'Asian, African countries have no common objectives'

Dozens of heads of state from Asia and Africa are attending the two-day Asian-African Summit that started on Friday. The summit, held in conjunction with the jubilee of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, aims to boost relations among the nations of the two continents. How do Jakarta residents view the event? The Jakarta Post asked residents for their thoughts on the summit.

Azas Tigor Nainggolan, 40, is a public advocate and activist. He lives in East Jakarta.

When founding president Sukarno and other Asian and African leaders organized the 1955 conference, they had a strong mutual goal, namely to strengthen the bargaining position of small and newly independent countries on the two continents.

They were able to achieve the goal through their strong determination, including the wish to free their countries from colonialists.

But I do not see the significance of the current summit because the countries do not have any common objectives. They have sharply different views on various international issues.

Aprilinawati, 27, is a public relations consultant at a company on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta. She lives in Cililitan, East Jakarta.

When I was in a junior high school, I liked history. I was proud that Indonesia was able to organize such a huge conference. I was inspired by heroic stories from history textbooks about Asian and African countries fighting colonialism.

The current summit is trying to revive the spirit of these earlier Asian and African leaders.

The countries participating in the summit are trying to reunite, but I do not think they will be successful like in 1955 because each country now has its own interests.

I do not think we can expect much from the summit because there are no common goals for these countries and I do not see any concrete objectives for the meeting.

If the countries are not able to strengthen their cooperation, it is because the group is too large and they have divergent interests.