Sukarno

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Sukarno
Sukarno in 1949
Official portrait, c. 1949
1st President of Indonesia
In office
18 August 1945 – 12 March 1967[a]
Prime Minister
See list
Vice PresidentMohammad Hatta (1945–1956)
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySuharto
President of the United States of Indonesia
In office
17 December 1949 – 17 August 1950
Prime MinisterMohammad Hatta
Vice PresidentMohammad Hatta
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
12th Prime Minister of Indonesia
In office
9 July 1959 – 25 July 1966
PresidentHimself
DeputySee list
Preceded byDjuanda Kartawidjaja
Succeeded bySuharto (as Chairman of the Cabinet Presidium)
Personal details
Born
Koesno Sosrodihardjo

(1901-06-06)6 June 1901
Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies
Died21 June 1970(1970-06-21) (aged 69)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Resting placeGrave of Sukarno, Blitar
08°05′05″S 112°10′34″E / 8.08472°S 112.17611°E / -8.08472; 112.17611
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
PNI (1927–1931)
Height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)[3]
Spouses
(m. 1921; div. 1923)
(m. 1923; div. 1942)
(m. 1943)
(m. 1953)
(m. 1958; div. 1962)
(m. 1958; died 1959)
(m. 1959; div. 1968)
Naoko Nemoto
(m. 1962)
Keiko Kondo
(m. 1963; div. 1964)
(m. 1963; div. 1966)
(m. 1964)
(m. 1964; div. 1967)
(m. 1966; sep. 1967)
Children14, including Rukmini, Megawati, Rachmawati, Sukmawati and Guruh
Parents
EducationHogere Burgerschool te Soerabaja
Alma materTechnische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng (WO)
Signature
Nicknames
  • Great Lover
  • Bung Karno

Sukarno[d] (/sˈkɑːrn/ soo-KAR-noh,[4] Indonesian: [suˈkarno]; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, Javanese: [ˈkʊs.nɔ sɔ.srɔ.di.har.dʒɔ], 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970)[5] was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.

Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch colonialists. He was a prominent leader of Indonesia's nationalist movement during the colonial period and spent over a decade under Dutch detention until released by the invading Japanese forces in World War II. Sukarno and his fellow nationalists collaborated to garner support for the Japanese war effort from the population, in exchange for Japanese aid in spreading nationalist ideas. Upon Japanese surrender, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945, and Sukarno was appointed president. He led the Indonesian resistance to Dutch re-colonisation efforts via diplomatic and military means until the Dutch recognition of Indonesian independence in 1949. As a result, he was given the title "Father of Proclamation".[6]

After

British intelligence services,[8] resulting in an estimated 500,000 to over 1,000,000 deaths.[9][10][11][12]
In 1967, Suharto officially assumed the presidency, replacing Sukarno, who remained under house arrest until his death in 1970.

His eldest daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was born during her father's rule in 1947, later served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004.

Name

The name Sukarno comes from the mythological chief hero of the Mahabharata,

Dutch orthography, is still in frequent use, mainly because he signed his name in the old spelling. Sukarno himself insisted on a "u" in writing, not "oe", but said that he had been told in school to use the Dutch style, and that after 50 years, it was too difficult to change his signature, so still spelled his signature with "oe".[14] Official Indonesian presidential decrees from the period 1947–1968, however, printed his name using the 1947 spelling. The Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, which serves the area near Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, still uses the Dutch spelling
.

Indonesians also remember him as Bung Karno (Brother/Comrade Karno) or Pak Karno ("Mr. Karno").[15] Like many Javanese people, he had only one name.[16]

He is sometimes referred to in foreign accounts as Achmed Sukarno, or some variation thereof. A source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that "Achmed" (later, written as "Ahmad" or "Ahmed" by Arab states and other foreign state press) was coined by M. Zein Hassan, an Indonesian student at

Muslim and Arab states freely supported Sukarno. Thus, in correspondence with the Middle East, Sukarno always signed his name as "Achmed Sukarno".[17][18]

Early life and family

Sukarno with his father, Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo
Sukarno with his mother, Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai

The son of a Muslim Javanese primary school teacher, an aristocrat named Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo who hailed from Grobogan, Central Java and his Hindu Balinese wife from the Brahmin caste named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai from Buleleng, Bali, Sukarno was born in Surabaya, East Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where his father had been sent following an application for a transfer to Java.[19] He was originally named Kusno Sosrodihardjo.[20] Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness.

Education

After graduating from a native primary school in 1912, he was sent to the Europeesche Lagere School (a Dutch primary school) in

Ingenieur degree (abbreviated as "Ir.", a Dutch-type engineer's degree) in 1926. During his study in Bandung, Sukarno became romantically involved with Inggit Garnasih [id
], the wife of Sanoesi, the owner of the boarding house where he lived as a student. Inggit was 13 years older than Sukarno. In March 1923, Sukarno divorced Siti Oetari to marry Inggit (who also divorced her husband Sanoesi). Sukarno later divorced Inggit and married Fatmawati.

Atypically even among the country's small educated elite, Sukarno was fluent in several languages. In addition to the

In his studies, Sukarno was "intensely modern", both in architecture and in politics. He despised both the traditional Javanese

Koes Bersaudara imprisoned for their allegedly decadent lyrics despite his reputation for womanising. For Sukarno, modernity was blind to race, neat and elegant in style, and anti-imperialist.[22]

Architectural career

After graduation in 1926, Sukarno and his university friend Anwari established the architectural firm Soekarno & Anwari in Bandung, which provided planning and contractor services. Among Sukarno's architectural works are the renovated building of the Preanger Hotel (1929), where he acted as assistant to famous Dutch architect Charles Prosper Wolff Schoemaker. Sukarno also designed many private houses on today's Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jalan Palasari, and Jalan Dewi Sartika in Bandung.

Later on, as president, Sukarno remained engaged in architecture, designing the Proclamation Monument and adjacent Gedung Pola in Jakarta; the Youth Monument (Tugu Muda) in

Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan. Sukarno was also deeply involved in building the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex which includes him proposing the design for the roof of its main stadium.[23][24]

Early independence struggle

Sukarno was first exposed to nationalist ideas while living under Tjokroaminoto. Later, while a student in Bandung, he immersed himself in

socialist self-sufficiency. He began styling his ideas as Marhaenism
, named after Marhaen, an Indonesian peasant he met in the southern Bandung area, who owned his little plot of land and worked on it himself, producing sufficient income to support his family. In university, Sukarno began organizing a study club for Indonesian students, the Algemeene Studieclub, in opposition to the established student clubs dominated by Dutch students.

Involvement in the Indonesian National Party

HBS student in Surabaya
, 1916

On 4 July 1927, Sukarno with his friends from the Algemeene Studieclub established a pro-independence party, the Indonesian National Party (PNI), of which Sukarno was elected the first leader. The party advocated independence for Indonesia, and opposed imperialism and capitalism because it opined that both systems worsened the life of Indonesian people. The party also advocated secularism and unity amongst the many different ethnicities in the Dutch East Indies, to establish a united Indonesia. Sukarno also hoped that Japan would commence a war against the western powers and that Java could then gain its independence with Japan's aid. Coming soon after the disintegration of Sarekat Islam in the early 1920s and the crushing of the Indonesian Communist Party after its failed rebellion of 1926, the PNI began to attract a large number of followers, particularly among the new university-educated youths eager for broader freedoms and opportunities denied to them in the racist and constrictive political system of Dutch colonialism.[25]

Arrest, trial, and imprisonment

Arrest and trial

Sukarno with fellow defendants and attorneys during his trial in Bandung, 1930

PNI activities came to the attention of the colonial government, and Sukarno's speeches and meetings were often infiltrated and disrupted by agents of the colonial secret police (Politieke Inlichtingendienst). Eventually, Sukarno and other key PNI leaders were arrested on 29 December 1929 by Dutch colonial authorities in a series of raids throughout Java. Sukarno himself was arrested while on a visit to Yogyakarta. During his trial at the Bandung Landraad courthouse from August to December 1930, Sukarno made a series of long political speeches attacking colonialism and imperialism, titled Indonesia Menggoegat (Indonesia Accuses).[26]

Sentence and imprisonment

In December 1930, Sukarno was sentenced to four years in prison, which were served in Sukamiskin prison in Bandung. His speech, however, received extensive coverage by the press, and due to strong pressure from the liberal elements in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, Sukarno was released early on 31 December 1931. By this time, he had become a popular hero widely known throughout Indonesia.

However, during his imprisonment, the PNI had been splintered by the oppression of colonial authorities and internal dissension. The original PNI was disbanded by the Dutch, and its former members formed two different parties; the Indonesia Party (Partindo) under Sukarno's associate Sartono who were promoting mass agitation, and the Indonesian Nationalist Education (New PNI) under Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, two nationalists who recently returned from studies in the Netherlands, and who were promoting a long-term strategy of providing modern education to the uneducated Indonesian populace to develop an intellectual elite able to offer effective resistance to Dutch rule. After attempting to reconcile the two parties to establish one united nationalist front, Sukarno chose to become the head of Partindo on 28 July 1932. Partindo had maintained its alignment with Sukarno's own strategy of immediate mass agitation, and Sukarno disagreed with Hatta's long-term cadre-based struggle. Hatta himself believed Indonesian independence would not occur within his lifetime, while Sukarno believed Hatta's strategy ignored the fact that politics can only make real changes through formation and utilisation of force (machtsvorming en machtsaanwending).[25]

During this period, to support himself and the party financially, Sukarno returned to architecture, opening the bureau of Soekarno & Roosseno with his university junior

Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin
in Jakarta on 1 August 1933.

Exile to Flores and Bengkulu

This time, to prevent providing Sukarno with a platform to make political speeches, the hardline governor-general

Ende, on the island of Flores. During his time in Flores, he utilised his limited freedom of movement to establish a children's theatre. Among its members was future politician Frans Seda. Due to an outbreak of malaria in Flores, the Dutch authorities decided to move Sukarno and his family to Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) on the western coast of Sumatra
, in February 1938.

In Bengkulu, Sukarno became acquainted with Hassan Din, the local head of Muhammadiyah organization, and he was allowed to teach religious teachings at a local school owned by the Muhammadiyah. One of his students was 15-year-old Fatmawati, daughter of Hassan Din. He became romantically involved with Fatmawati, which he justified by stating the inability of Inggit Garnasih to produce children during their almost 20-year marriage. Sukarno was still in Bengkulu exile when the Japanese invaded the archipelago in 1942.

World War II and the Japanese occupation

Background and invasion

Sukarno at his home in exile, Bengkulu

In early 1929, during the

Padang, Sumatra. They intended keeping him prisoner and shipping him to Australia but abruptly abandoned him to save themselves upon the impending approach of Japanese forces on Padang.[28]

Cooperation with the Japanese

Sukarno shakes hands with the Japanese director of the Interior for occupied Dutch East Indies, General Moichiri Yamamoto, September 1944

The Japanese had their own files on Sukarno, and the Japanese commander in Sumatra approached him with respect, wanting to use him to organize and pacify the Indonesians. Sukarno, on the other hand, wanted to use the Japanese to gain independence for Indonesia: "The Lord be praised, God showed me the way; in that valley of the Ngarai I said: Yes, Independent Indonesia can only be achieved with Dai Nippon...For the first time in all my life, I saw myself in the mirror of Asia."[29] In July 1942, Sukarno was sent back to Jakarta, where he re-united with other nationalist leaders recently released by the Japanese, including Hatta. There, he met the Japanese commander General Hitoshi Imamura, who asked Sukarno and other nationalists to galvanise support from Indonesian populace to aid the Japanese war effort.

Sukarno was willing to support the Japanese, in exchange for a platform for himself to spread nationalist ideas to the mass population.

romusha in Japanese. They were forced to build railways, airfields, and other facilities for the Japanese within Indonesia and as far away as Burma. Additionally, the Japanese requisitioned rice and other food produced by Indonesian peasants to supply their troops, while forcing the peasantry to cultivate castor oil plants to be used as aviation fuel and lubricants.[32][33][34]

To gain cooperation from Indonesian population and to prevent resistance to these measures, the Japanese put Sukarno as head of

KH Mas Mansjoer. These organizations aimed to galvanise popular support for recruitment of romusha, to requisition of food products, and to promote pro-Japanese and anti-Western sentiments amongst Indonesians. Sukarno coined the term Amerika kita setrika, Inggris kita linggis ("Let's iron America, and bludgeon the British") to promote anti-Allied sentiments. In later years, Sukarno was lastingly ashamed of his role with the romusha. Additionally, food requisitioning by the Japanese caused widespread famine in Java, which killed more than one million people in 1944 - 1945. In his view, these were necessary sacrifices to be made to allow for the future independence of Indonesia.[30][31] He also was involved with the formation of Defenders of the Homeland (Pembela Tanah Air; PETA) and Heiho (Indonesian volunteer army troops) via speeches broadcast on the Japanese radio and loudspeaker networks across Java and Sumatra. By mid-1945 these units numbered around two million and were preparing to defeat any Allied forces
sent to re-take Java.

1966 ABC report examining Sukarno's alliance between imperial Japan and the Indonesian nationalist movement

In the meantime, Sukarno eventually divorced Inggit, who refused to accept her husband's wish for polygamy. She was provided with a house in Bandung and a pension for the rest of her life. In 1943, he married Fatmawati. They lived in a house in Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56, confiscated from its previous Dutch owners and presented to Sukarno by the Japanese. This house would later be the venue of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945.

On 10 November 1943, Sukarno and Hatta were sent on a 17-day tour of Japan, where they were decorated by Emperor Hirohito and wined and dined in the house of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in Tokyo. On 7 September 1944, with the war going badly for the Japanese, Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso promised independence for Indonesia, although no date was set.[35] This announcement was seen, according to the U.S. official history, as immense vindication for Sukarno's apparent collaboration with the Japanese.[36] The USA at the time considered Sukarno one of the "foremost collaborationist leaders".[37]

Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence

Sukarno during a visit to Makassar, 30 April 1945

On 29 April 1945, when the Philippines were liberated by American forces, the Japanese allowed for the establishment of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (Indonesian;Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan; BPUPK), a quasi-legislature consisting of 67 representatives from most ethnic groups in Indonesia. Sukarno was appointed as head of the BPUPK and was tasked to lead discussions to prepare the basis of a future Indonesian state. To provide a common and acceptable platform to unite the various squabbling factions in the BPUPK, Sukarno formulated his ideological thinking developed over the previous twenty years into five principles. On 1 June 1945, he introduced a set of five principles, known as pancasila, during the joint session of the BPUPK held in the former Volksraad Building (now called the Pancasila Building).

Pancasila, as presented by Sukarno during the BPUPK speech, consisted of five principles which Sukarno saw as commonly shared by all Indonesians:[38]

  1. Nationalism, whereby a united Indonesian state would stretch from
    Sabang to Merauke
    , encompassing all former Dutch East Indies
  2. Internationalism, meaning Indonesia is to appreciate human rights and contribute to world peace, and should not fall into chauvinistic fascism such as displayed by
    Nazis with their belief in the racial superiority of Aryans
  3. Democracy, which Sukarno believed has always been in the blood of Indonesians through the practice of consensus-seeking (musyawarah untuk mufakat), an Indonesian-style democracy different from Western-style liberalism
  4. Social justice, a form of populist socialism in economics with Marxist-style opposition to free capitalism. Social justice also intended to provide an equal share of the economy to all Indonesians, as opposed to the complete economic domination by the Dutch and Chinese during the colonial period
  5. Belief in God, whereby all religions are treated equally and have religious freedom. Sukarno saw Indonesians as spiritual and religious people, but in essence tolerant towards different religious beliefs

On 22 June, the Islamic and nationalist elements of the BPUPK created a small committee of nine (Indonesian: Panitia Sembilan), which formulated Sukarno's ideas into the five-point Pancasila, in a document known as the Jakarta Charter:[39]: 112 

  1. Belief in one and only Almighty God with obligation for Muslims to adhere to Islamic law (Ketuhanan dengan kewajiban menjalankan syariat Islam bagi para pemeluknya)
  2. Just and civilised humanity (Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab)
  3. Unity of Indonesia (Persatuan Indonesia)
  4. Democracy through inner wisdom and representative consensus-building (Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam musyawarah perwakilan)
  5. Social justice for all Indonesians (Keadilan bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia)

Due to pressure from the Islamic element, the first principle mentioned the obligation for Muslims to practice Islamic law (

1945 Constitution which was put into effect on 18 August 1945, excluded the reference to Islamic law for the sake of national unity. The elimination of sharia was done by Hatta based upon a request by Christian representative Alexander Andries Maramis, and after consultation with moderate Islamic representatives Teuku Mohammad Hassan, Kasman Singodimedjo, and Ki Bagoes Hadikoesoemo.[40]

Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence

On 7 August 1945, the Japanese allowed the formation of a smaller (

Saigon. Terauchi gave Sukarno the freedom to proceed with preparation for Indonesian independence, free of Japanese interference. After much wining and dining, Sukarno's entourage was flown back to Jakarta on 14 August. Unbeknownst to the guests, atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese were preparing for surrender
.

Japanese surrender

The following day, on 15 August, the Japanese declared their acceptance of the

, who had been listening to Western radio broadcasts. They urged Sukarno to declare Indonesian independence immediately, while the Japanese were in confusion and before the arrival of Allied forces. Faced with this quick turn of events, Sukarno procrastinated. He feared bloodbath due to hostile response from the Japanese to such a move and was concerned with prospects of future Allied retribution.

Kidnapping incident

On the early morning on 16 August, the three youth leaders, impatient with Sukarno's indecision, kidnapped him from his house and brought him to a small house in Rengasdengklok, Karawang, owned by a Chinese family and occupied by PETA. There they gained Sukarno's commitment to declare independence the next day. That night, the youths drove Sukarno back to the house of Admiral Tadashi Maeda, the Japanese naval liaison officer in the Menteng area of Jakarta, who sympathised with Indonesian independence. There, he and his assistant Sajoeti Melik prepared the text of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.

Indonesian National Revolution

Proclamation of Indonesian Independence

independence of the Republic of Indonesia in front of a crowd of 500 people. This most historic of buildings was later ordered to be demolished by Sukarno himself, without any apparent reason.[41]

On the following day, 18 August, the PPKI declared the basic governmental structure of the new Republic of Indonesia:

  1. Appointing Sukarno and Hatta as president and vice-president and their cabinet.
  2. Putting into effect the 1945 Indonesian constitution, which by this time excluded any reference to Islamic law.
  3. Establishing a Central Indonesian National Committee (Komite Nasional Indonesia Poesat/KNIP) to assist the president before an election of a parliament.

Sukarno's vision for the 1945 Indonesian

Pancasila (five principles). Sukarno's political philosophy was mainly a fusion of elements of Marxism, nationalism and Islam. This is reflected in a proposition of his version of Pancasila he proposed to the BPUPK in a speech on 1 June 1945.[40]

Sukarno argued that all of the principles of the nation could be summarised in the phrase

gotong royong.[42] The Indonesian parliament, founded on the basis of this original (and subsequently revised) constitution, proved all but ungovernable. This was due to irreconcilable differences between various social, political, religious and ethnic factions.[43]

Revolution and Bersiap

In the days following the proclamation, the news of Indonesian independence was spread by radio, newspaper, leaflets, and word of mouth despite attempts by the Japanese soldiers to suppress the news. On 19 September, Sukarno addressed a crowd of one million people at the Ikada Field of Jakarta (now part of Merdeka Square) to commemorate one month of independence, indicating the strong level of popular support for the new Republic, at least on Java and Sumatra. In these two islands, the Sukarno government quickly established governmental control while the remaining Japanese mostly retreated to their barracks awaiting the arrival of Allied forces. This period was marked by constant attacks by armed groups on Europeans, Chinese, Christians, native aristocracy and anyone who were perceived to oppose Indonesian independence. The most serious cases were the Social Revolutions in Aceh and North Sumatera, where large numbers of Acehnese and Malay aristocrats were killed by Islamic groups (in Aceh) and communist-led mobs (in North Sumatra), and the "Three Regions Affair" in northwestern coast of Central Java where large numbers of Europeans, Chinese, and native aristocrats were butchered by mobs. These bloody incidents continued until late 1945 to early 1946, and begin to peter out as Republican authorities begin to exert and consolidate control.

Sukarno's government initially postponed the formation of a national army, for fear of antagonizing the Allied occupation forces and their doubt over whether they would have been able to form an adequate military apparatus to maintain control of seized territory. The members of various militia groups formed during Japanese occupation such as the disbanded PETA and Heiho, at that time were encouraged to join the BKR - Badan Keamanan Rakjat (The People's Security Organization), itself a subordinate of the "War Victims Assistance Organization". It was only in October 1945 that the BKR was reformed into the TKR - Tentara Keamanan Rakjat (The People's Security Army) in response to the increasing Allied and Dutch presence in Indonesia. The TKR armed themselves mostly by attacking Japanese troops and confiscating their weapons.

Due to the sudden transfer of Java and Sumatra from General

Lord Louis Mountbatten's British-controlled Southeast Asian Command, the first Allied soldiers (1st Battalion of Seaforth Highlanders) did not arrive in Jakarta until late September 1945. British forces began to occupy major Indonesian cities in October 1945. The commander of the British 23rd Division, Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison
, set up command in the former governor-general's palace in Jakarta. Christison stated that he intended to free all Allied prisoners-of-war and to allow the return of Indonesia to its pre-war status, as a colony of Netherlands. The Republican government were willing to cooperate with the release and repatriation of Allied civilians and military POWs, setting-up the Committee for the Repatriation of Japanese and Allied Prisoners of Wars and Internees (Panitia Oeroesan Pengangkoetan Djepang dan APWI/POPDA) for this purpose. POPDA, in cooperation with the British, repatriated more than 70,000 Japanese and Allied POWs and internees by the end of 1946. However, due to the relative weakness of the military of the Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno sought independence by gaining international recognition for his new country rather than engage in battle with British and Dutch military forces.

Sukarno was aware that his history as a Japanese collaborator and his leadership in the Japanese-approved PUTERA during the occupation would make the Western countries distrustful of him. To help gain international recognition as well as to accommodate domestic demands for representation, Sukarno "allowed" the formation of a parliamentary system of government, whereby a prime minister controlled day-to-day affairs of the government, while Sukarno as president remained as a figurehead. The prime minister and his cabinet would be responsible to the Central Indonesian National Committee instead of the president. On 14 November 1945, Sukarno appointed Sutan Sjahrir as first prime minister, he was a European-educated politician who was never involved with the Japanese occupation authorities.

In late 1945 Dutch administrators who led the Dutch East Indies government-in-exile and soldiers who had fought the Japanese began to return under the name of Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA), with the protection of the British. They were led by

Sjahrir by Dutch gunmen. To avoid this menace, Sukarno and majority of his government left for the safety of Yogyakarta on 4 January 1946. There, the Republican government received protection and full support from Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX. Yogyakarta would remain as the Republic's capital until the end of the war in 1949. Sjahrir remained in Jakarta to conduct negotiations with the British.[44]

The initial series of battles in late 1945 and early 1946 left the British in control of major port cities on Java and Sumatra. During the Japanese occupation, the Outer Islands (excluding Java and Sumatra) were occupied by the Japanese Navy (

Kaigun), who did not allow for political mobilisation of the islanders. Consequently, there was little Republican activity in these islands post-proclamation. Australian and Dutch forces were able to quickly take control of these islands without much fighting by the end of 1945 (excluding the resistance of I Gusti Ngurah Rai in Bali, the insurgency in South Sulawesi, and fighting in Hulu Sungai area of South Kalimantan
). Meanwhile, the hinterland areas of Java and Sumatera remained under Republican control.

Eager to pull its soldiers out of Indonesia, the British allowed for large-scale infusion of Dutch forces into the country throughout 1946. By November 1946, all British soldiers had been withdrawn from Indonesia. They were replaced with more than 150,000 Dutch soldiers. The British sent Lord Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel and Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn to bring the Dutch and Indonesians to the negotiating table. The result of these negotiations was the Linggadjati Agreement signed in November 1946, where the Dutch acknowledged de facto Republican sovereignty over Java, Sumatera, and Madura. In exchange, the Republicans were willing to discuss a future Commonwealth-like United Kingdom of Netherlands and Indonesia.

Linggadjati Agreement and Operation Product

Linggadjati Agreement

Sukarno addressing the KNIP (parliament) in Malang, March 1947

Sukarno's decision to negotiate with the Dutch was met with strong opposition by various Indonesian factions.

communist politician, organized these groups into a united front called the Persatoean Perdjoangan (PP). PP offered a "Minimum Program" which called for complete independence, nationalisation of all foreign properties, and rejection of all negotiations until all foreign troops are withdrawn. These programmes received widespread popular support, including from armed forces commander General Sudirman. On 4 July 1946, military units linked with PP kidnapped Prime Minister Sjahrir who was visiting Yogyakarta. Sjahrir was leading the negotiation with the Dutch. Sukarno, after successfully influencing Sudirman, managed to secure the release of Sjahrir and the arrest of Tan Malaka and other PP leaders. Disapproval of Linggadjati terms within the KNIP led Sukarno to issue a decree doubling KNIP membership by including many pro-agreement appointed members. As a consequence, KNIP ratified the Linggadjati Agreement in March 1947.[45]

Operation Product

On 21 July 1947, the Linggadjati Agreement was broken by the Dutch, who launched

Operatie Product, a massive military invasion into Republican-held territories. Although the newly reconstituted TNI was unable to offer significant military resistance, the blatant violation by the Dutch of an internationally brokered agreement outraged world opinion. International pressure forced the Dutch to halt their invasion force in August 1947. Sjahrir, who has been replaced as prime minister by Amir Sjarifuddin, flew to New York City to appeal Indonesian case in front of United Nations. UN Security Council issued a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and appointed a Good Offices Committee (GOC) to oversee the ceasefire. The GOC, based in Jakarta, consisted of delegations from Australia (led by Richard Kirby, chosen by Indonesia), Belgium (led by Paul van Zeeland, chosen by the Netherlands), and the United States (led by Frank Porter Graham
, neutral).

The Republic was now under firm Dutch military stranglehold, with the Dutch military occupying

puppet states
in the areas under their occupation, to counter Republican influence utilising ethnic diversity of Indonesia.

Renville agreement and Madiun affair

The signing of highly disadvantageous Renville Agreement caused even greater instability within the Republican political structure. In Dutch-occupied West Java,

Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo maintained their anti-Dutch resistance and repealed any loyalty to the Republic; they caused a bloody insurgency in West Java and other areas in the first decades of independence. Prime Minister Sjarifuddin, who signed the agreement, was forced to resign in January 1948 and was replaced by Hatta. Hatta cabinet's policy of rationalising the armed forces by demobilising large numbers of armed groups that proliferated the Republican areas also caused severe disaffection. Leftist political elements, led by resurgent Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) under Musso took advantage of public disaffections by launching a rebellion in Madiun
, East Java, on 18 September 1948. Bloody fighting continued during late-September until end of October 1948, when the last communist bands were defeated, and Musso shot dead. The communists had overestimated their potential to oppose the strong appeal of Sukarno amongst the population.

Operatie Kraai and exile

Invasion and exile

Operatie Kraai, a second military invasion designed to crush the Republic once and for all. The invasion was initiated with an airborne assault on Republican capital Yogyakarta. Sukarno ordered the armed forces under Sudirman to launch a guerrilla campaign in the countryside, while he and other key leaders such as Hatta and Sjahrir allowed themselves to be taken prisoner by the Dutch. To ensure continuity of government, Sukarno sent a telegram to Sjafruddin, providing him with the mandate to lead an Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI), based on the unoccupied hinterlands of West Sumatra, a position he kept until Sukarno was released in June 1949. The Dutch sent Sukarno and other captured Republican leaders to captivity in Parapat, in Dutch-occupied part of North Sumatra and later to the island of Bangka
.

Aftermath

Sukarno's return to Yogyakarta in June 1949

The second Dutch invasion caused even more international outrage. The United States, impressed by Indonesia's ability to defeat the 1948 communist challenge without outside help, threatened to cut off

Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference held in The Hague which led to the complete transfer of sovereignty by the Queen Juliana of the Netherlands to Indonesia, on 27 December 1949. On that day, Sukarno flew from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, making a triumphant speech at the steps of the governor-general's palace, immediately renamed the Merdeka Palace
("Independence Palace").

President of the United States of Indonesia

Sukarno (right) with John Foster Dulles (left) and Richard Nixon (center) in 1956
Sukarno and Nixon in 1956
News footage of Sukarno's inauguration as president

At this time, as part of a compromise with the Dutch, Indonesia adopted a new federal constitution that made the country a federal state called the Republic of United States of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Serikat, RIS), consisting of the Republic of Indonesia whose borders were determined by the "Van Mook Line", along with the six states and nine autonomous territories created by the Dutch. During the first half of 1950, these states gradually dissolved themselves as the Dutch military that previously propped them up was withdrawn. In August 1950, with the last state, the State of East Indonesia dissolving itself, Sukarno declared a Unitary Republic of Indonesia based on the newly formulated provisional constitution of 1950.

Liberal democracy period (1950–1959)

Both the Federal Constitution of 1949 and the Provisional Constitution of 1950 were parliamentary in nature, where executive authority laid with the prime minister, and which on paper limited presidential power. However, even with his formally reduced role, he commanded a good deal of moral authority as Father of the Nation.

Instability

Sukarno's inauguration as president (17 December 1949, commentary in Dutch)

The first years of parliamentary democracy proved to be very unstable for Indonesia. Cabinets fell in rapid succession due to the sharp differences between the various political parties within the

Masyumi Party), and communists who wanted a Communist state
(led by the PKI, which only in 1951 again became allowed to operate). On the economic front, there was severe dissatisfaction with continuing economic domination by large Dutch corporations and the ethnic Chinese.

Darul Islam rebels

The Darul Islam rebels under

KNIL launched failed rebellion in Bandung (APRA rebellion of 1950), in Makassar in 1950, and Ambon (Republic of South Maluku revolt of 1950).[46]

Division in the military

Additionally, the military was torn by hostilities between officers originating from the colonial-era KNIL, who wished for a small and elite professional military, and the overwhelming majority of soldiers who started their careers in the Japanese-formed PETA, who were afraid of being discharged and were more known for nationalist-zeal over professionalism.

On 17 October 1952, the leaders of the former-KNIL faction, Army Chief Colonel

Tahi Bonar Simatupang
mobilised their troops in a show of force. Protesting against attempts by the DPR to interfere in military business on behalf of the former PETA faction of the military, Nasution and Simatupang had their troops surround the Merdeka Palace and point their tank turrets at the building. Their demand for Sukarno was that the current DPR be dismissed. For this cause, Nasution and Simatupang also mobilised civilian protesters. Sukarno came out of the palace and convinced both the soldiers and the civilians to go home. Nasution and Simatupang were later dismissed. Nasution, however, would be re-appointed as Army Chief after reconciling with Sukarno in 1955.

1955 legislative elections

Sukarno casting his vote at the 1955 elections

The

parliament and a constitutional assembly. The election results showed equal support for the antagonistic powers of the PNI, Masyumi, Nahdlatul Ulama
, and PKI parties. With no faction controlling a clear majority, domestic political instability continued unabated. Talks in the Constitutional Assembly to write a new constitution met with deadlock over the issue of whether to include Islamic law.

Sukarno came to resent his figurehead position and the increasing disorder of the country's political life. Claiming that Western-style

political parties
but on "functional groups" composed of the nation's essential elements, which would together form a National Council, through which a national consensus could express itself under presidential guidance.

Vice President Hatta was strongly opposed to Sukarno's guided democracy concept. Citing this and other irreconcilable differences, Hatta resigned from his position in December 1956. His retirement sent a shockwave across Indonesia, particularly among the non-Javanese, who viewed Hatta as their representative in a Javanese-dominated government.

Military takeovers and martial law

Regional military takeovers

From December 1956 to January 1957, regional military commanders in the provinces of North, Central, and South Sumatra provinces took over local government control. They declared a series of military councils which were to run their respective areas and refused to accept orders from Jakarta. A similar regional military movement took control of North Sulawesi in March 1957. They demanded the elimination of communist influence in government, equal share in government revenues, and reinstatement of the former Sukarno-Hatta duumvirate.

Declaration of martial law

Faced with this serious challenge to the unity of the republic, Sukarno declared martial law (Staat van Oorlog en Beleg) on 14 March 1957. He appointed a non-partisan prime minister Djuanda Kartawidjaja, while the military was in the hands of his loyal General Nasution. Nasution increasingly shared Sukarno's views on the negative impact of western democracy on Indonesia, and he saw a more significant role for the military in political life.

As a reconciliatory move, Sukarno invited the leaders of the regional councils to Jakarta on 10–14 September 1957, to attend a National Conference (Musjawarah Nasional), which failed to bring a solution to the crisis. On 30 November 1957, an assassination attempt was made on Sukarno by way of a grenade attack while he was visiting a school function in Cikini, Central Jakarta. Six children were killed, but Sukarno did not suffer any serious wounds. The perpetrators were members of the Darul Islam group, under the order of its leader Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo.

By December 1957, Sukarno began to take serious steps to enforce his authority over the country. On that month, he nationalised 246 Dutch companies which had been dominating the Indonesian economy, most notably the

Netherlands New Guinea as was promised in the 1949 Round Table Conference.[47]
Sukarno's policy of economic nationalism was strengthened by the issuance Presidential Directive No. 10 of 1959, which banned commercial activities by foreign nationals in rural areas. This rule targeted ethnic Chinese, who dominated both the rural and urban retail economy, although at this time few of them had Indonesian citizenship. This policy resulted in massive relocation of the rural ethnic-Chinese population to urban areas, and approximately 100,000 chose to return to China.

To face the dissident regional commanders, Sukarno and Army Chief Nasution decided to take drastic steps following the failure of Musjawarah Nasional. By utilizing regional officers that remained loyal to Jakarta, Nasution organized a series of "regional coups" which ousted the dissident commanders in North Sumatra (Colonel Maludin Simbolon) and South Sumatra (Colonel Barlian) by December 1957. This returned government control over key cities of Medan and Palembang.

In February 1958, the remaining dissident commanders in Central Sumatra (Colonel Ahmad Hussein) and North Sulawesi (Colonel Ventje Sumual) declared the PRRI-Permesta Movement aimed at overthrowing the Jakarta government. They were joined by many civilian politicians from the Masyumi Party, such as Sjafruddin Prawiranegara who were opposed to the growing influence of communists. Due to their anti-communist rhetoric, the rebels received money, weapons, and manpower from the CIA in a campaign known as Archipelago. This support ended when Allen Lawrence Pope, an American pilot, was shot down after a bombing raid on government-held Ambon in April 1958. In April 1958, the central government responded by launching airborne and seaborne military invasions on Padang and Manado, the rebel capitals. By the end of 1958, the rebels had been militarily defeated, and the last remaining rebel guerrilla bands surrendered in August 1961.[48][49]

Guided Democracy period (1959–1966)

Sukarno (on top of the steps) reading his decree on 5 July 1959
Sukarno's official portrait used in the 1960s, complete with military-style decorations.

The impressive military victories over the PRRI-Permesta rebels and the popular nationalisation of Dutch companies left Sukarno in a firm position. On 5 July 1959, Sukarno reinstated the 1945 constitution by presidential decree. It established a presidential system which he believed would make it easier to implement the principles of guided democracy. He called the system Manifesto Politik or Manipol - but it was actually government by decree. Sukarno envisioned an Indonesian-style socialist society, adherent to the principle of USDEK:

  1. Undang-Undang Dasar '45 (Constitution of 1945)
  2. Sosialisme Indonesia (Indonesian socialism)
  3. Demokrasi Terpimpin (Guided Democracy)
  4. Ekonomi Terpimpin (
    Commanded Economy
    ).
  5. Kepribadian Indonesia (Indonesia's Identity)
The structure of Sukarno's guided democracy in 1962

After established guided democracy, Sukarno along with Maladi meet Devi Dja, an Indonesian-born dancer who changed her citizenship to United States, in mid 1959, and convinced her to return as an Indonesian citizen, which Dja refused and credited him as an extreme nationalist person.[50] In March 1960, Sukarno disbanded parliament and replaced it with a new parliament where half the members were appointed by the president (Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat - Gotong Rojong / DPR-GR). In September 1960, he established a Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (Madjelis Permusjawaratan Rakjat Sementara/MPRS) as the highest legislative authority according to the 1945 constitution. MPRS members consisted of members of DPR-GR and members of "functional groups" appointed by the president.

With the backing of the military, Sukarno disbanded the Islamic party Masyumi and Sutan Sjahrir's party PSI, accusing them of involvement with PRRI-Permesta affair. Ulama Zakaria bin Muhammad Amin said that Sukarno is tried to eliminate the party that fought for Islam and silence Islamic political views.[51] The military arrested and imprisoned many of Sukarno's political opponents, from socialist Sjahrir to Islamic politicians Mohammad Natsir and Hamka. Using martial law powers, the government closed down newspapers who were critical of Sukarno's policies.[52][53][54]

During this period, there were several assassination attempts on Sukarno's life. On 9 March 1960, Daniel Maukar, an Indonesian airforce lieutenant who sympathised with the Permesta rebellion, strafed the Merdeka Palace and

MiG-17 fighter jet, attempting to kill the president; he was not injured. In May 1962, Darul Islam agents shot at the president during Eid al-Adha
prayers on the grounds of the palace. Sukarno again escaped injury.

On the security front, the military started a series of effective campaigns which ended the long-festering Darul Islam rebellion in West Java (1962), Aceh (1962), and South Sulawesi (1965). Kartosuwirjo, the leader of Darul Islam, was captured and executed in September 1962.

To counterbalance the power of the military, Sukarno started to rely on the support of the PKI. In 1960, he declared his government to be based on

Dipa Nusantara Aidit
.

In order to increase Indonesia's prestige, Sukarno supported and won the bid for the

Bung Karno Stadium) were built to accommodate the games. There was political tension when the Indonesians refused the entry of delegations from Israel and Taiwan. After the International Olympic Committee imposed sanctions on Indonesia due to this exclusion policy, Sukarno retaliated by organizing a "non-imperialist" competitor event to the Olympic Games, called the Games of New Emerging Forces (GANEFO
). GANEFO was successfully held in Jakarta in November 1963 and was attended by 2,700 athletes from 51 countries.

As part of his prestige-building program, Sukarno ordered the construction of large monumental buildings such as

, and the Sarinah shopping centre to transform Jakarta from a former colonial backwater to a modern city. The modern Jakarta boulevards of Jalan Thamrin, Jalan Sudirman, and Jalan Gatot Subroto were planned and constructed under Sukarno.

Foreign policy

Bandung conference

On the international front, Sukarno organized the Bandung Conference in 1955, with the goal of uniting the developing Asian and African countries into the Non-Aligned Movement to counter both the United States and the Soviet Union.[55]

Cold War

Sukarno addresses the U.S. Congress on 17 May 1956. Sitting behind him the U.S. vice president/Senate president Richard Nixon and U.S. House speaker Sam Rayburn.

As Sukarno's domestic authority was secured, he began to pay more attention to the world stage. He embarked on a series of aggressive and assertive policies based on anti-imperialism to increase Indonesia's international prestige. These anti-imperialist and anti-Western policies, often employing brinkmanship with other nations, were also designed to unite the diverse and fractious Indonesian people. In this, he was aided by his Foreign Minister Subandrio.

After his first visit to

John F. Kennedy Administrations, which worried about a leftward drift should Sukarno rely too much on Soviet-bloc aid.[56]

Sukarno and Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba, 1960

Sukarno was feted during his visit to the United States in 1956, where he addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. To date, it is the only time any Indonesian President has addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Soon after his first visit to America, Sukarno visited the Soviet Union, where he received a more lavish welcome. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev paid a return visit to Jakarta and Bali in 1960, where he awarded Sukarno with the Lenin Peace Prize. To make amends for CIA involvement in the PRRI-Permesta rebellion, Kennedy invited Sukarno to Washington DC, and provided Indonesia with billions of dollars in civilian and military aid.[56]

To follow up on the successful 1955 Bandung Conference, Sukarno attempted to forge a new alliance called the "New Emerging Forces" (NEFO), as a counter to the Western superpowers dubbed the "Old Established Forces" (OLDEFO), whom he accused of spreading "Neo-Colonialism and Imperialism" (NEKOLIM). In 1961, Sukarno established another political alliance, called the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM, in Indonesia known as Gerakan Non-Blok, GNB) at the

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito, and Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah, in an action called The Initiative of Five (Sukarno, Nkrumah, Nasser, Tito, and Nehru). NAM was intended to provide political unity and influence for nations who wished to maintain independence from the American and Soviet superpower blocs, which were engaged in Cold War competition. Sukarno is still fondly remembered for his role in promoting the influence of newly independent countries. His name is used as a street name in Cairo, Egypt and Rabat, Morocco, and as a major square in Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1956, the University of Belgrade awarded him an honorary doctorate
.

Papua conflict

Sukarno with John F. Kennedy in 1961.

In 1960 Sukarno began an aggressive foreign policy to secure Indonesian territorial claims. In August of that year, he broke off diplomatic relations with the Netherlands over the continuing failure to commence talks on the future of Netherlands New Guinea, as was agreed at the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference of 1949. In April 1961, the Dutch announced the formation of a

West Irian
. By the end of 1962, 3,000 Indonesian soldiers were present throughout West Irian/West Papua.

On 28 August 1961, Elizabeth II invited Sukarno for a state visit to London which was scheduled in May 1962.[57] But on 19 September, Juliana of the Netherlands, who heard the news, feel unhappy due to Indonesia's diplomatic relations with the Netherlands had broke down after the West Irian dispute.[57] Upon heard the news, she stated that negotiations with Indonesia regarding West Irian will not take place and not allowed Elizabeth, who was still her distant niece, to invite Sukarno which resulted in a worsening of Indonesia's diplomatic relations with United Kingdom.[57] On 21 April 1962, Sukarno canceled the visit regarding Dutch attack on the Indonesian Navy fleet in the Arafuru Sea.[57]

A naval battle erupted in January 1962 when four Indonesian

U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy travelled to the Netherlands and informed the government that the United States would not support the Netherlands in an armed conflict with Indonesia. With Soviet armaments and advisors, Sukarno planned a large-scale air- and sea-borne invasion of the Dutch military headquarters of Biak for August 1962, called Operasi Djajawidjaja. It was to be led by Major-General Suharto. Before these plans could be realised, Indonesia and the Netherlands signed the New York Agreement in August 1962. The two countries agreed to implement the Bunker Plan (formulated by American diplomat Ellsworth Bunker), whereby the Dutch agreed to hand over West Irian/West Papua to UNTEA
on 1 October 1962. UNTEA transferred the territory to Indonesian authority in May 1963.

Konfrontasi

Sukarno with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor at The Merdeka Palace on 2 August 1963

After securing control over West Irian/West Papua, Sukarno then opposed the British-supported establishment of the

Chartered Bank and Unilever, were nationalised. The confrontation came to a climax during August 1964, when Sukarno authorised landings of Indonesian troops at Pontian and Labis on the Malaysian mainland, and all-out war seemed inevitable as tensions escalated. However, the situation calmed by mid-September at the culmination of the Sunda Straits Crisis, and after the disastrous Battle of Plaman Mapu
in April 1965, Indonesian raids into Sarawak became fewer and weaker.

In 1964, Sukarno commenced an anti-American campaign, which was motivated by his shift towards the communist bloc and less friendly relations with the

Conference of New Emerging Forces

As the NAM countries were becoming split into different factions, and as fewer countries were willing to support his anti-Western foreign policies, Sukarno began to abandon his non-alignment rhetoric. Sukarno formed a new alliance with China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cambodia which he called the "Beijing-Pyongyang-Hanoi-Phnom Penh-Jakarta Axis". After withdrawing Indonesia from the "imperialist-dominated" United Nations in January 1965, Sukarno sought to establish a competitor organisation to the UN called the Conference of New Emerging Forces (CONEFO) with support from the People's Republic of China,[59] which at that time was not yet a member of United Nations. With the government heavily indebted to the Soviet Union, Indonesia became increasingly dependent on China for support.[60] Sukarno spoke increasingly of a Beijing-Jakarta axis,[60] which would be the core of a new anti-imperialist world organization, the CONEFO.[citation needed]

Domestic policy

President for life and Cult of personality

Portrait of Sukarno
Sukarno's portrait

Domestically, Sukarno continued to consolidate his control. He was made

personality cult, with the capital of newly acquired West Irian renamed to Sukarnapura and the highest peak in the country was renamed from Carstensz Pyramid to Puntjak Sukarno (Sukarno Peak)
.

Rise of the PKI

Despite these appearances of unchallenged control, Sukarno's guided democracy stood on fragile grounds due to the inherent conflict between its two underlying support pillars, the military and the communists. The military, nationalists, and the Islamic groups were shocked by the rapid growth of the communist party under Sukarno's protection. They feared an imminent establishment of a communist state in Indonesia. By 1965, the PKI had three million members and were particularly strong in Central Java and Bali. The PKI had become the strongest party in Indonesia.

The military and nationalists were growing wary of Sukarno's close alliance with communist China, which they thought compromised Indonesia's sovereignty. Elements of the military disagreed with Sukarno's policy of confrontation with Malaysia, which in their view only benefited communists, and sent several officers (including future Armed Forces Chief

Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani) to spread secret peace-feelers to the Malaysian government. The Islamic clerics, who were mostly landowners, felt threatened by PKI's land confiscation actions (aksi sepihak) in the countryside and by the communist campaign against the "seven village devils", a term used for landlords or better-off farmers (similar to the anti-kulak campaign in Stalinist era). Both groups harboured deep disdain for PKI in particular due to memories of the bloody 1948 communist rebellion
.

As the mediator of the three groups under the NASAKOM system, Sukarno displayed greater sympathies to the communists. The PKI had been very careful to support all of Sukarno's policies. Meanwhile, Sukarno saw the PKI as the best-organized and ideologically solid party in Indonesia, and a useful conduit to gain more military and financial aid from Communist Bloc countries. Sukarno also sympathised with the communists' revolutionary ideals, which were similar to his own.

To weaken the influence of the military, Sukarno rescinded martial law (which gave wide-ranging powers to the military) in 1963. In September 1962, he "promoted" the powerful General Nasution to the less-influential position of Armed Forces Chief, while the influential position of Army Chief was given to Sukarno's loyalist Ahmad Yani. Meanwhile, the position of Air Force Chief was given to Omar Dhani, who was an open communist sympathiser. In May 1964, Sukarno banned activities of Manifesto Kebudajaan (Manikebu), an association of artists and writers which included prominent Indonesian writers such as Hans Bague Jassin and Wiratmo Soekito, who were also dismissed from their jobs. Manikebu was considered a rival by the communist writer's association Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat (Lekra), led by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. In December 1964, Sukarno disbanded the Badan Pendukung Soekarnoisme (BPS), the "Association for Promoting Sukarnoism", an organization that seeks to oppose communism by invoking Sukarno's own Pancasila formulation. In January 1965, Sukarno, under pressure from the PKI, banned the Murba Party. Murba was a pro-Soviet Union party whose ideology was antagonistic to the PKI's pro-Chinese People's Republic view of Marxism.[61]

1966 ABC report discussing Sukarno's political context for Konfrontasi

Tensions between the military and communists increased in April 1965, when PKI chairman

Ladislav Bittman who defected in 1968 claimed that his agency (StB) forged the letter on request from PKI via the Soviet Union, to smear anti-communist generals. On his independence day speech of 17 August 1965, Sukarno declared his intention to commit Indonesia to an anti-imperialist alliance with China and other communist regimes and warned the Army not to interfere. He also stated his support for the establishment of a "fifth force" of armed peasants and labour.[62]

Economic decline

While Sukarno devoted his energy to domestic and international politics, the economy of Indonesia was neglected and deteriorated rapidly. The government printed money to finance its military expenditures, resulting in hyperinflation exceeding 600% per annum in 1964 - 1965. Smuggling and the collapse of export plantation sectors deprived the government of much-needed foreign exchange income. Consequently, the government was unable to service massive foreign debts it had accumulated from both Western and Communist bloc countries. Most of the government budget was spent on the military, resulting in deterioration of infrastructures such as roads, railways, ports, and other public facilities. Deteriorating transportation infrastructure and poor harvests caused food shortages in many places. The small industrial sector languished and only produced at 20% capacity due to lack of investment.

Sukarno himself was contemptuous of macroeconomics and was unable and unwilling to provide practical solutions to the poor economic condition of the country. Instead, he produced more ideological conceptions such as Trisakti: political sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural independence. He advocated Indonesians "standing on their own feet" (Berdikari) and achieving economic self-sufficiency, free from foreign influence.[63]

Towards the end of his rule, Sukarno's lack of interest in economics created a distance between himself and the Indonesian people, who were suffering economically.[64] His face had become bloated by disease, and his flamboyance and sexual conquests[citation needed] , which had once endeared him to the people, caused public criticism and turned support towards the army[citation needed].

Removal from power and death

30 September Movement

Official portrait

Kidnappings and murders

On the dawn of 1 October 1965, six of Indonesia's most senior army generals were

Solo on 1 - 2 October, killing two colonels
in the process.

The end of the movement

Major General Suharto, commander of the military's strategic reserve command, took control of the army the following morning.[65] Suharto ordered troops to take over the RRI radio station and Merdeka Square itself. On the afternoon of that day, Suharto issued an ultimatum to the Halim Air Force Base, where the G30S had based themselves and where Sukarno (the reasons for his presence are unclear and were subject of claim and counter-claim), Air Marshal Omar Dhani, and PKI chairman Aidit had gathered. By the following day, it was clear that the incompetently organized and poorly coordinated coup had failed. Sukarno took up residence in the Bogor Palace, while Dhani fled to East Java and Aidit to Central Java.[66] By 2 October, Suharto's soldiers occupied Halim Air Force Base, after a short gunfight. Sukarno's obedience to Suharto's 1 October ultimatum to leave Halim is seen as changing all power relationships.[67] Sukarno's fragile balance of power between the military, political Islam, communists and nationalists that underlay his "Guided Democracy" was now collapsing.[66] On 3 October, the corpses of the kidnapped generals were discovered near the Halim Air Force Base, and on 5 October they were buried in a public ceremony led by Suharto.

Aftermath of the movement

In early October 1965, a military propaganda campaign began to sweep the country, successfully convincing both Indonesian and international audiences that it was a Communist coup, and that the murders were cowardly atrocities against Indonesian heroes since those who were shot were veteran military officers.

The purge spread across the country with the worst massacres in Java and Bali.[69] In some areas, the army organized civilian groups and local militias, in other areas communal vigilante action preceded the army.[70] The most widely accepted estimates are that at least half a million were killed.[71] It is thought that as many as 1.5 million were imprisoned at one stage or another.[72]

As a result of the purge, one of Sukarno's three pillars of support, the PKI, had been effectively eliminated by the other two, the military and political Islam. The killings and the failure of his tenuous "revolution" distressed Sukarno, and he tried unsuccessfully to protect the PKI by referring to the generals' killings as een rimpeltje in de oceaan ("ripple in the sea of the revolution"). He tried to maintain his influence appealing in a January 1966 broadcast for the country to follow him. Subandrio sought to create a Sukarnoist column (Barisan Sukarno), which was undermined by Suharto's pledge of loyalty to Sukarno and the concurrent instruction for all those loyal to Sukarno to announce their support for the army.[73]

Transition to the New Order

President Sukarno leading the session of the Dwikora Cabinet while university students demonstrated outside

Cabinet reshuffle

On 1 October 1965, Sukarno appointed General Pranoto Reksosamudro as Army Chief to replace the dead Yani, but he was forced to give this position to Suharto two weeks later. In February 1966, Sukarno reshuffled his cabinet, sacking Nasution as Defence Minister and abolishing his position of armed forces chief of staff, but Nasution refused to step down. Beginning in January 1966, university students started demonstrating against Sukarno, demanding the disbandment of PKI and for the government to control spiralling inflation. In February 1966, student demonstrators in front of Merdeka Palace were shot at by Presidential Guards, killing the student Arief Rachman Hakim, who was quickly turned into a martyr by student demonstrators.

Supersemar

A meeting of Sukarno's full cabinet was held at the Merdeka Palace on 11 March 1966. As students were demonstrating against the administration, unidentified troops began to assemble outside. Sukarno, Subandrio and another minister immediately left the meeting and went to the Bogor Palace by helicopter. Three pro-Suharto generals (Basuki Rahmat, Amir Machmud, and Mohammad Jusuf) were dispatched to the Bogor Palace, and they met with Sukarno who signed for them a Presidential Order known as Supersemar. Through the order, Sukarno assigned Suharto to "take all measures considered necessary to guarantee security, calm and stability of the government and the revolution and to guarantee the personal safety and authority [of Sukarno]". The authorship of the document, and whether Sukarno was forced to sign, perhaps even at gunpoint, is a point of historical debate. The effect of the order, however, was the transfer of most presidential authority to Suharto. After obtaining the Presidential Order, Suharto had the PKI declared illegal, and the party was abolished. He also arrested many high-ranking officials that were loyal to Sukarno on the charge of being PKI members and/or sympathizers, further reducing Sukarno's political power and influence.

House arrest and death

April 1967 ABC report of the political tensions at end of the Sukarno era

On 22 June 1966, Sukarno made his Nawaksara speech in front of the MPRS, now purged of communist and pro-Sukarno elements, in an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to defend himself and his guided democracy system. In August 1966, over Sukarno's objections, Indonesia ended its confrontation with Malaysia and rejoined the United Nations. Following another unsuccessful accountability speech (Nawaksara Addendum) on 10 January 1967, Sukarno relinquished his executive powers to Suharto on 20 February 1967, while remaining nominally as titular President. He was finally stripped of his president-for-life title by the MPRS on 12 March 1967 in a session chaired by his former ally, Nasution. On the same day, the MPR named Suharto acting president.[74] Sukarno was put under house arrest in Wisma Yaso (now the Satriamandala Museum), where his health deteriorated due to denial of adequate medical care.[75] He died of kidney failure in Jakarta Army Hospital on 21 June 1970, at the age of 69. He was buried in Blitar, East Java.

Personal life

Marriages

Sukarno with Fatmawati and five of their children. Clockwise from center: Sukarno, Sukmawati, Fatmawati, Guruh, Megawati, Guntur, Rachmawati

Sukarno was of Javanese and Balinese descent. He married Siti Oetari in 1921, and divorced her in 1923 to marry Inggit Garnasih [id], whom he divorced in about 1943 to marry Fatmawati.[76] In 1954, Sukarno married Hartini, a 30-year-old widow from Salatiga, whom he met during a reception. Fatmawati was outraged by this fourth marriage and left Sukarno and their children, although they never officially divorced. In 1958, Sukarno married Maharani Wisma Susana Siregar, an independence veteran from Liverpool who was 23 years his junior, and divorced in 1962.[77] he was introduced to the then 19-year-old Japanese hostess Naoko Nemoto, whom he married in 1962 and renamed Ratna Dewi Sukarno.[78] Sukarno also had four other spouses: Kartini Manoppo (1959–1968), Haryati (1963–1966), Yurike Sanger (1964–1968), and Heldy Djafar (1966–1969). Sukarno was known for his relationships with several women such as Gusti Nurul, Baby Huwae, Nurbani Yusuf, and Amelia De La Rama.[79][80][81] In 1964, he married Rama in Jakarta and remained with her until his death in 1970.[81] The marriage was kept as a secret until Rama mentioned it during an interview in 1979.[81]

Children

Before his marriage to Fatmawati, Sukarno was married and had a daughter,

Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle. His siblings Guntur Sukarnoputra, Rachmawati Sukarnoputri and Sukmawati Sukarnoputri have all been active in politics. Sukarno had a daughter named Kartika by Dewi Sukarno.[84] In 2006, Kartika Sukarno married Frits Seegers, the Netherlands-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank.[85] Other children include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, a son named Totok Suryawan Sukarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo, and a daughter, Siti Aisyah Margaret Rose, by his wife Maharani Wisma Susana Siregar.[77]

Honours

rupiah banknote featuring Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta
, issued in 2022

Sukarno was awarded twenty-six

Ir.
) from Bandung Institute of Technology.

National honours

Foreign honours

 Afghanistan:

 Argentina:

  • Order of the Liberator General San Martin[87]

 Australia:

 Bolivia:

 Brazil:

 Bulgaria:

 Czechoslovakia:

 Germany:

 Holy See:

 Hungary:

  • Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary[89]

 Japan:

 Morocco:

 Philippines:

 Portugal:

 South Africa:

 Soviet Union:

 Thailand:

 Vietnam:

  • Resistance Medal, 1st Class[87]

 Yugoslavia:

In popular culture

Books

  • Kuantar Ke Gerbang, an Indonesian novel by Ramadhan KH, tells the story of romantic relationship between Sukarno and Inggit Garnasih, his second wife.
  • Sukarno - An Autobiography by Cindy Adams (Bobbs-Merrill, 1965): "Autobiography" written by an American writer with the cooperation of Sukarno. Translated into Indonesian by Abdul Bar Salim as Bung Karno: Penjambung Lidah Rakjat Indonesia (Gunung Agung, 1966).
  • My Friend the Dictator by Cindy Adams (Bobbs-Merrill, 1965): A contemporary account of the writing of the autobiography.
  • Nationalism, Islam and Marxism, On his political concept "Nasakom"; collection of articles, 1926. Translated by Karel H. Warouw and Peter D. Weldon (Modern Indonesia Project, Ithaca, New York, 1970).
  • Indonesia vs Fasisme, Analysis on Indonesian nationalism versus fascism; collection of articles, 1941 (Pen. Media Pressindo, Yogyakarta, 2000).

Songs

  • A song titled Untuk Paduka Jang Mulia Presiden Sukarno (To His Excellency President Sukarno) was written in early 60s by Soetedjo and popularised by Lilis Suryani, a famous Indonesian female soloist. The lyrics are full with expression of praise and gratitude to the then President-for-life.

Movies

See also

Notes

  1. ^ On 11 March 1966 Sukarno, confronted by Generals Basuki Rahmat, Mohammad Jusuf and Amir Machmud, who were sent by Suharto, signed an order "delegating to General Suharto the authority 'to take all necessary steps to guarantee security and calm and the stability of the running of the government and the course of the Revolution', and also to preserve the personal safety of the President". This effectively ended Sukarno's presidential powers; however, he remained the nominal President. Later in the month a new cabinet was announced.[1]
  2. ^ De facto (self-appointed)[2]
  3. ^ As Chairman of the Cabinet Presidium
  4. ^ Also spelt Soekarno

References

  1. ^ Legge, John (1 September 1985). Sukarno: A Political Biography. Allen & Unwin.
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  3. ^ Romi J. (20 November 2020). "Penasaran Tidak, Berapa Sih Tinggi Badan Semua Presiden Indonesia". bertuahpos.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 6 February 2024.
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  5. ^ Biografi Presiden Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia
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  7. ^ Kadane, Kathy (21 May 1990). "U.S. OFFICIALS' LISTS AIDED INDONESIAN BLOODBATH IN '60S". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  8. ^ Lashmar, Paul; Gilby, Nicholas; Oliver, James (17 October 2021). "Revealed: how UK spies incited mass murder of Indonesia's communists". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
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  15. ^ Bung is an Indonesian language term of endearment analogous to "older brother", Pak is used more formally as "sir" or "father".
  16. ^ In Search of Achmad Sukarno Steven Drakeley, University of Western Sydney
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  30. ^ a b Sukarno (1965). Sukarno: An Autobiography. The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc. p. 192.
  31. ^ a b Adams, Cindy (1967). My Friend the Dictator. The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc. pp. 184–186.
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  34. ^ Library of Congress, 1992, "Indonesia: World War II and the Struggle For Independence, 1942–50; The Japanese Occupation, 1942–45" Access date: 9 February 2007
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  62. ^ Dake, Antonie (2006). Sukarno Files. Yayasan Obor.
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  64. ^ Vickers, Adrian (2012). Bali – A Paradise Created.
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  66. ^ a b Ricklefs (1991), pp. 281–282.
  67. ^ Friend (2003), p. 105.
  68. ^ a b Vickers (2005), p. 157.
  69. ^ a b Ricklefs (1991), p. 287.
  70. ^ Vickers (2005), pages 158–159
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  85. Times Online
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  89. ^ "Sukarno In Hungary 1960". British Pathé. 1960. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
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  91. ^ "Lenin Peace Prize Pinned on Sukarno". The New York Times. 29 July 1960. Retrieved 9 November 2022.

Further reading

External links

Political offices
New office
Indonesian independence
President of Indonesia
18 August 1945 – 12 March 1967
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Indonesia
(De facto)

9 July 1959 – 25 July 1966
Succeeded byas Chairman of the
Cabinet Presidium