India interested in freedom of Asian people

India interested in freedom of Asian people

By Jai Singh Yadav

This is the first of two articles on the Asian Relations
Conference held in 1947 which contributes to the consciousness of
Asian identity following the collapse of colonial powers in the
region.

YOGYAKARTA (JP): From time immemorial, nations of Asia have
had very close interactions among themselves. This had led to the
blossoming of an Asian identity, an Asian sense of moral and
cultural values.

Look at the words of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then vice
president of the Interim Government of India, in a press
interview in New Delhi on July 28, 1947:

"India has been and is specially interested in the freedom of
the peoples of Asia. The recent Asian Conference held in Delhi
was a symbol not only of the resurgence of Asia, but also of the
cooperation of the different countries of Asia, for peace and
freedom....Any attack on the freedom of the people in any part of
Asia affects the rest of this great continent. The mere presence
of the colonial regime or of any foreign troops in any Asian
country is an insult and a challenge to Asia."

Or those by Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian Nobel
Laureate and poet who wrote these words after his visit to Java
in 1927: "In a dim, distant, unrecorded age we had met, thou and
I -- when my speech became tangled in thine and my life in thy
life... The time wore on, the dark night came upon us, and we
knew not each other ".

It was the same sentiment echoed by Nehru in 1947 when he said
that "we have seen the growth of western imperialisms, of the
reduction of large parts of Asia to colonial or semi colonial
status. Much has happened during these years, but perhaps one of
the notable consequences of the European domination of Asia has
been the isolation of the countries of Asia from one another".

If Nagasaki and Hiroshima brought World War II to an end,
simultaneously most of the ex-colonies in Asia became boiling
cauldrons, with the resurgence of nationalism, the sublimation of
"that deeper urge of the mind and spirit of Asia" to wage
struggles for freedom by throwing to the winds the yoke of
foreign domination.

It was this urge that led the peoples of Asia to realize, with
the end of World War II, that they stood "at the end of an era
and on the threshold of a new period of history".

Standing on this watershed that divided the two epochs of
human history and endeavor, they longed to look back on their
long past, yearned to look forward to a future, a new future with
a commonality of purpose filled with new challenges, new ways of
finding peace, prosperity and progress for their millions. Hence
the freedom struggles in many parts of Asia like in India, and
Indonesia.

On this occasion, when Indonesia is celebrating its 50th
anniversary of its independence, it is worthwhile taking a
glimpse into the happenings in those day of struggle, in the
various theaters of Asia, particularly outside Indonesia where
she was also involved. The first and foremost thing that comes to
one's mind is the Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi
from March 23 to April 2, 1947.

A young inquiring mind will naturally ask the question: Who
mooted the idea of such a conference?

From all available records, one thing which is very clear is
the fact that in a special interview in Allahabad in December
1945, Jawaharlal Nehru had explained how an Asian Conference
would be useful for the understanding of Asia's problem and to
the promotion of cooperation among Asian peoples.

In fact in March 1946, after a tour of southeast Asian
countries, Nehru announced that the desire for holding an Asian
Conference had been expressed to him by many, like Gen. Aung Sang
and others.

In his inaugural address to Asian Relations Conference, Nehru
himself had said: "It so happened that we in India convened this
conference but the idea of such a conference arose simultaneously
in many minds and in many countries of Asia ".

It was the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi which
accepted the above idea and took the initiative through an
informal meeting of April 1946 to organize this conference.

To the great surprise of the organizers a total of 28
countries including India with as many as 244 delegates accepted
the invitations and participated in the Conference.

The countries taking part were Afghanistan, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia (Cochin China & Laos),
Ceylon, China, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakstan,
Kirghizia, Korea, Malaya, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Siam,
Tadjikistan, Tibet, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Also taking part was Hebrew University (Palestine). Observers
came from Australia, Arab League, Britain, Soviet Union, USA and
UNO.

It is of great significance and interest to note that after
the host country India, Indonesia sent the largest delegation to
this first ever Asian Conference, consisting of 25 delegates and
six observers from the Indonesian Republic.

It was the first time in the young life of the Republic that
an official delegation went abroad to attend an international
conference. The Indonesian delegation led by Dr. Abu Hanifa,
played an active and dynamic role in the deliberations of the
conference.

Among the members of the Indonesian delegation were four
women: Mrs. H. Soebandrio, Jetty Zain, Soetijah and Mrs. S.
Hamdani, in addition to Siti Wahjunah who also attended the
conference as private secretary to the prime minister.

Mrs. Sutan Sjahrir also attended the conference. As far as is
known, only four persons: Djoeir Moehamad (delegate), Mochtar H.
Lubis (observer), Ali Budiardjo (secretary to the prime minister
and at the same time cabinet secretary) and Mrs. Siti Wahjunah
Sutan Sjahrir are alive today, in addition to the first wife of
prime minister Sutan Sjahrir (later divorced ) who is, according
to information, residing in Holland.

This conference was of an unofficial nature. Right from the
early stages of organizing the conference, the committee had
decided to avoid all controversies, confine the topics for
discussion to those aspects and problems common to all the Asian
countries on the basis of the data papers. Thus the subject
selected for the Round Table discussions fell under five groups:
National Movement for Freedom, Migration and Racial Problems,
Economic Development and Social Services, Cultural Problems and
Women's Problems.

The importance of the conference lies in the fact that, after
the lapse of many centuries of isolation imposed upon them by
colonialism, the Asian countries found themselves a common forum,
a common platform to come together, to meet each other and talk
to each other about their common problems.

Again this conference gained the distinction of being
addressed by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India, which in effect
turned out to be his last address to an international gathering.