Indonesia-Africa relationship

Be ready for a shock: Indonesia, despite its geographical distance, has been known in Africa for ages. The island of Madagascar in Southern Africa was populated by immigrants from various parts of the Indonesia archipelago. Their migration was continuous until 1511. Today many Madagascans are children of mixed couples, Africans and immigrants from Indonesia.

South Africa alone has about a million men and women of Malay extraction, who were enslaved by the Dutch colonial administration in Indonesia which maintained close ties with the South African colonial administration.

In 1955, Indonesia hosted the historic Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, attended by a number of African leaders including the popular African nationalist Sir Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. At the moment most Arab countries of North Africa are represented here in Jakarta. Nigeria was the first sub-saharan African nation to establish an embassy in Jakarta in the early 1980s.

More African nations are becoming interested in Indonesia. Just within the last four months no less than three African countries established diplomatic relations with Jakarta. The Indonesian-African trade relationship is interdependent. Each side needs the other. In May 1996, this was demonstrated by an agreement-signing ceremony at the state palace between the Indonesian delegation led by President Soeharto, and the Burkinabe delegation led by President Blaise. Indonesia needs cotton for its textile industry, and Burkina Faso needs Indonesian aircraft.

In the island of Madagascar there is an Indonesian language center, and there are a number of African students (mainly Ugandans) at Gajah Mada university in Yogyakarta.

Economically speaking, much could be done to improve matters. Indonesian businessmen do not know where to obtain Africa business information. The situation is no different in African countries where businessmen know only little about business potentials of Indonesia. This is why a good opportunity exists for Indonesian businessmen to establish "an African business information center" to sell information and other services to business tycoons.

BUHARI ABDU

Jakarta