History will judge Asian-African Summit

History will judge Asian-African Summit

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Bandung

Fifty years ago, within these walls, the first generation of
leaders of the two great continents of Asia and Africa came
together and held the first Asian-African Conference.

Here they carried out a truly heroic deed; they gave voice to
the voiceless. Through them spoke the hundreds of millions who
populated Asia and Africa, and who had, until then, languished in
silence.

They spoke of their yearning for freedom, which could not be
denied. They expressed their hunger for peace, without which
there could be no freedom.

They made this clear: what they wanted was true peace, not the
peace between all-powerful master and helpless slave, nor the
peace of the graveyard that comes after violent conflict.

It must be a peace born of goodwill between equals.

They affirmed that all nations, all human beings are equals by
virtue of their humanity. And all have an equal right to live --
not just survive but to live in freedom, which is the most
fundamental of human rights.

This is the essence of the Dasa Sila Bandung, which they laid
down as a code of ethics for international relations.

To help achieve peace, they would work in concert to bring
back the gift of reason to a global landscape unreasonably
divided into power blocs. They would therefore uphold and promote
the principles and ideals engraved in the Charter of the United
Nations.

That desire for peace was the seed that would eventually
sprout into the Non-Aligned Movement, the greatest movement for
peace that the world has ever seen.

They also spoke of their desire for economic and social
development, without which there could be no human dignity. They
would work closely to redeem themselves from poverty, ignorance
and prejudice.

This determination to work together, this deep sense of
kinship among Asian and African nations came to be known as the
Bandung Spirit. I like to think, however, that this Spirit was
already developing long before Bandung gave it a name.

Since ancient times, there has been a great deal of cultural
and commercial contact between our continents. The immensity of
the Indian Ocean has never been an impassable barrier. It has
always been a busy highway.

Time and again, adventurers, missionaries, traders, envoys and
exiles from one continent crossed over to the other. They did so
at a frequency that was amazing -- since they did not have the
benefit of modern technology.

But the first major demonstration of the spirit of Asian-
African solidarity and kinship would not take place until the
middle of the 20th century.

That was in 1949 in New Delhi where the Conference of Asian
and African Nations gave notice to the world that they were all
solidly behind the Republic of Indonesia in its revolutionary
struggle for independence and sovereignty.

As early as 1947, several African and Middle Eastern as well
as Asian countries had been individually supporting the
Indonesian revolution. But they all came out in force together
for Indonesia in 1949.

That crucial demonstration of Asian-African solidarity helped
ensure the survival of our young Republic. Indonesia may
therefore be regarded as the first child of Asian-African
solidarity.

Indonesia seized a historic opportunity to return the favor by
hosting the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 1955. That was
when the spirit of Asian-African solidarity assumed a proper name
and a reference point.

Participants and sympathetic observers went so far as to call
Bandung the Peace Capital of Asia-Africa. Humbly we in Indonesia
accept that designation for this highland city. We do so in honor
of the statesmen who labored here 50 years ago in the name of
peace.

Since that time, too, the Bandung Spirit has been a guide and
a rallying cry for generations of Asian and African leaders. It
was this same Spirit that inspired us yesterday in Jakarta to
establish a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership.

Through this partnership we will pool together the vast
resources and the tremendous creative energies of Asia and Africa
to solve some of the most persistent problems of development we
are facing.

Through this partnership we will contribute significantly to
the ultimate conquest of poverty as a constant torment of the
human condition.

And through this partnership we will advance the cause of
peace, equitable prosperity and social justice.

One day all of us who are gathered here will be judged by
history. That judgment will not be based on what we say here nor
on what we said at the Summit we just held.

History will judge us on the basis of what we do in the days,
months and years ahead -- whether we are faithful to the Bandung
Spirit or if we betray it through failure of political nerve.

We will be judged on how dedicated we are to our Strategic
Partnership, on whether we can make it work to ensure a better
life for our children's children.

Let us therefore join hands in a prayer that we will deserve
the kindness of history.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered this speech on
Sunday during the closing ceremony of the observance of the 50th
anniversary of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung.