Sukarno welcomes the attendees to the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. He expresses pride that Indonesia is hosting the first intercontinental conference of Asian and African countries. He acknowledges the sacrifices of past generations that paved the way for independence movements and allowed this summit to take place. Sukarno notes the responsibilities that come with independence to find solutions to challenges facing the world and avoid another world war. He closes by contrasting the colonial past, when countries along the old "lifeline of imperialism" had no freedom or self-determination, with the present where attendees represent free and sovereign nations.
Sukarno welcomes the attendees to the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. He expresses pride that Indonesia is hosting the first intercontinental conference of Asian and African countries. He acknowledges the sacrifices of past generations that paved the way for independence movements and allowed this summit to take place. Sukarno notes the responsibilities that come with independence to find solutions to challenges facing the world and avoid another world war. He closes by contrasting the colonial past, when countries along the old "lifeline of imperialism" had no freedom or self-determination, with the present where attendees represent free and sovereign nations.
Sukarno welcomes the attendees to the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. He expresses pride that Indonesia is hosting the first intercontinental conference of Asian and African countries. He acknowledges the sacrifices of past generations that paved the way for independence movements and allowed this summit to take place. Sukarno notes the responsibilities that come with independence to find solutions to challenges facing the world and avoid another world war. He closes by contrasting the colonial past, when countries along the old "lifeline of imperialism" had no freedom or self-determination, with the present where attendees represent free and sovereign nations.
Sukarno welcomes the attendees to the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. He expresses pride that Indonesia is hosting the first intercontinental conference of Asian and African countries. He acknowledges the sacrifices of past generations that paved the way for independence movements and allowed this summit to take place. Sukarno notes the responsibilities that come with independence to find solutions to challenges facing the world and avoid another world war. He closes by contrasting the colonial past, when countries along the old "lifeline of imperialism" had no freedom or self-determination, with the present where attendees represent free and sovereign nations.
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APPENDIX 4
President Sukarno’s Opening Speech,
Afro-Asian Conference, Bandung, 18–24 April 1955 Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sisters and Brothers. It is my great honour and privilege on this historic day to bid you welcome to Indonesia. On behalf of the people and government of Indonesia – your hosts – I beg your understanding and forbearance if some circumstances in our country do not meet your expectation. We have, I assure you, done our best to make your stay amongst us memorable for both our guests and your hosts. We hope that the warmth of our welcome will compensate for whatever material shortcomings there may be. As I survey this hall and the distinguished guests gathered here, my heart is filled with emotion. This is the first intercontinental conference of coloured peoples in the history of mankind! I am proud that my country is your host. I am happy that you were able to accept the invitations extended by the Five Sponsoring Countries. But also I cannot restrain feelings of sadness when I recall the tribulations through which many of our peoples have so recently passed, tribulations which have exacted a heavy toll in life, in material things, and in the things of the spirit. I recognize that we are gathered here today as a result of sacrifices. Sacrifices made by our forefathers and by the people of our own and younger generations. For me, this hall is filled not only by the leaders of the nations of Asia and Africa; it also contains within its walls the undying, the indomitable, the invincible spirit of those who went before us. Their struggle and sacrifice paved the way for this meeting of the highest representatives of independent and sovereign nations from two of the biggest continents of the globe. It is a new departure in the history of the world that leaders of Asian and African peoples can meet together in their own countries to discuss and deliber- ate upon matters of common concern. Only a few decades ago it was frequently necessary to travel to other countries and even other continents before the spokes- men of our peoples could confer. I recall in this connection the Conference of the ‘League Against Imperialism and Colonialism’ which was held in Brussels almost thirty years ago. At that Conference many distinguished Delegates who are present here today met each other and found new strength in their fight for independence. But that was a meeting place thousands of miles away, amidst foreign people, in a foreign country, in a foreign continent. It was not assembled there by choice, but by necessity. Today the contrast is great. Our nations and countries are colonies no more. Now we are free, sovereign and independent. We are again masters in our own house. We do not need to go to other continents to confer. Already there have been important meetings of Asian States in Asia itself. If we look for the forerunner of this our great gathering, we must look to Colombo, capital of independent Sri Lanka, and to the Conference of the five AMPIAH (M839).qxd 18/7/07 12:15 PM Page 234 Gary Gary's G4:Users:Gary:Public:Gary
234 Political and Moral imperatives of the Bandung Conference
Prime Ministers which was held there in 1954. And the Bogor Conference in December 1954 showed that the road ahead was clear for Asian-African solidarity, and the Conference to which I have the honour of welcoming you today is the realization of that solidarity. Indeed, I am proud that my country is your host. But my thoughts are not wholly of the honour which is Indonesia’s today. No. My mind is for a part darkened by other considerations. You have not gathered together in a world of peace and unity and cooperation. Great chasms yawn between nations and groups of nations. Our unhappy world is torn and tortured, and the peoples of all countries walk in fear lest, through no fault of theirs, the dogs of war are unchained once again. And if in spite of all that the peoples may do, this should happen. What then? What of our newly-recovered independence then? What of our children and our parents ? The burden of the delegates to this Conference is not a light one, for I know that these questions – which are questions of the life or death of humanity itself – must be on your minds, as they are on mine. And the nations of Asia and Africa cannot, even if they wish to, avoid their part in finding solutions to these problems. For that is part of the duties of independence itself. That is part of the price we gladly pay for our independence. For many generations our peoples have been the voiceless ones in the world. We have been the unregarded, the peoples for whom decisions were made by others whose interests were paramount, the peoples who lived in poverty and humiliation. Then our nations demanded, nay fought for independence, and achieved independence, and with that independence came responsibility. We have heavy responsibilities to ourselves, and to the world, and to the yet unborn generations. But we do not regret them. In 1945, the first year of our national revolution, we of Indonesia were con- fronted with the question of what we were going to do with our independence when it was finally attained and secured – we never questioned that it would be attained and secured. We knew how to oppose and destroy. Then we were sud- denly confronted with the necessity of giving content and meaning to our inde- pendence. Not material content and meaning only, but also ethical and moral content, for independence without ethics and without morality would be indeed a poor imitation of what we sought. The responsibilities and burdens, the rights and duties and privileges of independence must be seen as part of the ethical and moral content of independence. Indeed, we welcome the change which places new burdens upon us, and we are all resolved to exert all our strength and courage in carrying these burdens. Sisters and Brothers, how terrifically dynamic is our time! I recall that, several years ago, I had occasion to make a public analysis of colonialism, and that I then drew attention to what I called the ‘Life-line of Imperialism’. This line runs from the Straits of Gibraltar, through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan. For most of that enormous distance, the territories on both sides of this lifeline were colonies, the peoples were unfree, their futures mortgaged to an alien system. Along that lifeline, that main artery of imperialism, there was pumped the life-blood of colonialism. And today in this hall are gathered together the leaders of those same peoples. They are no longer the victims of colonialism. They are no longer the tools of others and the playthings of forces they cannot influence. Today, you are repre- sentatives of free peoples, peoples of a different stature and standing in the world.
