Megawati: Indonesia's Goal As A State To Realize Long Lasting Peace

JAKARTA - The 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri in her speech at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity 2022 in Jeju, South Korea, Thursday, emphasized that the goal of Indonesia as a state is to realize lasting peace.

"We have a credo: that in fact independence is the right of all nations, so colonialism in the world must be abolished because it is not in accordance with humanity and justice. That is what it says," Megawati said in a written statement quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, September 15.

Megawati Soekarnoputri was the keynote speaker at the Jeju Peace Forum with former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the US Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan.

She reminded that world peace can only be realized if every country respects the sovereignty of a country and upholds humanity, justice in the international system, and prioritizes conflict resolution through negotiations.

Learning from history, said the Daughter of Proclaimer of the Republic of Indonesia Soekarno, when the world was divided into two warring blocks, Asian and African nations made important contributions. That was the Asian-African Conference (KAA) and the Non-Aligned Movement which became the answer to the Cold War.

"The spirit of the conference remains relevant today. It is the spirit that bridges peace and creates solidarity between nations to unite to end all forms of war and acts of violence in the name of a country's national interest," she explained.

Megawati also conveyed the view of the Father of the Nation as well as the First President of Indonesia Soekarno, that as long as the world is still colored by injustice and colonialism in all its forms, the international system will always be anarchic.

She explained that Soekarno gave a speech at the United Nations in 1960, known as To Build The World A New. At that time, Bung Karno called for the importance of strengthening the authority of the United Nations in creating peace. The condition is that the UN must carry out internal reforms by placing each of its members in an equal and equal position, without any preference for veto rights.

"That's democratization in this world institution. In this effort, in order to strengthen the entire philosophical foundation of the birth of the United Nations, Soekarno proposed Pancasila as part of the United Nations Charter," said Megawati.

She explained that Pancasila is five basic principles, consisting of God, Humanity, Unity, Democracy, and Social Justice. The five principles are universal.

"With Pancasila, world brotherhood is built so that nations can live side by side peacefully and fight together for a more prosperous and just world," said Megawati.

According to her, the main idea to realize the new world order remains relevant in any situation. A world of peace, prosperity, and justice is the voice of all citizens of the nation, the voice of mankind without exception.

Megawati hopes that through this Jeju Peace Forum, all parties will join hands in one solidarity of nations who yearn for lasting peace.