Egypt-Indonesia ties soldier on after 40 years

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

JAKARTA (JP): Forty years ago in Cairo, one of Indonesia's most legendary political figures, Agus Salim, who was then foreign minister, in a very quiet affair signed a document with Egyptian prime minister Nokrashy Pasha formally solidifying relations between the two countries.

That small document signed on June 25, 1957, helped shape the future of Indonesian history.

Officially named the Treaty of Friendship and Cordiality, it marked the first de jure recognition of the Indonesian state.

Egypt's recognition precipitated a slew of international acceptance of newborn Indonesia. Syria, Lebanon and Iraq followed just weeks later. The momentum for international legitimacy for the new state of Indonesia had begun.

The significance of that treaty cannot be underestimated. Indonesia's first vice president, Mohammad Hatta, called it the virtual start of Indonesian diplomacy.

From that day, relations between Egypt and Indonesia have grown and the two countries maintain the closest of relations working together in various forums.

"The national conscious of the Egyptian and Indonesian people were destined to converge," Egypt's Ambassador Mahmoud Osman said recently. "It must have been far sightedness from both ends."

Through the years, the bonds have grown stronger as the two countries not only formed an affinity, but shared common goals and ideals.

"When a bilateral relationship is born from these kinds of circumstances it is destined to survive ... it is not coincidence that we find our two countries members of so many international forums," he said.

Both nations are founding fathers of the Non-Aligned Movement, active members in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and also participated in the newly formed D-8.

Egypt and Indonesia's cooperation became even more natural as both emerged as leaders in their respective regions.

The two countries are also heavily involved in the restructuring efforts of the United Nations and its Security Council.

Under the backdrop of the Cold War, the two countries led the way for the growing influence of developing countries.

"The relations between Egypt and Indonesia have been systematically evolutionary. Always developing for the better," Osman remarked.

He added that the bond had been especially good since he "cannot recall there having been a disagreement once with Indonesia over 50 years".

Much of the elements -- anticolonialism, the Cold War -- have now disappeared. Is the cooperation still as strong and what is the impetus and challenges facing the two countries?

Osman argued that "there is room for continuing the tradition for cooperation in the future," and said organizations like the OIC, D-8 and the UN were forums where Indonesia and Egypt almost always stood side by side supporting each other.

Political scientist Juwono Sudarsono, during a recent seminar commemorating the golden anniversary of the friendship treaty, noted the similar challenges facing the country.

Touching on Indonesia's challenges, Juwono said: "I believe that Egypt faces similar problems of balancing domestic, regional as well as global shifts in power."

"As second generation leaders, presidents Soeharto and Mubarak face vastly different and more daunting challenges. Both presidents must constantly nurture and calibrate the interweaving of their respective nation-state with the stability, peace and prosperity of their individual regional neighborhood," he added.

"As emerging regional powers, Egypt and Indonesia must remain firm in our commitments to provide sustenance and reach out to those below," remarked Juwono who is also deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute.

The most pragmatic is economic issues, both bilaterally and domestically.

Ambassador Osman pointed to the immense gap in the balance of trade between the two countries. Egypt currently exports less than US$10 million worth of goods to Indonesia but imports more than $181 million.

"We'd like to go beyond the traditional commodities to Indonesia which are sugar, cotton, fruits. We'd like to exports rugs, ceramics, electric appliances and textiles ... I know that you have your own good textile industry, nevertheless we feel that there certain textiles which Indonesia can use," Osman said.

Domestically, Osman said Indonesia's success in its development was a model for many to follow, including Egypt.

When asked about the challenges facing Egypt, which today (July 23) celebrates Revolution Day, Osman said it concerned efforts on economic reform and increasing productive land.

"We are trying very, very, hard to make ends meet given that the population of Egypt does in no way tally to the inhabitable area along the Nile. We must find new venues for development."

He said that an ambitious project was launched recently which boils down to creating a new fertile area through the Tuchke canal.

"Its like a new delta altogether," he said of this ambitious project which will take two decades to complete.