REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A political observer has lauded Indonesia's plan to demonstrate its moral support for Palestine to gain her independence, during the Asia-Africa Conference's 60th Commemoration.
"Moral support for Palestine is very important. It's crucial to highlight that Palestine is still being occupied and needs international support to address the problem," Siti Mutiah Setiawati of the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) said here Sunday (19/4).
Since the first president, Soekarno, Indonesia has been supporting Palestine in her struggle for independence, Setiawati, deputy chairperson of the Middle East Study of the UGM's Post Graduate Department, noted.
This time, Indonesia will remind the world that Palestine is still being occupied by Israel. Indonesia insists that the occupation of Palestine by the Zionist regime must end.
The future generation must not be confused by a wrong perception depicting Palestine as a trouble maker for establishing a freedom fighter organization called Hamas, she noted.
The Indonesian government will highlight the Palestinian cause during the 60th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference (AAC) and the 10th New Asian African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) to be organized in Jakarta and Bandung, on April 19-24, 2015.
The upcoming commemorative event is expected to yield three documents, including one dedicated to reiterate support for Palestine's independence, according to Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi.
The two other documents will be respectively a Bandung Message and on the strengthening of NAASP, Minister Retno Marsudi said when hosting a breakfast meeting attended by senior pressmen.
Earlier, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reportedly stated that he would highlight the Palestinian issue during a summit organized as the peak event of the 60th Anniversary of AAC.
Since the organization of the first AAC in 1955, the intercontinental organization had been encouraged, promoted and supported the independence of each nation, and from the 109 members, only Palestine who had not obtained complete independence as a state.
"The AAC is our legacy on how we free the colonized nations, and we will keep the spirit of it," the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry's Acting Director of Inter-regional Cooperation of Asia Pacific and Africa Ferdy Piay said recently.
Israeli Zionists has illegally occupied Palestine for the past 68 years with the support of its main allies, particularly the United States and some other western countries such as Britain, Canada, and Australia, France, and Germany.
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