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.