Indonesia celebrates 73 years of independence
Indonesia's independence struggle was carried out with blood and tears for hundreds of years
By Pizaro Gozali and Erric Permana
JAKARTA
Indonesia celebrated its 73rd Independence Day on Friday.
The struggle for independence spanned over several hundred years in the region which was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish.
After that the Dutch controlled Indonesia for 350 years, Japan occupied it for three-and-a-half years until 1945.
Now 73 years after Indonesia's independence, President Joko Widodo said the country would continue to fight for world peace.
Indonesia was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2019-2020 period at the UN General Assembly last June.
Widodo said this would allow his government to continue to fight for Palestine.
"Indonesia continues to be at the forefront along with the struggle of the Palestinian people to achieve independence and their rights," he said during a speech for the 73rd Anniversary of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.
The world, he said, really appreciated the track record of Indonesian diplomacy.
Among them is to host the Indonesian-Afghan-Pakistani Trilateral Ulema meeting as a contribution to Indonesia in creating peace in Afghanistan.
The Trilateral Meeting, said the President, was a request from Afghanistan because Indonesia was considered neutral and did not have any political interests.
The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas has asked Indonesia to open communication with all factions in Palestine if it wants to have influence in Palestinian independence.
Hamas said Indonesia could emulate Turkey and Egypt as two countries that have strong influence in Palestine because they actively communicate with all forces in Palestine.
"They want to help the struggle of the Palestinian people and have a relationship with big figures in Palestine," said the Hamas representative for the Asian Muslim region of Imran.
"Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world has a big role to help the struggle of the Palestinian people," said Imran.
Imran also considers that the civilian movement in Indonesia has not been fully involved in the Palestinian issue.
"Here there are many humanitarian organizations that provide funds, but how many advocacy groups?" Imran asked.
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