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RI’s Global South commitment in question over muted AAC jubilee celebration
Jakarta is scheduled to hold an event to celebrate the Asian-African Conference’s 70th anniversary in June, but the Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier this month that there will be no “major” events involving high-level foreign representatives.
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Carnaval Asia Africa (The Jakarta Post/Arya Dipa)
I
ndonesia’s decision to tone down the platinum jubilee celebration of the Asian-African Conference this year has raised questions about its commitment to the Global South, with experts urging the government to meaningfully honor what they have considered the "most important legacy” of the country’s diplomacy, especially in an increasingly divided world today.
Jakarta is scheduled to hold an event to celebrate the conference’s 70th anniversary in June, but the Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier this month that there will be no “major” events involving high-level foreign representatives.
The move is widely seen as a deviation from the country’s long-standing tradition to honor the historical event where 29 heads of state descended on West Java’s city of Bandung to affirm their stance against colonialism.
The conference birthed the Bandung spirit, an international principle rooted in self-determination, non-aggression and non-interference, and later played a key role in the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961 when developing countries vowed to remain neutral during the Cold War.
The Asian-African Conference’s platinum jubilee has been widely anticipated by the diplomatic community, amid the increasingly divided geopolitical landscape today characterized by great power competition and growing calls from developing countries for a more just international system.
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The Foreign Ministry did not disclose any particular reason behind the decision, except that it only was following a directive given to the diplomatic corps. It however ensured that the legacy of the Bandung Conference will continue to be celebrated through other means.
