Jakarta, IO – UNESCO designated the speech by the first president of Indonesia Sukarno (Bung Karno) titled “To Build the World Anew”, which he gave at the United Nations General Assembly in 1960, as the Memory of the World (MoW).
The speech has been proposed by Indonesia since 2018 and was officially announced at UNESCO executive board meeting on May 10-24, 2023. This determination was carried out simultaneously with the establishment of the archives of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1961, and Hikayat Aceh, proposed in 2017, reported historia.id (1/6).
Bung Karno’s speech was recognized because it touched on many global issues that are still relevant today. He spoke about discrimination, nuclear disarmament, international security, colonialism to inequality in underdeveloped countries in Asia and Africa.
Historian at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Asvi Warman Adam said the great impact the speech had made on the global stage is the reason why it was listed as MoW.
“First Bung Karno criticized the new world order where colonialism still persisted, including that of West Irian which was still occupied by the Dutch. The impact was that in 1963 West Irian finally returned to the embrace of the motherland,” said Asvi.
He also explained that world peace is one of the achievements that all countries are aiming for. However, Asvi believes that this goal is impossible if the world is still dominated by old powers with different views on world peace.
Asvi sees this as evidence of Indonesia’s stance to actively contribute to the movement for independence, international solidarity, and peace.
“There is a feeling, enthusiasm, that we have been heard in the world. We have to absorb it, just like when Sukarno offered Pancasila which was greeted with rapturous applause,” said Asvi.
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He also believed that Bung Karno’s courage to offer Pancasila as a solution to global problems could continue to be echoed by Indonesian diplomats abroad.
“We need to instill in our diplomats that we are a proud nation, so don’t feel inferior in global diplomacy. Bung Karno was not timid when he offered up Pancasila and it could be offered again as a global ideology,” said Asvi. (un)