Indonesia and the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference

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.