REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natalegawa, expressed his mourn over the passing away of the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Earlier, President of South Africa Jacob Zuma announced the death of the Nobel Laurate on Thursday night.

"We deeply mourn the passing away of a man of honour and principle; a   towering figure against the heinous policy of apartheid whose struggles served as a rallying call the world over against racialism, colonialism and other forms of injustice, " Nataegawa said in a written statement received by Republika, Friday morning. 

Mandela visited Indonesia four times 1990, 1994, 1997, and 2002. He showed his fond of batik and in some occasions wore shirt with the Indonesian traditional pattern.

Mandela rose from rural obscurity to challenge the might of white minority apartheid government - a struggle that gave the 20th century one of its most respected and loved figures. He was among the first to advocate armed resistance to apartheid in 1960, but was quick to preach reconciliation and forgiveness when the country's white minority began easing its grip on power 30 years later.

Mandela was elected president in landmark all-race elections in 1994 and retired in 1999. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, an honor he shared with FW de Klerk, the white Afrikaner leader who released from jail arguably the world's most famous political prisoner.

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