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Belgium-Indonesia 70 years: From phallic symbols to niqab
Belgium and Indonesia were selected as nonpermanent members of the UN Security Council for the 2019-2020 period (together with Germany, South Africa and the Dominican Republic), which means the two countries will work even more closely together. Consolidation of our 70-year relationship and our mutual commitment to world peace, the environment and gender equality?
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Friendly welcome: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (right) receives a letter of credence from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Belgium Stephane de Loecker at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
W
hile a teenager living in Jakarta in the early 1970s, my parents had a statue of Manneken Pis they had bought on one of their visits to Brussels, perched on the wall over a pond inside our house. It was a replica of the famous statue of a cherubic naked boy peeing, the iconic symbol of the capital of Belgium.
Why Manneken Pis? Because of its water-spouting function of course, perfect as a fountain for their pond!
How on earth does a city adopt a peeing boy as its symbol? A number of legends explain this, but perhaps the most famous is that in the 14th century, a boy named Julianske peed on the blasting safety fuse of explosives belonging to enemy attackers intending to blow up the city walls, thus saving Brussels.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Belgium-Indonesia relations, two countries of outwardly great contrasts. By size, Indonesia is the world’s 15th largest country, while Belgium ranks 138th. Population-wise, Indonesia has the fourth-largest population with over 270 million people, while Belgium ranks 79th with a population of about 11.5 million.
Yet I was surprised to find interesting connections and similarities between the two countries.
Indonesia is one of the world’s most diverse nations, but Belgium is also a melting pot of different cultures, languages, race and religions.
If Indonesia has 17,000 islands, Belgium has about 1,700 types of beer! Belgian beer culture is so unique that in 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included it in its list of intangible cultural heritage!
