India, Indonesia share an enduring connection

INDIA and Indonesia have been connected by ties of trade, travel, education and people-to-people exchanges for several centuries. The historical links between the two countries date back to the ninth century when the Majapahit, Sri Wijaya and Sanjaya kingdoms, which had their origins in India, flourished in Indonesia.

Although the links subsequently frayed because of competitive colonisation and the battle for the spice trade, the two societies had common aspirations: freedom from colonial rule, a more equitable international order and non-alignment.

India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, nationalist leader Subhash Chandra Bose and independence movement leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi interacted with the first generation of leaders of independent Indonesia - president Soekarno, vice-president Mohammad Hatta and prime minister Sutan Syahrir.