Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 5, 1992

With a group of companions, we traveled outside the city to see the nature and lands of Indonesia. Today the summit was closed, and a number of delegations went to Bandung to visit the first venue of the Non-Aligned Movement summit. To see more scenery and realities, we arranged a separate program.

By car we went to the mountainous Puncak region. It was about two hours by car. It is mostly highway, and part of it is a narrow road in the towns and villages of the region, asphalted and clean. Because it is 1,400 meters above sea level, it is a suitable summer resort and recreation spot for Jakarta; because of the heat and the constant, heavy, humid air at the seaside, they have a serious need for such a space. For this reason, it is very crowded on holidays.

On both sides of the road, there are many fruit and vegetable shops and flowers, which are a sign of the region's nature. At the last point of the trip, they have a large park for preserving and cultivating domestic and foreign plant species called "Clear Water." We walked a bit in the park and spoke with the workers and a group of students who had come there for recreation and research. The level of workers' wages is low.

The construction worker who was working there said he gets two and a half dollars a day in wages, and those who were cleaning said they get thirty thousand rupees a month, meaning less than one dollar on a working day. We asked two people, and they said they have six children. The family's fourteen-year-old daughter also worked with them, but the park manager, who had a bachelor's degree, with fifteen years of work experience, said he gets about one million rupees, meaning five hundred dollars, a month in salary.

We had lunch in a villa we had rented for one day for five hundred dollars. We had prepared the lunch at our own residence and brought it. The owner of the villa, a person named "Haj Basir," said his brother is a university professor. The villa is large, clean, and newly built, and apparently he built it for such uses. They said one of the common businesses in that region is this same thing.

The region had good tea and banana plantations. At three in the afternoon we returned to the city. On the way, we stopped beside a banana and coconut plantation and asked the farmer there about his income from bananas and coconuts. Coconut trees, which bear fruit several times a year, have good profit. We counted the coconuts on one tree, which were more than two hundred, but the farmers are also satisfied with a small income, except those who have more land.

On the way back we went to the large "Mini Taman" park, which was built under the management of Mrs. Suharto next to Jakarta, and in it various museums and programs have been arranged to introduce Indonesia; the same place where on the first day we went with the other summit leaders for the friendship tree planting.

In the hall they gave explanations. By monorail and bus, we saw part of them. Seeing the bird park took more time. They have made huge netted domes so that the birds are freer. At the end, they showed a half-hour film in 3D format to introduce Indonesia, which was worth watching.

We reached the residence early in the evening. Like other days, we had light rain. After prayers, rest, and dinner, we went to the summit hall. We had a meeting with the delegations and members of the board. There are twenty countries from several continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The negotiations were about the final text of the political statement and the Jakarta declaration. We and several Islamic countries like Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, and Syria did not consider the expressions prepared for Bosnia and Herzegovina sufficient and said they must be stronger and not less than the UN resolutions.

Because of the opposition of some African countries, former and present socialists, and a kind of bias on their part toward the Serbs, consensus for this matter based on our wish will not be created. Indonesia is also being conservative. Finally, it was decided that they would strive to issue a stronger independent statement than this one, and it was also decided that if it did not achieve the goal, we would object at the final session. I gave an interview to Indonesian television. Late at night I came to the residence and slept.