132. I would like, to begin with, Mr. President, to convey to you sincere congratulations on behalf of my delegation and Government, as well as on my own behalf, for your election to this high and important post of President of our Assembly. It is a tribute not only to your personal qualities as a diplomat and a statesman, but also to your country, Ghana, and indeed to the new countries of Africa, which are playing an ever-increasing role in the deliberations of this world body.
133. Although this present session unfortunately has started under a cloud of uncertainties and controversies, my confidence and best wishes are with you, and I trust that under your able leadership and guidance, the Assembly will be able to conclude its deliberations with the greatest possible measure of success. My delegation will certainly co-operate to the utmost in order that the Assembly may fulfil its task expeditiously and fruitfully, as you desire.
134. I would also like to extend, on behalf of my Government and people and on my own behalf, a warm and friendly welcome to our new sister African Member States, Malawi, and Zambia. Our warm welcome goes also to Malta, which has only recently joined our Organization.
135. As I said, this session has to start in peculiar circumstances, burdened by a serious deadlock over problems which may even threaten the very organization and viability of this world body. It is, of course, not just the problem of financing, of procedures, and of the interpretation of certain Articles of the Charter. It is a problem which—in my view—goes deeper into the organization and the workings of the United Nations itself, a problem which reflects the controversies and problems in the complex phenomena of the international world of today.
136. The crisis which this Organization now has to face certainly should force us to ponder the growing problems of the world, which the United Nations has to face. When the United Nations was founded in 1945, the world obviously was quite different from what it is today. The task of the United Nations and the implementation of its Charter of 1945 envisage primarily the immediate problems of the post-war world: the organization of the hard-won peace, the prevention of another war, the co-operation of all existing nations to that end, with emphasis on the primary responsibilities of the great Powers at that time. And this found its expression in the first paragraph of the Preamble of the Charter: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind".
137. The main preoccupation of the United Nations at that time—and I do not want to criticize the thinking then—was the Joint effort to organize the peace and prevent the catastrophe of a third world war. For this reason, when the cold war developed, rather unexpectedly, and while the great Powers were concentrating on winning it, the United Nations was devoting a large part of its efforts and energies to easing its tensions. For this very cold war between the big Powers could be easily be transformed overnight into a hot war of global proportions. Moreover, the cold war between the West and the East, between the Western Powers and the Communist bloc, was a greatly disturbing factor in international life because of its world-wide ramifications. Peace and security — a central theme in the work and efforts of the United Nations — were primarily seen in the hot context of the cold war.
138. This cold war, ideological in its origin, soon brought about an alarming armaments race between the big Powers, so that the United Nations was faced with the acute problem of preventing the outbreak of a hot war. It is for this reason that the question of disarmament has been the topic of the deliberations of the United Nations for many years.
139. These were legitimate worries to be dealt with. To our satisfaction, and to the credit of the United Nations, as we see it, some tangible result has been produced by joint efforts. The cold war is now not only in a phase of rapprochement; more than that, it has already reached the basic foundation of peaceful coexistence, while the awesome problem of disarmament has been eased somewhat by the Moscow treaty on a partial nuclear test ban, and the continuing talks in Geneva.
140. But all these problems are in fact problems relating to only one aspect of international development, centring primarily around peace and security among the great Powers, however far-reaching the ramifications might be for the rest of the world. And the rest of the world, including the newly independent nations, has been fully aware of the vital importance of solving the cold war, of reducing international tensions, of promoting disarmament, in the interest of peace for all. Their contribution within the United Nations and outside to assist in the attainment of that end is well known. In the relaxation of cold war conflicts or tensions, new, non-committed nations have often made constructive and peace-making contributions to the work of the United Nations.
141. Apart from this specific aspect in international development, with which we in the United Nations have been concerned during the many years of its existence, another aspect has demanded ever-increasing attention.
142. It is true that some thought was given in 1945 to the possibility of new nations gaining freedom from dependency — that is to say, to what were then the so- called Non-Self-Governing Territories — and to the need for the social and economic advancement of those under-privileged territories or nations. Those thoughts found some expression, though not directly, in the second paragraph of the Preamble of the Charter "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, and the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small".
143. But further considerations about newly emerging and independent nations, about the new political, social and economic needs of the coming and emerging world, did not have a solid foundation in the United Nations and its Charter of 1945. Certainly at that time it was not foreseen that exactly those newly independent nations might become a decisive factor for the stability of the world and the preservation of peace, not to mention the basic purpose of the United Nations to create a new world of peace, justice and prosperity for all.
144. While the emergence of the cold war and the armaments race among the great Powers was a setback in international growth, as viewed in relation to the original task of the United Nations, the other aspect, that is, the rapid emergence of newly independent States, the rapid attainment of freedom from colonial or semi-colonial status all over the once dependent world, was in fact a development in line with the principles and purposes of the Charter, although, as I have said, it was not given very profound consideration in that Charter in 1945. Indeed, no one among the founders of the Charter at that time could have anticipated that rapid development. The development took place not because of, but rather in spite of the vague provisions in the Charter in that respect.
145. The revolutionary forces — for freedom, equality and justice — among those dependent peoples, released after the Second World War, were not wholly recognized by the founders of the Charter. It was a world of forces not adequately known to them. But since the founding of the United Nations, those forces have not only become increasingly evident, but have also shown themselves to be revolutionary, unanticipated. They are the forces of a world long subdued and suppressed under colonial domination which are now exerting themselves, breaking through all kinds of barriers and obstacles. What is more, they represent, and this is very important, the great majority of mankind. After a long and bitter struggle for freedom—a bitter struggle even in the United Nations, despite its lofty Charter—they have now for the most part secured their national freedom and independence; that is to say, their sovereignty has now been recognized by the United Nations.
146. Since 1945, more than fifty nations of Africa and Asia have gained their independence and become Members of this world Organization. As newly independent nations, they have, of course, their own problems, their own needs, their own demands. They have their own problems of security and peace in their growth and development. Bound together by their common struggle for freedom and justice, for a better life and well-being, they have brought into the United Nations their vital fight against colonialism and imperialism, and this has indeed brought into the United Nations more life and purpose for a great part of mankind. In December 1960, they succeeded in having the United Nations adopt the well-known declaration on the decolonization of all colonial territories [resolution 1514 (XV)]. But this was fifteen years after the founding of the United Nations and the proclamation of its Charter.
147. The struggle for peace and security in the United Nations has so far been dominated by the struggle for peace and security of the great Powers involved in the so-called cold war. I do not say that the peace and security of the great Powers is not of great value to the world as a whole, including the newly independent nations. But very often it is forgotten that these newly emerging nations have their own problems of peace and security.
148. What are these newly emerging nations really up to? What are their specific and distinct problems, which demand the greatest attention of all those who really care for the well-being of mankind? This is the problem of the greatest part of mankind.
149. Without ignoring the principles and purposes which the United Nations Charter professes to pursue, these new nations of Africa and Asia have not only vehemently fought for their freedom and independence; they have also been compelled to organize themselves, outside the United Nations, in many organizations and conferences, in order to strengthen themselves, their development and, at the same time, in my view, the actual purposes of the United Nations.
150. The Bandung Conference of 1955, in which all twenty-nine of the then independent African-Asian nations participated, was a milestone in that common effort for development and growth. Newly emerging nations which belong to what is called the non-aligned group organized international conferences in Belgrade in 1961 and again, progressing further, in Cairo in September of this year. Those in Africa have organized themselves in the Organization of African Unity, which has furthered their close co-operation in specific African development. Other important summit meetings have been held regionally to find the right ways and means for solving specific problems concerning the development of the nations concerned. A second Afro-Asian Conference will be held early next year, again to review the common struggle and responsibility for the common growth of the newly independent States in this changing world.
151. What are now their specific problems which deserve specific attention, also in the United Nations, of which they are all Members?
152. In this statement I will not deal with the usual issues such as disarmament, specific questions of human rights, economic co-operation and the like, on which the position of the Indonesian Government has been made unmistakably clear each year. As for the current crisis over financing the United Nations peace-keeping operations, my delegation will have ample opportunity in this Assembly to clarify its views at a later stage. As a matter of fact, my delegation, as a member of the Committee of Twelve, is among those in the African-Asian group which are actively working for a solution to this acute problem. Similarly, the position of the Indonesian Government on the issue of the representation of China in the United Nations has been amply demonstrated by our efforts to bring this question before the Assembly again this year.
153. My intention today is to draw the serious attention of all Members of this Organization to the great and fundamental problem of the growth of newly independent nations, which in number already constitute the greater part of the United Nations membership and in population represent indeed the greater part of humanity. The fight for freedom and independence for those dependent peoples still under colonial domination, such as those in Angola, Mozambique and the like, will of course be continued relentlessly, and my delegation's unambiguous support for this anti-colonial fight within and outside this Assembly is well known.
154. But the existence of a new phenomenon, which is not always under consideration in this Assembly, should also be recognized fully and tackled without delay. If one looks at this troubled world today, one is struck by the fact that explosive troubles are found in the world of the newly emerging nations in their further struggle to secure their national independence and national freedom, and in the development of their national life. Their problem has little to do with the cold war; it has nothing to do with peaceful coexistence between the cold-war Powers, nor has it much to do with disarmament. In fact, while there is now some relaxation in the cold war between Washington and Moscow, the troubles the newly emerging nations must face have not eased. It is a problem in itself; it is a phenomenon to be recognized by itself.
155. In simple terms, it is the peace and security of the development of the newly independent nations, of the newly sovereign nations of the world, representing the greater part of humanity. Whereas from the founding of the United Nations until only a few years ago, peace and security were linked with the relationship between the big Powers, especially in regard to the ideological conflict, it has become clear by now that peace and security, or the relaxation of international tensions, is not merely the absence of hot war or cold war between the big Powers. One might say that this problem of peace and security for the newly developing countries is a continuation of their former struggle for independence, of their previous long and bitter anti-colonialist struggle.
156. For many countries, the struggle to achieve independence has been very hard indeed. They have had to undergo decades of bitter struggle involving bloodshed and manifold sacrifices. Yet their hard- won independence usually takes the initial form of merely nominal independence. It is internationally recognized and accepted by their membership in the United Nations, but it soon appears that development after the attainment of independence is an equally difficult job, requiring the same sacrifices and endurance, facing the same opponent, the old colonial Power appearing in a new cloak.
157. It is indeed illusory to assume that the attainment of national independence by the once-colonized peoples is the end of the struggle. They cannot be satisfied merely to have their national sovereignty legally and internationally recognized, to have their own government, a parliament, political freedom, even with freedom of speech, without having the real power In national hands. National Independence is just a bridge, a golden bridge, for the further achievement of genuine independence, of social justice, peace and prosperity for their peoples.
158. This is not an easy task. It is not just a matter of technology. It is a matter of nation-building, which must precede the problem of technical development. Technical development, to be well-suited and really beneficial to a specific country, requires a solid foundation of nation-building. This means the transformation of a mediaeval society, twisted and deformed by centuries of colonial rule, into a society with self- respect and self-confidence, with the courage and determination to carry on the struggle, and with the readiness to sacrifice. After all, technical development will never flourish in a mediaeval society full of contradictions and imbued with an inferiority complex. Revolutions and counter-revolutions are rampant.
159. The reason is the failure to recognize one fact — that for these newly developing countries, the magic word “technology” has two sides: it can be a tool by which to develop these countries technically, or it can be a tool by which the former colonial Powers are able to maintain or even increase their customary exploitation. In this context, it can be used as a means fox pursuing the policy of "divide and rule", utilizing this pacific penetration as a basis for intervention and subversion, in addition to the legitimate but unfair competition between the strong and the weak. Even technical aid from the industrial Powers is used as a means of peaceful penetration, in order to force the newly developing countries into the economic system, if not the social philosophy, of the so-called aiding Power.
160. If the newly developing countries are unprepared for, or unaware of, these implications, the problems they face will become insurmountable even before they embark upon technical and economic development. The systems used are very often quite unsuited to the recipient developing country. Besides, they will make it hard for the developing countries to establish conditions consistent with the social and cultural traditions of their own people. The developing countries will thus be forced to conform to the concepts and traditions of the old dominating Powers. By so doing, they will become an easy prey to neo-colonialism, neo-domination, ready to be guided by proxy, in the political, in the economic and even in the military spheres.
161. When a newly independent and developing country has tried, in its own right, to devise its own concept of an economic and social system different from that of the old colonial Power, this deviation has quickly been regarded at Communism. In fact, of the more than fifty countries which became independent after the Second World War, and became Members of the United Nations — most of them were supported morally and sometimes materially by the Communist countries — not even 5 per cent have become Communist. Nowadays this view no longer prevails, and in fact no establishment of Communism is apparent in the newly independent countries; and still — this is important to note — these newly developing countries remain the target of the colonialist or neo-colonialist Powers.
162. Thus, it is nonsense to contend that the old colonial Powers conduct their policies of interference, of subversion, of establishing military bases and the like, because of their anti-Communist fight. They do so simply because of their desire to maintain their hold, their dominance, their exploitation of their former colonies, and to see to it that these new countries do not develop beyond a comfortable conformity with their own world, dying as it may be. Foreign military bases — usually explained as a means for containing Communism — are now in reality used to protect neo-colonialist domination in the newly independent countries. The method is no longer merely peaceful penetration. It becomes violent penetration when opposed; the countries concerned even use mercenaries of unidentified nationality, and do not even shrink from openly using their imperialist regulars.
163. To serve all these designs, they also create satellites and use them as the so-called legal instruments for their interventionist and subversive activities. These neo-colonialist designs are not unknown to a great many nations of the world. At the recent Cairo conference, forty-seven non-aligned nations recognized that: "Imperialism uses many devices to impose its will on independent nations. Economic pressure and domination, interference, racial discrimination, subversion, intervention and the threat of force are neo-colonialist devices against which the newly independent nations have to defend themselves" [A/5763, sect. I],
164. Of course it is not difficult for the big neocolonialist Powers to carry out this strategy and these tactics. Newly independent countries in the process of consolidation and stabilization still have to face the legacy of forces, whether in terms of persons or of social forces, directly or indirectly planted by the old colonial Power. One need only read the few books published on the subject of how intervention and subversion are skilfully planned and carried out, to understand the problems faced by the newly developing countries. The neo-colonial Powers have all the means of superiority at their disposal; experience, money, economics, military force, publicity, etc.
165. And indeed, it is not difficult for them to stir up trouble in newly developing countries which must still heal the wounds left by colonialism. In these new countries, still struggling for stability and a new concept of national and international life, it is not difficult for the old colonial Powers to find sources of contradiction or conflict, both in the sphere of internal development and in that of the development of relations with their neighbours, particularly in Africa and Asia, which were colonized and balkanized for centuries.
166. In the development of its independence as a new State, each country, be it in the Americas or in Europe, must go through this process of nationhood. If there is no intervention, especially from abroad, no intervention from large, powerful nations, every conflict or contradiction within the new State or between neighbouring States can be easily solved. In fact, the question is whether or not the newly developing country is left alone during the search for its own national development and growth.
167. Not entirely irrelevant to this Idea of being left alone, free from outside interference, was the doctrine of President Monroe of the United States of America relating to the Western hemisphere's own interests. In our fashion, in South-East Asia, we have the Sukarno- Macapagal doctrine, a doctrine declared by our President and the President of the Republic of the Philippines at the beginning of this year. Its aim is to promote our self-confidence, to enable us to run our own national affairs and to free our countries from foreign intervention to the extent that in quarrels or disputes between ourselves in our own region, we ourselves should find the solution by mutual discussion and understanding, without interference from outside Powers.
168. This concept of national growth and self-confidence, as it is also reflected in the Charter of the Organization of African Unity, which is also being opposed and subverted by the old colonial Powers, has become a vital problem for many newly independent countries. It may even, because of opposition and subversion, become a crisis with which the greater part of the world, the world of the newly developing nations, is confronted.
169. It is no longer the problem directly recognized in the struggle for world peace and security, as the United Nations knew it in the years immediately after 1945, nor even in 1950 or later, when the acute antagonisms of the cold war prevailed. It is not merely the struggle to achieve national independence and sovereignty handled so far by the United Nations. It is now the new emerging problem — no less acute than any other — of the security, of the peace and security of the newly developing nations, of the newly emerging forces. More than half the present membership of the United Nations is confronted with this new international problem. It affects the life and future of hundreds of millions of people, and is already causing the eruptions and renewed eruptions of trouble and conflict in may parts of the world, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. If the United Nations does not deal with this new international problem, it will have failed to live up to its great international task. The United Nations cannot ignore with impunity this new international phenomenon.
170. The growing degree of peaceful coexistence between capitalist lands and the Communist world — which is commendable indeed — regrettably has not brought with it peaceful coexistence for the newly developing countries. On the contrary, there Is less security and less peace for these nations only because their development is not in conformity with the old world they want to leave. They become the subject of interference, penetration and subversion, hand in hand with the threat or use of force — open or disguised — by the old imperialist and colonialist Powers.
171. National powers in these countries, which want to develop and safeguard their independence and freedom, their own concept of national life and growth, their own identity, have been subjected to the most severe attacks aimed at undermining their authority and strength. The present world picture shows us many kinds of such interventionist activities — open or disguised — coming from forces which no longer have a cause to defend in the new emerging world of the new nations. There is the Viet-Nam fashion of intervention, the Laos fashion of intervention, the Cuba fashion, the South Arabian fashion, the Cyprus fashion, the Israel fashion, the Malaysian fashion, the apartheid fashion, and the Congo fashion — many fashions but, in essence, with the same design and goal.
172. If this is allowed to continue, then that part of the Preamble of the Charter which says: "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small", will become a mockery, and a farce.
173. In this context, however, while not by any means condoning the intervention of neo-colonial Powers, I submit that the facts have proved that their imperialist policies — the encircling, threats, blockades of the newly developing countries — have in reality brought about results quite contrary to what was originally intended.
174. For, the manifest confrontation of the newly developing countries with the old imperialist Powers in all fields has aroused a sense of national militancy which is certainly accelerating the process of transforming the old docile colonial society into a militant one based upon self-respect and self-confidence. In fact, these nations, after surviving the immediate threats, have achieved consolidation and stability faster than those nations which consciously or unconsciously are still living under the patronage of the old imperialist forces.
175. When the United Nations rather belatedly adopted the declaration on decolonization in 1960, fifteen years after its founding, it strengthened the already existing forceful struggle of the great part of mankind, the struggle towards emancipation. Today, four years later, we already need something more, though linked appropriately to that declaration of 1960. It is a continuation of that decolonization process which we want. With grim determination we — and the United Nations — should support, without fear, the further development of these decolonized countries. Recognizing its purpose in the new international life, no one in fact will lose; everyone will gain.
176. It is not, in essence, a struggle against the Western Powers, although superficially it often takes that appearance. Let the Western Powers, the affluent societies, have no illusions that they can live in isolation and, by so doing, maintain their high standard of living. The affluent society needs the newly developing countries as urgently as the newly developing countries need the co-operation of the affluent society. In this mutual need, the United Nations should, in my view, rather give more attention to the needs of the newly developing countries than to those of the old established countries. The latter are affluent, as they say; surely they can take care of themselves. But certainly, the United Nations should not become the vehicle of colonialist or neo-colonialist manipulation,
177. That is why, if one would like to reorganize the United Nations, to revise its Charter, one should start to reorganize it mentally, to revise it mentally, and at this juncture the spirit of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism should still prevail. It is still the need of our time. The new modes of colonialism and imperialism need not revise our anti-colonial and anti-imperialist spirit. It is this spirit that needs to be strengthened, not to be lulled by new modes of struggle adopted by the old colonial Powers.
178. This should not be interpreted as a struggle between nations, as a struggle between East and West or as a struggle between racial groupings. It is the common struggle for social justice, the common struggle against the exploitation of man by man and of nation by nation in whatever form. It is the fundamental social concept of the twentieth century. And this is not a moral concept, but a political reality, which should be observed, lest chaos and disorder play havoc in our present-day world.
179. Based on this spirit, and together with the structural reorganization of the United Nations, such as more equitable representation on its main organs, the genuine purpose of the United Nations can be strengthened—as it should be — to secure peace, social justice, prosperity and the brotherhood of man in a new life of nations.