
\nnowhere is this more evident than in the UN. Bandung's promise of
\nproviding ballast in international affairs has proved elusive.<\/p>\n
\"The real challenge for Asia and Africa is not about
\ndeveloping the power to confront, but the power to connect,\" said
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the summit's co-chair.
\nConnecting with the past, and preventing Bandung from relegation
\nto a footnote of history, has just been lavishly accomplished.
\nIts successors must now connect with the future.
\n-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/remembering-bandung-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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