Indonesia put forward a '€œrealistic'€ aim toward reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) during the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference (AAC), apparently based on its own experience in facing strong rejection from the five permanent members of the council.

Agreement to push forward reform to the UNSC was part of the three documents adopted by the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting on Monday, which was part of the conference. But the terms were considered general as it was deemed difficult to reach the same level of reform with all 109 participating countries, which also includes Asian superpower China.

'€œAsian-African countries share the similar belief that the council should be reformed but to different extents,'€ said Desra Percaya, Indonesia'€™s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN in New York.

As a result, the ministers only agreed in general terms that there was a need to reform the UNSC and that the two continents should be given more representation.  

'€œWe used general terms in the sense that it is the least that all countries can live with. A state where all countries can agree with,'€ Desra said.

The diplomat acknowledged that it would be good if the summit could mobilize one strong voice to reform the UNSC. '€œBut the AAC is not the forum for that. The forum is in New York,'€ he said.

The commemoration is expected to produce three documents: the Bandung Message, the Declaration of Reinvigorating the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) and the Declaration for Palestine. The outcomes resulting from the ministerial meeting would be discussed at the state/government leader level on Wednesday.

The article on pushing reform to the UNSC was included in the second document, said Desra, who led Indonesia'€™s delegation in the first phase of negotiations of the first draft of the documents in New York.

'€œIndonesia, as the drafter of the very first draft used very general terms to maintain balance. But there were some countries that tried to drag it to please their interests. Inevitably, it became long negotiations. At the end of the day, the representatives of the Asian-African nations agreed to revert to the early phrasing,'€ he said.

African nations are known for their position of wanting two more members from the continent on the council as well as veto power.

Discussions related to the UNSC reform also contributed to the delay of the Senior Officials'€™ Meeting on Sunday.

The UNSC has 15 members, consisting of five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members that are elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly.

Desra admitted that Indonesia did not push forward its position regarding UNSC reform in the UNSC documents.

'€œIf you ask what Indonesia wants, we want the UNSC to be more democratic, meaning that veto power must be dismissed. But that is not likely to happen. If you propose to dismiss veto power, those who have veto power will veto it,'€ he said.

'€œIndonesia agrees that the UNSC needs more members but we should not mention whether permanent or non-permanent members should be added, because it could instead be contentious,'€ he added.

'€œWhat we need is an intermediate approach, meaning that non-permanent members should be expanded and the tenure extended to four years,'€ Desra added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia was optimistic that it could win another UNSC non-permanent seat term, from 2019 until 2020. '€œWe have already secured support from a number of friendly nations,'€ he said.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, in her several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference, also lobbied her counterparts to support Indonesia'€™s bid to become a member of the UNSC.

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