THE DISCUSSION ON ARCHIVE COOPERATION BETWEEN SERBIA AND INDONESIA IN THE CITY LIBRARY
Nusantara, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, the Archives of Yugoslavia and the Belgrade City Library successfully organized a debate based on archival cooperation between Serbia and Indonesia, on June 30, 2015, at 19 o’clock in the Belgrade City Library’s hall.
Key speakers included academics, prof. Ljubodrag Dimic, from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Aleksandar Rakovic, research associate at the Institute for Serbian Recent History and the President of Nusantara, and Miladin Milosevic the Director of the Archives of Yugoslavia.
Prof. Ljubodrag Dimic had an inspirational talk about resources that Indonesians have, like the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI), located in the center of Jakarta surrounded by magnificent buildings. He also spoke of the wealth and dynamic period of development of Yugoslav-Indonesian relations between Tito and Sukarno. He also spoke about the impressions during a recent visit to a conference in Jakarta.
Miladin Milosevic spoke on the archival cooperation and the memorandum of understanding that has enabled the creation of exhibitions and books. He also mentioned mutual visits in the past few years, and the fruitful cooperation between the two archives.
Dr Aleksandar Rakovic spoke about his two visits to Indonesia, on the inter-religious dialogue between the two countries, as well as the importance of the first visit of the Serbian Patriarch, Irinej, to Indonesia, which was a very successful historical event. Rakovic noted that the wealth and mood in Indonesia, as well as a smile on the faces of Indonesians made a strong impression on the religious delegation during their visit.
The speakers received the highest award of the National Archives on May 26th, for “outstanding commitment to the protection, preservation, research and publication of diplomatic archival material”, a book written in both Serbian and English “Yugoslavia – Indonesia 1945-1967: research document”. The Serbian version was published in 2014 in Belgrade, while the English one in 2015 in both Belgrade and Jakarta. Archives of Yugoslavia and Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia helped the publication of the book, while the translation was provided by the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia.
During the stay of the participants of the international seminar of the Asian – African Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement in Jakarta, prof. Ljubodrag Dimic and Miladin Milosevic, had the opportunity to meet with Megawati Soekarnoputri, former President of the Republic of Indonesia and the daughter of the first President Ahmed Sukarno. They also had the opportunity to host Guru Sukarno Putra, the youngest of Sukarno.
The awards of the National Archives of Indonesia for intra-religious cooperation between Serbia and Indonesia were also given to Ranko Milic, the director of the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and Semuel Samson, former Ambassador of Indonesia in Belgrade.
Nusantara helped significantly the development of the book “Yugoslavia – Indonesia 1945-1967: research and document”, and the two authors are members of the association.
The attendees were greeted on behalf of the organizers, Dr Aleksandar Rakovic, president of Nusantara, and at the end of discussions, addressed by HE Harry Richard James Kandou, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in Serbia, who thanked the speakers, and the large audience who actively participated in the panel discussion.
