SukarnoAs the first president of Indonesia serving from 1945 to 1967, Sukarno (1901-70) carved a niche for himself during this tumultuous period of his nation’s history.
He helped the country gain independence from Dutch colonial control and their devoted his his time an energy to the nation building process.
During his long rule as Head of State and Head of Government, he was instrumental in making a number of tough choices. Overall, Sukarno left behind a mixed legacy.
Sukarno was born on June 6, 1901, in Surabaya in the Eastern Java region. During his enrollment in high school in Surabaya, young Sukarno came in contact with Dutch socialists as well as Indonesian nationalist leaders, thus shaping his intellectual thinking and revolutionary zeal.
Sukarno later was sentenced to four years in prison for nationalist agitation.
Following the wartime occupation of Indonesia by Japan, Sukarno and a nationalist colleague, Mohammad Hatta, declared Indonesia an independent republic on August 17, 1945.
He was a pragmatist who could reconcile his anti colonialist stance with pre-war Japan along with the post war realities in which decolonization was the order of the day.
Sukarno was responsible for framing the vision document of the new Indonesian constitution.
One of the highlights of this document was Sukarno’s enunciation of the doctrine of Panchasila.
Sukarno also relied on the army and the support of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).
In the 1950s, he opted for a pro-China policy, and as part of this initiative he also inducted cadre based communists into his government. He also enhanced the Indonesia – Soviet Union defense cooperation.
In order to maintain some leverage over Indonesia, the Eisenhower administration provided military aid to Indonesia as well.
Sukarno formed a new alliance called “New Emerging Forces,” as a balancing structure to the growing political clout and influence of the People’s Republic of China and North Korea.
The Bandung conference, a landmark in the emergence of the Third World non-aligned movement t held in 1955, was a major highlight as it emphasized the combined strength of the merging and developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America against the Cold War-era superpowers.
Success at Bandung also helped consolidated Sukarno’s power and facilitated Indonesia’s bid for staging the Asian Games in Jakarta in 1962.
There were several attempts to destabilize Sukarno’s regime, In 1956, there was a military coup perpetrated against Sukarno’s government in which PRRI-Permesta rebels took part.
On March 11, 1966, Suharto and his supporters in the Indonesia military forced Sukarno to cede executive power to bring about peace and stability in Indonesia.
This preceded the killings and counter killings by the PKI, anti-communists guards and the government’s military wing in East Java, Sumatra and Bali.
Sukarno was stripped of his presidential power on March 12, 1967. He remained under house arrest in his Jakarta home until his death in 1970.
Sukarno
