1. I should like to begin by expressing, on behalf of my delegation, our appreciation and admiration of Mr. Corneliu Manescu, who so ably discharged the duties and responsibilities of the Presidency of the General Assembly during the twenty-second session.
2. To the new President, I should like to extend the warmest wishes of the Government and people of the Republic of Indonesia, as well as my own, on his election to the Presidency. This Organization has already benefited greatly from his wisdom. 1 am convinced, therefore, that under his Presidency, the twenty-third session of the General Assembly will be guided to a prominent place in
the records of the United Nations.
3. Another year in the life of the United Nations is unfolding before us. A new country, Swaziland, has attained its freedom and taken its place in this world body. It is my earnest hope that the independence of Swaziland will bring the great African continent, specifically the southern part, a step closer to the ideal of complete freedom.
4. Once again we are convened to give an accounting before this world forum of whether we have lived up to the principles and purposes of the Charter. If we pause briefly to review the year behind us, we must admit sadly that the world is not yet ready to realize the ideals that we have so solemnly proclaimed we would pursue.
5. Apparently mankind still refuses to learn from the mistakes made by this generation and the previous one in the art of living together. Far from finding solutions to world problems in a spirit of amity and mutual understanding, we seem to have reversed our direction. As the Secretary-General points out in the introduction to his annual report on the work of the Organization, “there has been a serious decline in the standards of international ethics and morality, with States relying increasingly on force and violence as a means of resolving their international differences” [A/7201/Add.1, para. 174]. Indeed, the level of violence that rages through Europe, Asia, the Middle East and southern Africa seems to compete about the degree to which fundamental human rights and dignity are to be destroyed before the world comes to its senses.
6. With regard to the situation in Czechoslovakia, the Indonesian Government deplores the use of force as a means of settling international differences, contrary both to the principles of international law and to the Charter of the United Nations. As we affirmed in a statement on 24 August 1968, “the sovereignty of the Czechoslovakian people ... should be respected”. It is the inalienable right of the people of that country, as of any independent country, to determine its own future free from foreign intervention or pressure.
7. The developments in Czechoslovakia have no doubt heightened international tensions, which could have serious adverse effects on international relations. These consequences, foreseen by the Secretary-General, could very well become a reality. I share his hope that the two big Powers of NATO and the Warsaw Pact will refrain from using Czechoslovakia as an excuse for a military build-up which would make the ominous state of the world even more frightening. Therefore, we must redouble our efforts to relax international tension and to reach for just solutions in our search for peace.
8. It is clearly in the interests of the major Powers, as well as of the smaller Powers, strictly to observe the provisions of the Charter at securing a more peaceful world order and to use the United Nations as an instrument in strengthening peace.
9. In our region of the world, the war in Viet-Nam continues unabated. If not soon arrested, this situation, which already obstructs the attainment of peace in South-East Asia, may well jeopardize the security of the international community. As long as the national interests of the Viet-Namese people are considered as secondary to the interplay of outside forces and pressures, the problem of Viet-Nam will remain unsolved. My Government has always maintained that it is the Viet-Namese people themselves who are best able to decide the kind of peace and stability which they need. It is not for others to prescribe those conditions for them.
10. Peace will not come as long as the road towards it is infested with instruments of death and destruction. Only after these instruments have been withdrawn can conditions be created which will lead to the kind of peaceful settlement that has for so long escaped the Viet-Namese people. Conciliation and mutual understanding will bear the fruits of peace; coercion and force merely produce more violence.
11. The developments in the Middle East have not relieved the tension that pervades that region. Admittedly, the present situation is a partial respite from the massive clash of forces that we saw last year; but the continued uneasiness of the situation is still pregnant with the seeds of greater conflict, unless the United Nations succeeds in healing the wounds caused by the invasion by Israeli troops. My Government will continue its efforts to search for a solution that guarantees the national interests and the territorial integrity of the Arab countries.
12. In this connexion, my Government maintains that the withdrawal of Israeli troops to their positions of prior to 5 June 1967 is the necessary first step for a comprehensive solution of the Middle East crisis. Under no circumstances can the Indonesian Government condone the territorial acquisitions so flagrantly inflicted by Israel upon Arab soil.
13. The plight of the refugees and the victims of war is a sad aftermath of the war which demands the urgent and immediate attention of the United Nations. This Organization would fail in its duty to humanity if these victims were left to fend for themselves with no prospect of relief. My Government, therefore, reiterates that the machinery of the United Nations should be marshalled to solve this tragic aspect of the Middle East crisis.
14. Such is the discouraging picture that portrays the situation in the world today. It is a painful reminder of that historic day in San Francisco in June almost a quarter of a century ago, when the original signatories to the Charter pledged the determination of their peoples “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
15. They also pledged to promote “higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development“. Thus it is clear that, while the current preoccupation of this Assembly is the prevention of war, the architects of the United Nations intended to emphasize the cultivation of the fruits of peace—peace not merely as the absence of war but rather as the presence of political stability, economic prosperity and social justice.
16. To achieve this, we solemnly launched the United Nations Development Decade almost ten years ago. We were inspired in this lofty enterprise, and I quote resolution 1710 (XVI), by the consideration:
“... that the economic and social development of the economically less developed countries is not only of primary importance to those countries but is also basic to the attainment of international peace and security and to a faster and mutually beneficial increase in world prosperity”.
17. This Decade has nearly passed into the pages of history. It is, therefore, regrettable to note that most of these pages are void of productive contents or are inscribed with reports of regression in the economic level of the developing countries. A cause for even more serious concern is the growing schism in the socio-economic level between the developing and the more advanced countries which these pages reveal. Here I draw the attention of this Assembly to the discouraging findings of the UNCTAD secretariat that, in the period 1955-1960, 33 per cent of the entire population of the developing world lived in countries whose national output per capita grew at a yearly average of less than 1.5 per cent and, in the period 1960-1965, the proportion of the population living in countries with such low growth rates had risen to 66 per cent.
18. This alarming trend still continues despite the tremendous efforts of the developing nations to improve their life. The over-all picture that emerged from the second session of UNCTAD in New Delhi recently only reaffirms this concern. Admittedly, there have been a few positive results in certain sections of trade and development. However, the actual needs of the developing countries are far greater than the results yet accomplished.
19. The plight of the developing countries was aptly reflected in the words of the Secretary-General at the 1531st meeting of the Economic and Social Council at the opening meeting of its forty-fifth session, on 8 July 1968:
"...the poor are increasingly aware of the gap that separates them from the rich, increasingly impatient at the denial of adequate help for them to bridge the gap. Failure to act is an invitation to violence.”
20. Failure to act will leave us open to the accusation that we have failed in our duty to secure for posterity a world free from poverty, disease, hunger and ignorance: the very elements that continue to corrode the foundations of world peace.
21. We stand at the very gates of the next Development Decade. We must not enter these gates as ill-prepared as we did the first. Thus, in the short time that is available, we must carefully prepare the foundations and build on them a better structure than the old one.
22. My delegation believes that a specific framework of international development strategy for concerted international action is required — one that focuses on certain basic issues that demand our special attention. Identifying these issues would help us in selecting specific goals and targets as well as the most efficient way in which they can be carried out in the coming Decade.
23. The realization of these objectives depends on the availability of public and private means to finance them. We can conceive extensive plans, but they will not serve developing countries without the required financing. This lack could be overcome if we could approach trade and aid pragmatically and objectively. More liberal trade policies on the part of the developed countries would guarantee a better opportunity for increased export earnings for the developing countries. The amount and nature of aid from the advanced countries and from the international financial institutions will no doubt have a great bearing upon the pace of economic growth in developing countries. These plans would, moreover, be successfully implemented if appropriate and continuing machinery could be devised to supervise and review constantly the operations of such plans.
24. The task that thus confronts us is gigantic. Let us, therefore, be realistic in our attitude and re-deploy our forces more efficiently to set a more fruitful course for the coming Decade. Only in that way can we mobilize public opinion in the developed and developing countries to contribute to the success of the socio-economic development of the world.
25. In that connexion, I should like to state that my delegation feels that several new items are worthy of our attention. The proposal with regard to teaching the ideals of the United Nations, with particular reference to human rights, to young people should be explored carefully. Similarly, the item entitled “One day of war for peace” merits Our serious consideration, as does the proposal to launch a study of the human environment.
26. The United Nations has often reaffirmed that the welfare of the developing countries is as much the concern of the developed nations as of the developing. At the same time, we in Indonesia fully realize that no nation can become truly great merely through the generosity of others. The achievement of the social and economic well-being of a nation is first and foremost the responsibility of its own people.
27. Fully recognizing this, my Government has formulated a new five-year development plan for the period 1969-1973. This plan, drawn up on a priority basis, accords the highest priority to the immediate needs of our people. We do not deny, however, that external assistance is needed in a developing country such as ours to speed up the successful realization of our five-year plan. The Indonesian Government has, therefore, provided incentives to attract foreign capital and technological investment to help utilize our available natural and human resources for the benefit of our people.
28. The aim of being of service to the world has inspired Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia to initiate the Association of South-East Asian Nations, or ASEAN for short. The goals of this Association are mainly economic and social, in order that we may first meet the pressing needs of our peoples. As President Suharto of Indonesia so aptly remarked at the opening of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held in Djakarta in August of this year:
“We [the peoples of the Association of South-East Asian Nations] are struggling to give fulfilment to our independence through our national aims and are aspiring to elevate the welfare of our peoples in a manner that accords with our respective identities.”
This demonstrates how the peoples of ASEAN are striving, in their own way, to contribute to both regional and world prosperity.
29. We recognize that no organization springs forth full grown. We do not expect ASEAN to do so. But, by the very process of meeting and working together in a spirit of mutual respect, goodwill and conciliation, we hope to overcome many obstacles. We are confident that this spirit of conciliation will prevail in the question of Sabah, thereby strengthening the development of peace in our region and contributing to world stability as well.
30. Material wealth will not help the millions of our fellow men if so many are still kept in spiritual and physical bondage. On the African continent, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Portugal have conspired in an “unholy alliance” to exercise unwarranted superiority of status over the indigenous people whom they keep in human subjugation.
31. In the whole of southern Africa, we still witness the most blatant violations of freedom and human rights. Resolutions of the United Nations have been defied repeatedly. The general situation is daily becoming more serious. Still, my Government, as a member of the Council for Namibia, will do its utmost to relieve the situation. It is indeed an unholy aspect of human relations when racial discrimination is practised upon a people which is already kept in unjustified captivity. Indeed, this is in complete disregard of the letter and spirit of resolution 1514 (XV), which this Assembly adopted to promote the welfare of humanity. To make matters worse, these colonial Powers not only enjoy the tacit consent but even the active support of their allies. The latter, having their own material gain at heart and holding vested interests in the continuation of these deplorable conditions, prefer not to hear the cries of anguish from the oppressed peoples of Africa.
32. If previously the question of colonialism was merely a matter of releasing the colonized from the grasp of the colonizer, now a new element has further complicated the issue. This is the presence of a silent partner, pretending innocence in complicity, but holding vested interests in the continuation of the existing shameful conditions.
33. These new problems, among others, have not been dealt with adequately in the resolution on decolonization. It is necessary, therefore, for us to make changes and adjustments in this area to correspond to the new problems.
34. The first United Nations decade for development as well as for decolonization will soon belong to history. For both, a new decade looms on the horizon. Thus, we must begin to make the necessary preparations for entering a new era of development and decolonization. It would not be amiss, therefore, if we were to start exploring measures that could co-ordinate the aims of these two decades. When we plan for development we must consider not only ways to improve the condition of those already able to walk, although perhaps at a slow pace, but also ways to assist those who will soon learn to stand on their own feet.
35. Membership of the United Nations signifies that the peoples here represented are fully committed to the cause of world peace. Is it thus not inconsistent with our precious commitment to obstruct the very concept intended to bring peace if its foundations appear to be cracked? I am referring to the peace-keeping capabilities of the United Nations system. Two world wars have already brought tragedy to mankind. The world in which we now live has been described as a “twilight” world, neither completely at peace nor fully at war. Such a condition of life makes it imperative that the United Nations be equipped with
mandatory powers to make arrangements to modify passions, perhaps resulting from an unintended error of judgement, before they are aggravated into more serious conflict.
36. Peace-keeping operations instituted by the United Nations have, when the occasion permitted, lighted the road to peace where twilight had obscured vision. My delegation is accordingly convinced that even more satisfactory results could be achieved if such operations were to receive the greater attention and wider support they deserve. But my delegation also realizes that the question of peace-keeping operations has become bogged down in the quagmire of legalities, constitutionality and, above all, power politics.
37. The Indonesian delegation could understand it if we rejected measures that had proved ineffective or harmful in operation. It would, however, be beyond comprehension to impede the workings of arrangements that had already demonstrated their validity in preserving world peace.
38. Indeed, the world has changed tremendously since the Original signatories fashioned the Charter, and it must continue to change if it is not to become stagnant. We must therefore not keep our eyes fixed on the letter of the Charter and say that because it does not provide for a certain objective its attainment is not possible. On the contrary, this merely enhances our responsibility to find the necessary correctives where the Charter appears wanting, or where world conditions urgently demand arrangements not provided for in this historic document.
39. As Members of the United Nations, we have committed ourselves to resolving our differences peacefully, using its machinery and faithfully observing its principles. The great Powers especially have the solemn responsibility and obligation, as permanent members of the Security Council, to maintain peace and security within the framework of the Charter.
40. Peace, however, is not a matter of legal formulae or constitutional procedures. Much less is it the exclusive property of those who wield the sceptre of power. Peace is the common property of all mankind. It should not be allowed to run the gauntlet of political wrangling and power politics. Whenever peace is threatened, the survival of mankind is in jeopardy.
41. To revert to unilateral action would reverse the whole trend of history and lead us back into chaos. Therefore, we have no alternative but to proceed in the direction to which the Charter leads, by ensuring that this Organization fulfils the role which mankind expects of it.
42. It is said that service is the rent we pay for inhabiting this earth. On behalf of the Government and people of Indonesia I have the privilege to reaffirm our resolve to work in the service of peace and freedom for mankind.