Indonesia and the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia, which declared its independence on Aug. 17, 1945, launched an historic movement in international politics 50 years ago by hosting the Asian-African Conference (AAC) in the city of Bandung.

It was the first-ever intercontinental gathering of colored peoples in the history of mankind and a demonstration of the growing diplomatic significance of the Asian and African countries.

In 1955, the young Republic, despite its own problems, along with four other countries hosted the AAC in which 1,500 delegates representing more than half of the world's population, took part and discussed world peace and peaceful coexistence among nations.

The other four sponsors were Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Pakistan and Burma (now Myanmar).

After a gap of 50 years, this week the now 60-years-old Indonesia along with South Africa are cohosting a similar meeting that is far bigger than the AAC in terms of the number of countries participating to forge a new strategic partnership between 54 Asian and 52 African countries.

Coincidentally, the idea of hosting both the 1955 AAC and 2005 Asian-African Summit (AAS) came from Indonesia and was put forward for the first time abroad during the meetings of heads of state/government in Colombo in April 1954 and in Phnom Penh in 2002 respectively.

Surprisingly, the first proposal came from Sukarno and the second from his daughter, Megawati Soekarnoputri. Sukarno was the first president of Indonesia and Megawati became the first-ever female president (2001- 2004) of the world's largest majority Muslim nation.

During the Eighth ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002, Indonesia proposed to South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki that their two countries should host the AAS jointly in conjunction with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference.

After the end of World War II, the world was divided into two blocs: the communist bloc led by the Soviet Union and the capitalist bloc under the U.S. and other Western powers. But the Cold War at that stage was mainly confined to Europe.

The emergence of communist China in October 1949 changed the political landscape of Asia.

The Cold War moved from Europe to Asia with the birth of the new China and the beginning of the Korean crisis in the early 1950s -- and later to Indochina and the rest of Asia.

Under those circumstances, Indonesia was looking for cooperation and unity among the newly independent countries.

"We are of the view that cooperation between countries in Asia and Africa is important, since we are confident that strong cooperation between those countries will strengthen the efforts to create peace in the world ... These countries have in general the same position on international matters. Therefore, they have the common ground to organize a special group. Thus, we will continue to carry on and strengthen that cooperation," Indonesia's then prime minister Ali Sastroamidjojo said in a speech to the House of Representatives on Aug. 25, 1953.

This was the first indication of the Sukarno government's intention of strengthening cooperation between the Asian and African countries.

In 1954, Ceylon's then prime minister, Sir John Kotelawala, invited the prime ministers of Indonesia (Ali), India (Jawaharlal Nehru), Pakistan (Mohammed Ali) and Burma (U Nu) to Colombo to discuss the security situation in Asia, especially Indochina.

It was during this meeting of the five prime ministers in April 1954 that Indonesia for the first time proposed hosting a meeting of Asian and African countries. But Nehru and U Nu expressed doubts about the feasibility of hosting such a big gathering.

Those doubts were dispelled when prime minister Ali visited New Delhi and Rangoon (now Yangon) in September 1954.

Indonesia invited all the leaders to Bogor in December 1954 to discuss the plan further. It was in Bogor that the decision was made to hold a conference of all the free countries on the Asian and African continents.

The five prime ministers were divided on the question of whom should be invited, especially in the case of China, Taiwan, Israel, both Koreas, and the Federation of Central Africa (now Zimbabwe and Zambia). The rivalry between Nehru and his Pakistani counterpart made things more complicated. India and Burma suggested that China must be invited but this was opposed by Pakistan.

Thanks to the Indonesian leaders' negotiating skills, the differences were put aside and Indonesia was chosen as the host and the remaining four countries became the cosponsors of the meeting. It was also agreed to invite 25 countries, including China, and representatives from Jerusalem, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Malaya, the U.S., and Australia as observers.

Of the 25 invited countries, only the Federation of Central Africa failed to attend the conference, which was held in Bandung from April 18 to April 24, 1955.

The conference, which was opened by Sukarno and closed by Ali, produced a final communique in which it was mentioned that the conference had reviewed the problems of common concern to Asian and African countries, and had discussed ways of how the peoples of these countries could cooperate more closely in the economic, cultural and political fields.

A major portion of this communique later became known as the Ten Principles of Bandung (Dasa Sila Bandung).

The AAC raised the spirit and boosted the morale of the people in those Asian and African countries that were still fighting for independence at that time. Thanks to the AAC, scores of countries attained independence in later years. Meanwhile, Bandung -- in the words of Nehru -- has become the center and the capital of Asia and Africa.

After the emergence of the new China, everybody was worried about the expansion of communism in Asia and Africa. Indonesia and its four friends took the right decision to invite China to Bandung. It provided a platform for China to introduce itself to the international community.

Instead of engaging in Cold War rhetoric as a communist state, China talked about "peaceful coexistence" between nations with different political and social systems.

The conference provided Indonesia with a chance to prove itself as the leader of the Third World countries.

The Bandung spirit of cooperation among these newly independent countries of Asia and Africa developed rapidly throughout the 1950s. Later it provided the basis for the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Though the Bandung Conference might have espoused world peace and peaceful coexistence, ironically, several countries like India, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia became involved in wars by ignoring the Bandung Spirit.

In the last 50 years, Asian countries have achieved unprecedented economic growth, which was once called the "East Asian Miracle", while the African countries, despite some improvements, are still struggling to catch up with their Asian friends.

In certain aspects, such as regional peacekeeping through a single regional organization -- the African Union -- and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Africa is far ahead of Asia.

The purpose of this week's Asian-African Summit is to share the experiences of Asia to help African development and vice versa.

The Ten Principles of Bandung

Dasa Sila Bandung

1. Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations;

2. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations;

3. Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations, large and small;

4. Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country;

5. Respect for the right of each nation to defend singly or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations;

6. (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defense to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers and
(b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries;

7. Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country;

8. Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement or other peaceful means of the parties' own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations;

9. Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation;

10. Respect for justice and international obligations.