Flags of Indonesia and Pakistani flags

Indonesia and Pakistan are two of the most populated countries in the Muslim Ummah. Indonesia stands at the top with a population of 250 million and Pakistan is in the second slot with an estimated population of 190 million. Both of these powerful Muslim countries were once considered to be close strategic allies but not now or maybe we didn’t want relations with Indonesia in a way we should have.

After World War second Muslims of both sub-continent and Indonesia were trying to achieve their goal of independence by breaking the shackles of colonialism. India sub-continent was under the tyrant rule of British whereas Indonesians were fighting against the Dutch oppression. Religious bonding between the both and fighting for the same cause gathered them on a single platform.

In 1945, British forces who were allies of Dutch joined them in a bid to crush Indonesian liberation struggle, this prompted Jinnah to appeal to the Sub-continent Muslims to help Indonesian Muslims in any way, acting on the advice of their great leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 600 Muslims deserted British forces and joined hands with Indonesian freedom fighters. Out of those 600, 500 were martyred in the cause of Allah whereas of the remaining soldiers some returned to Pakistan and some stayed in Indonesia.

In 1945, Indonesians under the charismatic leadership of Dr. Ahmad Soekarno achieved their independence from Dutch colonialists, However, Indian Muslims were still fighting for their liberation. Both Dr. Soekarno and Jinnah worked closely to liberate their respective territories for Colonialists and this quest proved successful when Sub-continent Muslims got their homeland in the form of Madina-e-Sani, Pakistan.

Soon after Pakistan came into being, Jinnah stopped Dutch from carrying arms and ammunition into Indonesia which were to be used in a Military aggression against the independent state of Muslims. This further increased the respect of Pakistani  Muslims and especially that of Jinnah as a great Muslim leader in the hearts of Indonesians.

Keeping these things in view when Pakistan fought with India in 1965, Dr. Soekarno ordered his forces to capture the islands of Nicobar and Andaman from India to distract their attention from the Pakistani border. Alongside this, Indonesians helped Pakistan by providing them military, material and diplomatic support during the war.

In 1995 when Indonesia was celebrating  Golden Jubilee of its independence (50 years) they awarded independence war awards to those Sub-continent soldiers who fought in their struggle for liberation. Apart from this, Indonesia also awarded the highest honor to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and to the Government of Pakistan, that award is called “Adipura”.

Pakistan and Indonesia also have signed on an MOU (Memorandum of understanding) for defense cooperation, showing the true brotherly relations between Pakistan and Indonesia. However, this brotherly relation never materialized in a way in which it was looking for the start.

This may be due to the leadership of both countries, Jinnah and Dr. Soekarno were great leaders and were fighting for the cause whereas those came back after they were opportunists and were lacking leadership capabilities.