Indonesia's Foreign Policy

THE Republic of Indonesia, born immediately after World War II when a colony became a free country, strongly de sires peace. Only in a peaceful atmosphere can it rehabili tate its war-damaged economy and lift its citizens out of the poverty in which they have lived so long. Even when Indonesi ans were struggling to free themselves from the control of the Netherlands, freedom was not their only objective. Leaders of the national movement always insisted that an independent and sovereign Indonesia was simply a prerequisite to the achieve ment of a pattern of living that would guarantee the prosperity of the people. Their slogan was A sovereign, independent, just and prosperous Indonesia. Now that the country has sovereign and independent status, its citizens?of whom there are more than 75,000,000?demand that their government carry out the twin ideals of social justice and prosperity. The Republic of Indonesia realizes that cooperation with other countries is essential if these ideals are to become a reality. It has made the United Nations the focal point of its over-all policy of seeking good relations with all other nations. More specifically, its objectives in foreign policy are: i, to defend the freedom of the people and guard the safety of the state; 2, to obtain from overseas those articles of daily necessity required for increasing the standard of living of the population?food, especially rice, consumer goods of various kinds, medicines, and so on; 3, to ob tain capital equipment to rebuild what had been destroyed or damaged, and capital for industrialization, new construction and the partial mechanization of agriculture; 4, to strengthen prin ciples of international law and to aid in achieving social justice on an international scale, in line with the U.N. Charter, with spe cial reference to Articles 1,2 and 55, in particular by endeavoring within the U.N. framework to help people still living within the colonial system to achieve freedom; 5, to place special emphasis on initiating good relations with neighboring countries, the ma jority of which have in the past occupied a position similar to Indonesia; and 6, to seek fraternity among nations through the realization of the ideals enshrined in the Panchasila (Five Postu lates) which constitute the basic Indonesian philosophy. In short,