Asia, Africa must reduce dependence on the West

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