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View all search resultsSpirit of Bandung Conference lives on in RI-Liberia relationship
Liberia is considered one of Indonesia’s oldest relationships on the African continent. This is because Liberia was one of three Sub-Saharan African nations that attended the landmark 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, West Java.
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Liberian President George Weah attends the 56th ordinary session of the Economic Community of West African States in Abuja on Dec. 21, 2019.
(AFP/Kola Sulaimon)
I
ndonesia and the West African nation of Liberia share a long history of diplomatic cooperation. But equally, this relationship has been characterized by a rich social tapestry of friendships, professional networks and shared values. This can be illustrated by the story of Bobby Whitfield, the chairman and CEO of the Liberia Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Commission (WASH).
Significantly, WASH is at the core of President George Weah’s national development program as set out in the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD). Since its founding in 2018, the National WASH Commission has been distinguished by strong domestic political support, world class governance and solid international donor commitments, including major funding to WASH projects from USAID, the World Bank and UNICEF. Accordingly, WASH has directly improved the lives of millions of ordinary Liberians by increasing access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Of course, George Manneh Oppong Weah is also known by tens of millions of soccer loving Indonesians as the greatest African player of all time. In 1995, he was named FIFA player of the year while also being awarded the coveted Ballon d’Or, world soccer’s greatest individual honor.
Every day, all over the Indonesian archipelago from Aceh to Merauke, village children play barefoot soccer just like a young George Weah did growing up in the underprivileged “struggle community” of Clara Town in Liberia’s national capital Monrovia. (In his 18-year professional career, Weah played as a striker for Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Associazione Calcio (AC) Milan, Chelsea, Manchester City and Marseilles).
Formal diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Liberia began in 1965. In fact, Liberia is considered one of Indonesia’s oldest relationships on the African continent. This is because Liberia was one of three Sub-Saharan African nations that attended the landmark 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, West Java.
Liberia’s strong support for what has become known as the Bandung Conference has positively framed relations between the two countries ever since. Significantly, it was not only conceived by Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, and coordinated by the respected Indonesian diplomat Ruslan Abdulgani (later Indonesian foreign minister), but energized by the social, cultural and economic advances made by Africa’s oldest independent republic: Liberia (The Republic of Liberia was established in 1847.)
Air Vice-Marshal (ret) and Indonesian ambassador to the Economic Community of West African States, Usra Hendra Harahap, also known as Ucok, acknowledges this legacy.
