Equality key to realizing Bandung Spirit

BANDUNG. Leaders in Asia and Africa reiterated the importance of multilateralism and equal treatment in strengthening cooperation between countries on the two continents, in the process criticizing the Western-led economic bloc for promoting inequality among nations.

Commitments were once again voiced by leaders of the two continents during the commemoration ceremony of the 1955 Asian African Conference in Bandung, West Java, on Friday.

“We realize that our dreams and ideals must be attained through cooperation in equal partnership between countries. I repeat, cooperating equally, with our friends and other countries,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said.

The President made his remarks before Asian and African leaders attending the ceremony at the Merdeka Building where the original conference was held in 1955.

Jokowi also called on Asian and African countries to forge cooperations enlivened by the “Bandung Spirit” — alluding to international camaraderie coloring the historic 1955 Bandung conference.

One of the hardest challenges was eradicating poverty, Jokowi said.

“As a president who leads more than 250 million people, I acknowledge that Indonesia still struggles with poverty. We still lag behind developed countries in other parts of the world. Most Asian and African countries are still facing the same problems,” he said.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe concurred, continuing a theme struck by Jokowi’s Wednesday speech with strong criticism of the UN and the West.

“The UN is turning 70 years [old] this year. How long must we wait for the fulfillment of our just demand for the democratization of this institution?” he said.

He also said the UN was used as “a tool of statecraft by some Western countries”.

While Jokowi’s criticism of the West-led world was largely rhetorical, Mugabe cited concrete alternatives, including China-backed links as a means of considering “other options of securing our place in global affairs”.

“The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank [AIIB] championed by China, is the example of the way and manner […] that displays the voice of the South.”

The elderly leader also called on nations in Asia and Africa to enhance people-to-people contact through sports, academic, cultural and business exchanges.

“The value of our partnership should not be measured purely in trade terms, or monetary terms even, but more importantly, in the solidarity and friendship of our peoples,” Mugabe said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehlab, meanwhile, made an impassioned plea for Palestinian independence in his speech before state leaders in Bandung on Friday.

“People in Africa and Asia have a right to live and to move ahead. They have their right to be independent, but there is something left behind among us, and that is Palestine,” he said.

“We will never forget Palestine. They have the right to have their own state. Our leaders will never remain calm before we witness an independent and sovereign Palestine that can unite all Palestinians who have suffered for 70 years because of another nation’s occupation. The road is still long but it has been started by our founding fathers. We need to continue it. Do this by working together under the spirit and the 10 principles of the Bandung Conference,” Mehlab said, to applause from the audience.

The commemoration ceremony on Friday was the final part of the six-day Asian-African Conference’s 60th Anniversary Commemoration (AACC). (Bagus BT Saragih)