PART OF THE SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY, MR. WIRAJUDA, FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, DURING THE CEREMONY COMMEMORATING THE LINAGGARJATI ACCORD BETWEEN INDONESIA AND THE NETHERLANDS, NOVEMBER 11, 2006

As you know, I am in negotiations with Mr. Bernard Bot, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. We hope that before the end of this year, we will be able to sign a M.O.U between our two countries about a far-reaching (in the Netherlands "all enclosing") partnership. It would be a comprehensive partnership between the Netherlands and Indonesia. I told Ambassador van Dam that one aspect of this partnership would be the care and maintenance of the Linggarjati museum. The Netherlands can provide us with the photographic material and documents, which we do not possess. Such documents can be exhibited in the Linggarjati Museum so that every visitor can learn about Indonesia's history, and can respect the struggle of earlier Indonesians to bring freedom to our land

After sixty years, we Indonesians can now speak about our history without rancour, and with a new perspective. Both Ambassador van Dam and I feel this way. This is a reflection of how both Indonesia and the Netherlands, as two sovereign nations, should conduct our mutual affairs. A unique sign of the potential for this new partnership was given last year when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, representing the Dutch Government, on the basis of moral and political considerations, acknowledged the Independence of the Indonesian Republic, August 17, 1945. This was the first such acknowledgment by the Dutch government.

For us, this is a most important step, which opens the door for new possibilities of cooperation. It was the beginning of a plan for a "comprehensive partnership." Certainly we need to consider mistakes made by both our countries, as for a time, we were enemies. But this is a new era, and nobody can deny that we can now be friends; both sides can find a partnership from which each country benefits.