2020 AIM General Assembly Special Session

AIM General Assembly Special Session; Sidang Istimewa Majelis Umum AIM
	Logo of the Special Session
Host	Suwarnakarta Institute
Venue	Online meeting
Date	11 July 2020
Participants	11 members of AIM
Chairperson	Eri Septio Priangga

The Special Session of the General Assembly of the Association of Indonesian Micronations (Indonesian: Sidang Istimewa Majelis Umum Asosiasi Negara Mikro se-Indonesia) took place in 11 July 2020 in an online chatroom hosted by the Suwarnakarta Institute. The special session was held to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the Association of Indonesian Micronations (AIM), established in 2011 by Indokistan and Los Bay Petros.

Agendas of the meeting included member states reports and a discussion on Indonesian micronational movement. The meeting became the first time AIM members held a face-to-face meeting despite through an online medium, considering that daily interactions were usually done in written remarks in chat groups.

Background

A micronational summit of Indonesian micronational community became a long-term goal of micronations inside the sector, particularly of AIM member states. Indonesian micronations admitted that financial issues and distance between micronations were the main challenges for a physical intermicronational summit.

July 2020 marked the 9th year since the establishment of AIM, and member states wished to commemorate the event on a special event. Member states agreed to set a special session inside the General Assembly to celebrate this anniversary. Several celebration proposals, which included a repeat of the 2014 AIM Games torch relay, were decided to not occur this year, as the occasion was more appropriate for celebrating the 10th anniversary of AIM in 2021 that requires a more grandiose commemoration.

Preparation

The 9th anniversary logo was created by then-Chairman of the AIM and leader of Harjakarta, Tommy N.. It turns out that the logo was the very last created by Tommy before he declared the dissolution of Harjakarta and withdrew from AIM on 3 July 2020. To pay respect to Tommy, member states agreed to use his design as the official 9th anniversary logo.

Suwarnakarta Institute was appointed to host the online server for the special session, and the institute accepted the responsibility despite being decided last-minute.

Attendees

Member state	Delegate(s)
Full member states
Al-Muqaddimah	Abdullah Allero I
Cutlavania	B.M.W.
Excellent	Anthony Thomas
Falalia	Muhammad I
Halenesia	Jan II
Halenesia	Immanuel P
Jomblonisme	Eri Septio
Litania	Muhammad I
St. John	John Gregory
Sofidelonia	Sean I
Observer member states
Astanesia	Fahrul Raji
Non-micronation observer
Suwarnakarta Institute	Mustafa Hakim

Meeting

The meeting was opened in 20:45 Western Indonesian Time (UTC +7) by the Secretary General Eri Septio Priangga. The first agenda was to sing the organisational anthem Cahaya Asia Tenggara accompanied with a new melodic arrangement composed by Anthony Thomas and a moment of silence for past micronations and in particular dedicated to Tian Abdurrahman of former Arkapore. Welcoming remarks from the Acting Chairman representative Anthony Thomas and Secretary General Eri Septio follows.

States' report

The meeting was continued by member states' report made by each participants. Informations reported by member states on this occasion includes member states' history, current situation, and past challenges and hindrances. Among all participants, only Al-Muqaddimah that refrained from presenting their reports due to technical difficulties.

On the report, Excellent leader Anthony Thomas applauded his successful bilateral meeting with Harjakarta earlier this year, while also reported his plan for the first Excellent general election. Cutlavania reported their recent challenges to develop micronational economic and a tax system that was hindered by the recent Covid-19 outbreak.

King Jan II of Halenesia recalls his country’s history and his personal story that he was inspired to continue his country after a visit to Japan. Jan II also explain Halenesian flag colour that represents racial harmony in his country. Jomblonisme president Eri Septio Priangga continues by explaining his inspiration to create Jomblonisme and the current situation of his country.

Litanian delegate King Muhammad I Azka retells Litanian historical roots that stemmed since 2015, he also recalled various challenges Litania had, that includes foreign invasion and betrayal of one of his ministers to the enemy. St. John leader John Gregory also explained past conflicts of his former micronations, that was highly affected St. John current micronational activities today.

Discussion

The session proceeds by a free discussion with the main theme on the current situation of Indonesian micronational movement. Delegates are particularly enthusiastic about the following discussion and debates on the theme.

The first discussion was on the 2020 Indonesian micronations shock and Indonesian authority response against Keraton Agung Sejagat and the Sunda Empire. In reflection on the situation, delegates admitted that there are many factors that causing micronationalism in Indonesia not to be popularly accepted, particularly on the Indonesian threat of separatism that resulted in public insistence to brand micronational movement as separatists.

Falalian leader remarks on Indonesian authority reaction to micronations aroused delegates’ curiousity, as he claimed that Indonesian police once reprimand him due to his micronational movement. Litanian leader also admitted that they once experienced the same situation.

The discussion continues on how to improve the image of the Indonesian micronational movement and to dissociate it with the separatist movement. Delegates believed that the current best method are continuous educational effort and to clarify itself that micronational movement is not a separatist movement. Special session delegates also agreed that a micronation is different with “fictional country”, as the latter existed only in narratives while a micronation would always involved physical activities and interaction in the real world.

Member states lastly praised the Indonesian micronational community openness to micronations belonging to members of ideological and religious minority, that if they openly declared their faith, they would not be accepted easily by the Indonesian public.

The special session was adjourned by member of the Acting Chairman council Mustafa Hakim on 22.55 Western Indonesian Time (UTC +7). Several delegates made a closing remarks and hoped that these kind of special session could take place next year on the 10th anniversary of AIM.

Aftermath

The meeting was applauded by AIM member states that wishes another General Assembly special session could take place next year as AIM celebrate its 10th anniversary. The special session was also significantly raised member states confidence to hold a more grandiose celebration to commemorate the 10th anniversary of AIM that was planned take place in 11 July 2021, and probably a repeat of the 2014 AIM Games torch relay, which unfortunately never happened.