by proldic » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:50 pm
<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>In his book, The Color of Curtain (The Mississippi University Press), Richard Wright writes about the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference, "The despised, the insulted, the hurt, the dispossessed -- in short, the underdogs of the human race were meeting. Here were class and racial and religious consciousness on a global scale. Who have thought of organizing such a meeting? And what had these nations in common? Nothing, it seemed to me, but what their past relationship to the Western world had made them feel. This meeting of the rejected was in itself a kind of judgment upon the Western world!"<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br>The Idea of an Asian-African Conference<br>...Indonesian foreign policy delivered by the Prime Minister Mr. Ali Sastroamidjojo to the parliament on 25 August 1953 stated:<br><br>“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 in creating peace in the world. The cooperation between those countries is in line with the rules in the United Nations which fever regional arrangements. Moreover, those countries have in general same position on some international matters. Therefore, they have the common ground to organize a special group. Thus, we will continue to carry on and strengthen that cooperation.” ...<br><br>At the beginning of 1954, the Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Sir John Kotelawala invited the Prime Ministers of Burma (U Nu), India (Jawaharlal Nehru), Indonesia (Ali Sastroamidjojo), and Pakistan (Mohammed Ali) to an informal meeting in his country. The invitation received warm welcome from all the invited prime ministers. <br><br>The meeting, later known as the Colombo Conference, was held on 28 April – 2 May 1954. During the Conference the Prime Ministers discussed matters that involved common interests. <br><br>The attention of the participants was attracted by the question of the Prime Minister of Indonesia who asked:<br><br>“Where do we stand now, we the peoples of Asia, in this world of ours today?” <br><br>“We have now indeed arrived at the cross-roads of the history of mankind. It is therefore that we Prime Ministers of five Asian countries are meeting here to discuss those crucial problems of the peoples we represent. There are the very problems which urge Indonesia to propose that another conference be convened wider in scope, between the African and Asian nations. I am convinced that the problems are not only convened to the Asian countries represented here, but also are of equal importance to the African and other Asian countries.” <br><br>That statement gave way to the establishment of the Asian-African Conference. ..<br><br>The Prime Minister of Indonesia went to Colombo on the invitation of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, bringing the result of the working meeting between the Heads of Indonesian Missions in Asia and Africa held on 9-22 March 1954 in Tugu, Bogor, chaired by the Foreign Minister Mr. Sunario.<br><br>Finally, the Joint Statement of the Colombo Conference stated that the participants of the Conference agreed to convene an Asian-African Conference and agreed to the proposal that the Prime Minister of Indonesia explored the possibility of the convening of the Conference. <br><br>Preparation for the Conference<br>Based on the Joint Statement of the Colombo Conference, Indonesia was assigned to explore the possibility of the convening of the Asian-African Conference. In doing this task, Indonesia approached 18 Asian-African countries through diplomatic channel to study the view of these countries of an Asian-African Conference. Indonesia explained that the main goal of the conference was to discuss the common interests of the Asian-African countries, enhance the creation of world peace, and promote Indonesia as the host of the Conference... <br><br>On 18 August 1954 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Indonesia reminding Indonesia of the emergency situation in the world in relation to the idea of an Asian-African Conference. The Prime Minister of India welcomed the idea, but he was hesitant whether such conference could be held. Right after the visit of the Indonesian Prime Minister on 25 September 1954 that he was confident on the importance of the conference, as reflected in a Joint Statement after the visit of the Indonesian Prime Minister:<br>“ The Prime Ministers discussed also the proposal to have a conference of representatives of Asian and African countries and were agreed that a conference of this kind was desirable and would be helpful in promoting the cause of peace and a common approach to these problems. It should be held at an early date.” <br><br>The same confidence was stated by the Prime Minister of Burma, U Nu, on 28 September 1954. <br><br>Therefore, the preparation for the Asian-African Conference was considered complete and succeeded. The next step was to prepare for the convening of the Conference.<br><br>The Prime Minister of Indonesia then invited the participants of the Colombo Conference (Burma, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan) to a Five Country Conference (Konferensi Panca Negara) in Bogor on 28-29 December 1054 to discuss the preparation for the Asian-African Conference. <br><br>The Bogor Conference was succeeded in formulating an agreement, stating that the Asian-African Conference was going to be held and co-chaired by the five countries as sponsors. The invitations to participants were sent by Indonesia on behalf of the five countries. <br><br>The Aim of the Conference<br>The Bogor Conference produced 4 (four) basic aims of the Asian-African Conference, namely:<br><br>To enhance the goodwill and cooperation between Asian-African nations, to explore and promote their interests, either individual or common interests, and to create and promote friendship and relations as good neighbors; <br>To discuss the matters and relations in social, economic, and cultural sectors between the countries; <br>To discuss the matters, particularly related to Asian-African nations, for example matters related to national sovereignty, racialism, and colonialism; <br>To observe the position of Asia and Africa, and their nations in the world, to observe what they can give to promote peace and cooperation in the world. <br>Participants and Time of the Conference<br>It was decided that the Conference would invite 25 countries, namely: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Federation of Central Africa, People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gold Coast, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Thailand (Muang Thai), Turkey, Democratic Republic of Viet-nam (North Viet-nam), South Viet-nam, and Yemen. The conference was decided to be held in the fourth week of April 1955.<br>Considering that the invited countries had different foreign policies and political and social systems, the Bogor Conference decided that accepting the invitation did not mean that the invited countries would change its view on the status of other countries. The Conference also upheld the principle that governmental system or the way of life of a certain country could not be intervened by other countries. The main goal of the Conference was to make the participants understand each others’ positions. <br><br>Organizational Structure of the Organizing Committee<br>In preparing the Asian-African Conference, Indonesia established a secretariat for the conference represented by the sponsor countries. <br><br>To implement the results of the Bogor Conference, the five sponsor countries soon established a Joint Secretariat. Indonesia was represented by Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Roeslan Abdul Gani acting as Chairman, while four other countries were represented by their Heads of Missions in Jakarta, namely U Mya Sein of Burma, M. Saravanamuttu of Sri Lanka, B.F.H.B. Tyobji of India, and Choudhri Khaliquzzaman of Pakistan. There were 10 staff doing daily routines, two of them were from Burma, one from Sri Lanka, two others from India, four from Indonesia, and one from Pakistan. Beside the 10 staff, there were 4 committees, namely Committee for Politics, Committee for Economy, Committee for Social Matters, and Committee for Culture. In addition, there were also committees for finance, equipment, and press... <br><br>On 15 January 1955 the invitation to the Asian-African Conference were sent to 25 (twenty five) heads of government in Asia and Africa. From the 25 countries invited, only one rejected the invitation, namely the Central African Federation, since the country was still occupied by the colonialist. Meanwhile, the other 24 countries welcome the invitation, even some of them were hesitant. Some of the delegation arrived in Bandung via Jakarta on 16 April 1955...<br><br> ...even though the participants came from different nations, different social, cultural, religion, political background, and even different skin color, we could be united by the same bitter experiences caused by colonialism, by the same devotion to defend and strengthen the world peace.<br><br>At the end of his speech, the President said: <br><br>“I hope that it will give evidence of the fact that we, Asian and African leaders, understand that Asia and Africa can prosper only when they are united, and that even the safety of the world at large can not be safeguarded without a united Asian-African. I hope that this Conference will give guidance to mankind, will point out to mankind the way which it must take to attain safety and peace. I hope that it will give evidence that Asia and Africa have been reborn, that a New Asia and New Africa have been born!”...<br><br>There were some predictable problems in the following meetings, particularly in the Committee for Politics. The problems were caused by the differences in political view and problems faced by the countries in Asia and Africa... <br><br>The Final Communiqué stated among others that the Asian-African Conference had observed matters that were of common interests of Asian-African countries and had discussed the way of these countries to cooperate more closely in economic, cultural, and political field. <br><br>The result of the Conference was known as the Ten Principles of Bandung, which was a political statement containing the basic principles in the efforts to promote peace and cooperation in the world.<br><br>The Ten Principles of Bandung:<br><br>Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. <br><br>Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. <br><br>Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small. <br><br>Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself singly or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. <br><br>Adoption of the Outcome of the Asian-African Summit. <br>(a). Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers. <br>(b). Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries. <br><br>Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country. <br><br>Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties' own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. <br><br>Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation. <br><br>Respect for justice and international obligations... <br><br>“May we continue on the way we have taken together and may the Bandung Conference stay as a beacon guiding the future progress of Asia and Africa” (quoted from the last part of the closing speech of the Chair of the Asian-African Conference).<br><br>"For long years we Asian and African people have tolerated decisions made in our stead by those countries which placed their own interests above all else. We lived in poverty and humiliation. But tremendous changes have taken place in the past years. Many peoples and countries have awakened from centuries of slumber. Tranquility has given way to struggle and action. This irresistible force in sweeping the two continents." (Zhang Yan, The Mississippi Quarterly Report, 1997). <br><br>...to fight colonialism, imperialism, racism, discrimination, and to claim equal rights for all other colonized nations in order to bring forth a just and peaceful world. <br><br>In relation to the Conference, The Christian Science Monitor Daily wrote at that time <br><br>"The West is excluded. Emphasis is on the colored nations of the world. And for Asia it means that at last the destiny of Asia is being determined in Asia, and not Geneva, or Paris, or London, and Washington. Colonialism was out and hands off is the word. Asia is free. This is perhaps the historic event of our century." <br><br>Fifty years after the Bandung conference, however, Asian and African leaders seem to have lost their enthusiasm to fight for their aspirations. <br><br>They cling to development ideology instead of people-centered development. They get involved in ethnic and religious conflicts. They get themselves into border disputes with their neighbors and ignore the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. They failed in building democratic institutions. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Many criticized the 1955 conference saying that the leaders who attended were part of the national bourgeoisie (institutional ruling elite). Worse, they offered themselves as servants of foreign forces.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <p></p><i></i>