Thursday, April 2, 2009

Are We Fully Independent?

By: Pratama Yoga Nugroho*

As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Indonesia, along with 5 permanent members and 14 other non-permanent members, has just agreed to sign a resolution over Iran despite Iran efforts to convince the international world that their nuclear program aims at peaceful purposes. The resolution consists of the banning of military equipment export, the inactivation of assets of Iranian individuals and institutions abroad contributing to Iran’s nuclear program, etc.

However, the government decision to sign the resolution is not only somewhat strange but also violating the foreign policy principle and showing inconsistency in the interaction with foreign states. Many experts on politics and international affairs have repeatedly criticized this decision and people have frequently held protests in various cities across the country.

It is stated in our constitution, the main source of all jurisprudences and policies, that we shall actively participate in creating and keeping peace in the world based on independence, eternal peace, and social justice. This leads to the retaining of ‘free and active’ policy we must demonstrate toward foreign states. In this context, we can see an obvious violation to the policy as our government has agreed to give a sanction to Iran, whose nuclear program is mainly aimed at finding a new source of energy to eliminate their heavy dependence on oil.

Indonesia failed to demonstrate independence in the decision making as we bowed to United States might and domination. In spite of United States argument that Iran has manipulated their peaceful purpose to hide their real development of nuclear weapon, we should have taken into account the statement of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) declaring that Iran has no capability of developing such weapon of mass destruction. We should also have realized that United States has used the same plot to press Iraq before they invaded them. By signing the resolution, we now demonstrate a policy on which we stand on the superiority of a certain side than on the objective reality.

Furthermore, our decision to sign the resolution may enrage Iran as we show inconsistency in supporting them. Not more than a year ago, when the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited us, we solemnly stated that we support Iran on their nuclear program. We even confirmed our statement when Iranian diplomats and dignitaries visited us following Ahmadinejad’s visit. We had demonstrated outstanding policy and showed independence in decision making then so that many Islamic and the Third World countries cheered us and showed their salutation to us. However, what our government did recently has just blown it up. The inconsistency demonstrated here potentially endangers our bilateral relation with Iran and our self-value in the view of the international world.

Considering our decision, we might question our independence strived by our founding fathers. An independence of a country includes not only physical aspect, but also economic, political, and military aspects. In this Iran case, we could have showed independence by declining to sign the resolution and insisting more diplomatic way to solve the problem. Since we bow to United States superiority and domination, we act like a servant pleasing his boss. So, are we fully independent?

* Pratama Yoga Nugroho: a student of English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University


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