RI makes NAM a more relevant movement

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.