History binds Indonesia, South Africa

History binds Indonesia, South Africa

The South African government invited six Indonesian
journalists, including The Jakarta Post's Dwi Atmanta, for a
press tour in mid-February as part of efforts to promote the
country ahead of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Asia-
Africa Summit in Bandung it is co-sponsoring in April. The
following articles are the report on the visit.

Foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda raised his eyebrows when he
realized his office had no expert in South African studies, while
Indonesia was busy preparing the golden anniversary celebration
of the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung in April.

This was good reason for an exchange of scholars Indonesia and
South Africa are set to sign an agreement on following the
historical celebration, Indonesian Ambassador to South Africa
Abdul Nasier recalled.

For Nasier, the conference would serve as a blessing for
Indonesia and South Africa, as the exchange would help boost
people-to-people contact, which the ambassador said the two
countries were lacking so far.

"People-to-people contact is what we are encouraging, before
we can move to better cooperation in other fields, particularly
economic," Nasier said.

Ties between Indonesia and South Africa had stretched over
centuries before they formalized diplomatic relations in 1994,
shortly after Nelson Mandela was elected president of the
Republic of South Africa.

The fact that pisang (banana), kantor (office), wortel
(carrot) are among the vocabulary of Indonesians and South
Africans is only minuscule evidence of the long-standing ties
between the two nations.

Old records say the relations between Indonesia and South
Africa date back to the 17th century when the Dutch colonial
government sent Indonesian political prisoners into exile in
South Africa.

The Cape of Good Hope (now the city of Cape Town) was the
place where the first unwilling migrants, mainly from colonies
occupied by the Dutch and the British, began to arrive and
settle. The Cape then was a regular stopover for trading vessels
plying the Europe-East Indies route.

A large number of the migrants were Muslims from Sri Lanka,
Madagascar, India and Indonesia, which was known as the Dutch
East Indies back then.

During the Dutch colonial period, the East Indies governor
general in Batavia, or Jakarta today, oversaw the administration
in the Cape of Good Hope.

The Dutch administration in South Africa took advantage of the
presence of political exiles from the East Indies by employing
them as slaves. Many of them were skilled artisans, such as
silversmiths, masons, milliners, cobblers, singers and tailors.
They were resettled in Cape Malay, since despite their diverse
origins, they spoke Malay, which was the "traders' lingua
franca".

One prominent figure among the Cape Malay settlers who
resisted the Dutch occupation of the East Indies was Sheikh
Yusuf, who came from Gowa in South Sulawesi. He was sent into
exile after supporting Sultan Ageng from Banten in his fight
against the Dutch. The Indonesian government named Yusuf a
national hero in 1995.

The South African government paid tribute to him for the
cultural link between South Africa and Indonesia he helped
establish.

The political relationship between South Africa and Indonesia
existed long before they established diplomatic ties in 1994.
Indonesia supported the African National Congress (ANC) from the
time the now majority party in South Africa's government was a
liberation movement, fighting the apartheid government under the
old National Party's rule.

During his tenure, Mandela paid three visits to Indonesia both
as the South African president and the ANC president.

As a leading developing democracy in Africa, South Africa
plays an important role in fostering closer South-South
cooperation Indonesia has also promoted. South Africa hosted the
1998 summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and succeeded
Colombia as chair of the organization. Both South Africa and
Indonesia are also playing leading roles in cooperating in the
promotion of North-South dialog.

Close cooperation between South Africa and Indonesia continued
when they co-chaired the Asian-African Sub-Regional Organizations
Conference (AASROC) last year.

Ambassador Nasier said the relationship between the two
countries had been limited to government level, or the elite,
which would not benefit their people at large much.

"South Africa has been complaining about the trade balance
between the two countries that is in favor of Indonesia. That
happens because of lack of contacts between people, including
businessmen," he said.

In the final year of his tenure as the Indonesian ambassador
to South Africa that will end in September, Nasier has been
working to bridge communication and understanding between the two
nations which he says will lay a foundation for cooperation in
other fields.

Following the Bandung Conference celebration, four Indonesian
universities and South African universities are scheduled to sign
an agreement on the exchange of scholars. The University of
Indonesia, Hasanuddin University in the South Sulawesi capital of
Makassar, Padjadjaran University and Parahyangan University, both
in Bandung, have been selected for the exchange program.

Nasier said the exchange program would not only produce more
experts in African studies, and Asian studies on South Africa's
part, but also intensive dialog between the people of the two
nations on the bilateral, regional and international challenges
they are facing.

"By learning from each other's culture and history, for
example, we can expand contacts between people in other areas,
such as trade and tourism," he said.

For Nasier the decision by Garuda Indonesia to terminate
service to South Africa not only proves the Indonesian flag
carrier's failure to optimize business opportunities there, but
the lack of knowledge among Indonesians in general about the
African country.

In a bid to boost cooperation in the field of tourism, the
ambassador is also helping prepare a cultural mission from
various towns in Indonesia to South Africa, including a visit of
dozens of Makassar figures to Cape Town later in March to
reestablish its historical link with the city.

Noting that colonialism and other forms of human rights abuse
have linked Indonesia with South Africa, both governments are co-
sponsoring a seminar on history and slavery that bind the two
nations. Indonesian Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra will be among
the speakers.

Prof. Dhiru V. Soni, who heads the Center for Asia-Africa
Studies at KwaZulu Natal University in Durban, agrees with
Nasier, saying a lot of opportunities are on offer for South
Africa and Indonesia to cooperate in the future.

"The fact that both Indonesia and South Africa are leading
developing nations should bring them closer together in promoting
South-South cooperation," Soni said, adding that the upcoming
Asia-Africa summit would help create a momentum that the two
countries could benefit from.

The center is providing a platform for dialog, exchange of
information and knowledge and to facilitate international student
and faculty exchange with particular emphasis on post-graduate
activities.

"There are golden opportunities for collaboration, knowledge
exchange and economic expansion," said Soni, who will visit
Indonesia ahead of the Asia-Africa summit.