Indonesia FM to Non-Aligned Movement: ‘We All Still Owe Palestine Independence’

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi brought up the Palestinian struggle to gain independence during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in the Serbian capital, Belgrade on Monday, October 11.

Retno said that to free the Palestinian people is part of the values and principles of respect for justice.

“All the Non-Aligned Movement countries still owe the Palestinian people independence,” she said in a virtual statement.

She is of the view that the results of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, or the 10 Principles of Bandung gave a mandate to the NAM countries to support the Palestinian people. The Asia-Africa Conference was the beginning of the NAM.

Also read: Indonesia’s Retno Marsudi Calls for Cooperation in Covid-19 Response during ASEAN-Australia Meeting

“The 10 Principles of Bandung gives us the mandate to support Palestine in its struggle for justice,” said the minister.

At the meeting, she quoted what the first Indonesian President Soekarno, who is also one of the founders of the NAM, had once said, “We must not forget the history.”

With that, Retno called for support for Indonesia’s initiative to nominate the archives of the first NAM in Belgrade as the UNESCO Memory of the World.

She hoped that all NAM countries would make the aspirations and principles of NAM useful for the people to build a stronger world.

Also read: Indonesia to Reopen Bali to International Flights from Oct. 14