Silent Witnesses

PREPARATIONS for the 1955 Asia-Africa (AA) Conference were marked by a 'cold war' between Sukarno and Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo. Roeslan Abdulgani in his book The Bandung Connection described the heated relations between the two leaders as an 'architectural cold war'. Roeslan, then the secretary-general at the foreign affairs department, was appointed secretary-general of the AA conference.

President Sukarno wanted to overhaul the Concordia. He thought that the committee's design to revamp the building, now called Gedung Merdeka (Freedom Building), was not to his taste. "Lifeless, he said," as quoted by Roeslan in his book.

April 21, 2015