TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - Bung Karno Foundation coordinator, Eddi Elison, has said thousands of Bung Karno's letters to a number of state leaders are being traced. During the effort, Eddi said 1,200 letters to Yugoslavian President at that time, Joseph Broz Tito, have been found.
"There were 1,200 letters. We were surprised when the President of Serbia told us that he would hand the entire collection," Eddie said during book launch of "Bung Karno: Kolektor dan Patron Seni Rupa Indonesia" (Bung Karno: Indonesian Fine Art Collector and Patron) at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Thursday.
Soekarno’s letters to Tito included personal communication and state matters.
The youngest son of Indonesian first president, Guruh Soekarno Putra, has departed to Serbia to retrieve the collection.
Currently, Bung Karno Foundation has collected about 300 letters. According to Eddi, 200 other letters are not well preserved.
Serb government initiated to trace Bung Karno's communication with Tito to bring back the memory of Yugoslavia. The country had been divided into six independent states after the end of the cold war.
Eddi said the foundation is planning on tracing other Bung Karno’s letters sent to Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President, Gamal Abdul Nasher and Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister in the 1950s, Chou En Lai.
"In Egypt, state officials always mention Bung Karno when they talk about Indonesia," Eddi said.
ADDI MAWAHIBUN IDHOM
