70 Years Since the Bandung Conference

How a Colonial Elite Club Became the Global Stage for the Fight Against Imperialism

By Peter Mertens

Seventy years ago, the seeds of a new world order were planted in Bandung. In the former colonial banquet hall, Sociëteit Concordia, leaders from Asia and Africa gathered to stand united against imperialism and domination. The building—once marked by a sign reading "Dogs and Natives Prohibited"—where Dutch officers, businessmen, and dignitaries had celebrated colonial power, became the stage for the Bandung Conference, a milestone in the struggle for independence and self-determination. What began as a bastion of colonial arrogance became a symbol of liberation.

On December 9, 1947, Dutch troops stormed the village of Rawagede in West Java. Determined to crush Indonesia’s independence movement and retain the country as a Dutch colony, the soldiers ordered the men of Rawagede to reveal the location of resistance leader Lukas Kustario. When no one spoke, a massacre followed: 431 men were executed, some by gunfire, others beaten to death with rifle butts. Their bodies were dumped into mass graves.

After the slaughter in Rawagede, Dutch officers returned to Bandung, the colonial power center in West Java. There, in the grand Sociëteit Concordia, they raised a toast to their "Police Action." According to Indonesian accounts, they celebrated the "efficiency" of the Rawagede operation. The club—with its marble floors, chandeliers, and well-stocked bar—was a favored refuge for officers after their field operations.

Yet history has a strange sense of irony. Who could have imagined that this very building, renamed Gedung Merdeka (Freedom Building) in 1955, would become the global stage for the fight against colonialism and imperialism? Who could have predicted that under the same chandeliers where colonial futures were once plotted, Third World leaders would gather decades later to demand a new world order?

In Sociëteit Concordia, Colonialism Revealed Its True Face

In the heart of Bandung, a city once nicknamed "the Paris of Java" for its beauty and strategic location, stood a building that epitomized Dutch colonial arrogance: Sociëteit Concordia. Built in 1895 and rebuilt in the 1920s, this exclusive stronghold served as a meeting place where the Dutch colonial elite—plantation owners, officials, and military officers—decided the fate of millions of Indonesians.

Within its marble walls, lucrative contracts for tea, coffee, rubber, and quinine—resources underpinning Dutch economic power—were signed. When rebellions erupted in Java or Sumatra, strategic orders to deploy troops and restore "order and stability" were issued from this temple of colonial power.

Sociëteit Concordia was not only where plans for railways and plantations were hatched but also where systems of systematic oppression were refined. Here, the Cultivation System, forcing Indonesian farmers to surrender part of their harvest to colonial authorities, was refined and expanded. Planters and officials discussed regulating labor migration, maximizing profits, and suppressing Indonesian nationalism.

But Bandung would not remain a colonial paradise forever.

The Resistance: Bandung as a Hotbed of Revolution

While toasts to eternal Dutch rule were made inside Concordia, rebellion brewed outside. In the 1920s, Bandung became a hub of political awakening. Here, a young engineer, Sukarno, co-founded the Indonesian National Party (PNI). Bandung became the intellectual heart of resistance, where nationalist pamphlets circulated and students at the Technical College plotted against the occupiers.

World War II shifted power dynamics. The Japanese expelled the Dutch from Indonesia, and though their rule was harsh, they allowed Indonesian nationalists to build political structures. When Japan surrendered in 1945, Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta declared independence. The Netherlands reacted furiously, sending tens of thousands of troops in a last-ditch effort to reclaim the colony.

Bandung Sea of Fire

In March 1946, Bandung became the stage for a dramatic turning point in Indonesia’s independence struggle. British soldiers aiding Dutch recolonization faced fierce resistance. In an act of defiance, Indonesian fighters evacuated and burned their own city. The flames became known as Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung Sea of Fire). When Dutch troops entered, they found a ruined city—a shattered illusion of colonial restoration. By 1949, the Netherlands conceded defeat. Indonesia was free.

Sociëteit Concordia, once a symbol of Western supremacy, was renamed Gedung Merdeka by the Indonesian government.

The 1955 Bandung Conference

Six years after Dutch withdrawal, leaders from 29 Asian and African nations gathered in Bandung for a historic conference. For the first time in modern history, former colonies convened without a single Western power at the table.

The guest list was iconic: India’s visionary Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose Suez Canal nationalization would inspire anti-colonial movements; and China’s Premier Zhou Enlai. They represented nations that had thrown off colonial chains and those still fighting for freedom.

The conference’s agenda was clear: end colonialism, reject military alliances, and promote economic cooperation without Western interference. Ten principles were adopted, including respect for sovereignty, non-interference, and peaceful coexistence. These principles became a moral compass for the postcolonial world and laid the foundation for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations.

The "Spirit of Bandung"

In his opening speech, President Sukarno invoked the "Spirit of Bandung," honoring the sacrifices of those who paved the way for "this meeting of sovereign nations from two of the world’s greatest continents."

Bandung’s impact transcended diplomacy. Revolutionaries forged alliances that reshaped the 20th century. African leaders found support for liberation struggles. The message was clear: the era of colonial rule was over.

"Bandung Threatens Belgium’s Civilizing Mission"

In Belgium, still ruling Congo with an iron fist, the conference was viewed with alarm. Colonial newspapers warned of "dangerous ideas" undermining stability in Congo, framing Bandung as "anti-Western" or a tool of Moscow and Beijing. The Catholic Party’s Senator Pierre Wigny called it a "threat to Belgium’s civilizing work in Africa." Socialist Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak (BSP) claimed Congo was "not ready" for independence. Only the Communist Party voiced explicit support for Bandung as a "historic step against imperialism." Yet the "Spirit of Bandung" would soon inspire Congolese nationalist Patrice Lumumba.

The Legacy of Bandung

Seventy years later, the structures Bandung sought to dismantle, remain intact. The global economy is still dominated by former colonial powers. Multinationals and Western financial institutions trap former colonies in debt and dependency. The IMF and World Bank dictate "development," while Western military interventions persist in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Yet Bandung’s ideals live on—in the G77, BRICS, climate justice movements, decolonization struggles, and calls for a multipolar world. In every fight against exploitation and for sovereignty, the echoes of 1955 resonate.

As Sukarno declared: "There is no such thing as being half free, as there is no such thing as being half alive.” Bandung was not a historical footnote. It marked the beginning of the Global South’s uprising—a struggle far from over.