Asia, Africa must reduce dependence on the West

At least 56 heads of states will attend the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta on April 22 and April 23 and the Golden Jubilee of the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, West Java on April 24. The Jakarta Post interviewed several Jakartans to get their comments on the events.

Ferry Areza, 35, is a civil servant at the city administration. He resides with his family in Karawaci, Tangerang.

I don't really know about the issues to be discussed in the upcoming Asian-African Summit, but personally I hope that it will strengthen multilateral ties among Asian and African countries in order to reduce dependency on western countries.

Hopefully, participating countries will follow up commitments made during the meeting seriously.

We have spent a lot of money to hold such a huge conference. We don't want it to end up as a mere gathering to remember the historic 1955 Asia-Africa Conference. We want more from the meeting.

Wahyudi, 33, works as a freelancer for several publishing companies here. He stays with his family in Serpong, Tangerang.

The situation is so different now compared to the historic summit in 1955. I don't see any strong issues that could unite the participating countries that are worthy of being addressed during the conference.

In the past, concerns over colonialism and the unchecked spread of communist ideology might have been significant issues to discuss. But now, most Asian and African countries have their own headaches and most of them are so preoccupied with efforts to solve their own problems, leaving no energy to think about other countries' problems.

I am sorry to say that I don't have any faith that the meeting will produce any significant results. It will simply become an ordinary gathering of Asian and African countries; nothing more.

The Jakarta Post