RI makes NAM a more relevant movement

President Soeharto is slated to hand over the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement today. Noted political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar observes that Indonesia has successfully turned the movement into an organization which is more relevant to the needs of the South.

JAKARTA (JP): The handing over of the chairmanship of NAM by President Soeharto to the President of Colombia marks an end to the three year period of Indonesia's high-profile chairmanship of NAM, launched in Jakarta in September 1992 with the convening of the first NAM summit in the post Cold-War era.

Without too much self-satisfaction it can be safely said that Indonesia's tenure as the chair of NAM during the transitional 1992 to 1995 period has been highly successful. Instead of lapsing into irrelevance in the face of dramatic geopolitical changes, NAM has emerged reinvigorated with even more members than before, and with a much more focused program of action.

The "Jakarta Message" produced at the 1992 NAM summit provides a clear blueprint for cooperation among the NAM members, and between the NAM countries and the rest of the world. Under President Soeharto's leadership the formerly political organization, which had mostly been at odds with the West, has been transformed into a socioeconomic cooperation for South-South cooperation and North-South dialog.

For Indonesia the Non-Aligned Movement has always had a very special meaning, since it is closely associated with Indonesia's own free and active foreign policy doctrine. The movement, established in Belgrade in 1956 by five founding members: Yugoslavia, Egypt, Indonesia, India and Ghana, signified the determination of these countries to chart an alternative and independent course in world politics dominated by superpower rivalries between the Eastern and the Western Blocs.

The idea of a third force in international politics, to act as a voice for the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa, first came into being with the first Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung in 1955. This conference was the first major international meeting organized by the new Indonesian Republic.

Indonesia's leading roles in convening the Asia-Africa Conference and in the establishment of NAM show at least two major aspects of the nation's foreign policy. The first is the country's overriding commitment to national independence, not just for Indonesia but also for all colonized countries. The second is Indonesia's own perception of its position and role among the so-called newly emerging countries.

From the early days of independence Indonesia has felt it has a special responsibility to help promote a more just and equitable international order, and to improve the welfare of the powerless and poor developing nations.

Indonesia's activism in these movements was not only intended to serve the common good of all of the countries involved, but was equally important in that it helped put Indonesia on the world map. In fact, the international recognition that Indonesia gained as a leading member of the Third World was a major source of national pride, particularly in the first two decades of independence.

Although NAM has always been regarded a major pillar of Indonesia's foreign policy, these were nevertheless years when the movement was not really too high up on the government's list of priorities. Towards the end of president Sukarno's rule, Indonesia's foreign policy veered to the left, alienating Jakarta from the NAM mainstream.

Conversely, after the establishment of the New Order, Indonesia no longer had close relations with communist countries. Indonesia's membership in ASEAN and the creation of the Inter- Governmental Groups on Indonesia brought Indonesia closer to the Western industrialized countries, while NAM was dominated by some of its more "radical" members, such as Cuba.

Despite continuing formal adherence to NAM, the New Order government paid little attention to NAM for more than two decades of its rule. In the minds of the New Order leaders NAM was identified with the flamboyant and "light-house" foreign policy of the Old Order, which the current government initially wanted to eschew.

Indonesia's recent chairmanship marked the renaissance of Indonesia's foreign policy and the increasing salience of external affairs in the country's political and economic lives. At a time when domestic problems no longer consumed most of the government's attention, and Indonesia had the capacity to play a more active international role, an opportunity arose to transform and revitalize the moribund NAM.

With the end of the Cold War, economic issues have replaced ideological and political questions as the major determinants of global politics. Here Indonesia is able to share some of its experience in carrying out economic development and in managing dependence on the West.

It is hoped that with the passing of the NAM chairmanship to Colombia, Indonesia's commitment to NAM will not also wane. NAM stands for a more just and equitable international order, to be achieved through South-South cooperation and North-South partnership. We still have a long way to go to achieve that ideal, and Indonesia can, and should, play an active and leading role in this movement.

The writer is a senior researcher at the National Institute of Sciences.