Sukarno

Sukarno (skär`nō), 1901–70, Indonesian statesman, first president of Indonesia. A leader of the radical nationalist movement founded in 1927, he was jailed and exiled by the Dutch at various times in the 1930s. During World War II, Sukarno cooperated with the Japanese when Indonesia was occupied by them, while still continuing his agitation for Indonesian independence. After the war he and Mohammad Hatta played a crucial part in the establishment (Aug., 1945) of the Republic of Indonesia. In the 1950s, Sukarno attempted to consolidate his multi-island nation. He established (1956) a "guided democracy," with a cabinet that represented all political parties. Regional and factional problems, however, led him, in July, 1959, to dissolve the constituent assembly and assume full dictatorial powers. In 1962, Sukarno ordered sporadic raids on Dutch New Guinea, intensifying a conflict that resulted in UN intervention; his action, however, brought Dutch New Guinea under Indonesian administration in May, 1963. Sukarno, who proclaimed himself president for life in 1963, increased his country's ties to Communist China in the late 1950s and 60s and admitted increasing numbers of Communists and pro-Communists to his government. In 1963 he announced his opposition to the British-sponsored Federation of Malaysia and withdrew (1965) Indonesia from the United Nations after Malaysia took its seat on the Security Council. An attempted Communist coup late in 1965 led to a military takeover in Indonesia by General Suharto, who replaced Sukarno as effective ruler of Indonesia. In 1966, Sukarno was stripped of his title of president for life. He remained under house arrest until his death. Megawati Sukarnoputri is his daughter.

Bibliography

See C. L. M. Penders, The Life and Times of Sukarno (1974); J. D. Legge, Sukarno (2d ed. 1985).

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Sukarno

(born June 6, 1901, Surabaja, Java, Dutch East Indies—died June 21, 1970, Jakarta, Indon.) First president of Indonesia (1949–67). Son of a Javanese schoolteacher, he excelled in languages, mastering Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, and modern Indonesian, which he did much to create. He emerged as a charismatic leader in the country's independence movement. When the Japanese invaded in 1942, he served them as a chief adviser, while pressuring them to grant Indonesia independence. Immediately following Japan's defeat, he declared independence; the Dutch did not transfer sovereignty until 1949. Once he became president, Indonesia made gains in health, education, and cultural self-awareness, but democracy and the economy foundered. His government was corrupt, inflation soared, and the country experienced a continuous state of crisis. An attempted coup, purportedly by communists, in 1965 led to a military takeover by Suharto and a purge of alleged communists. Stripped of his power in 1966, Sukarno resigned in 1967 and lived under house arrest until his death.

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Sukarno, Soekarno

Achmed . 1901--70, Indonesian statesman; first president of the Republic of Indonesia (1945--67)

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Sukarno 

Born June 6, 1901, in Surabaya; died June 21, 1970, in Jakarta. Indonesian public and state figure.

The son of a teacher, Sukarno lived from 1915 to 1920 with the family of Tjokroaminoto, a well-known figure of Indonesia’s national liberation movement. In 1925 he graduated from the Bandung Technical College. In 1926 he helped organize the Bandung Study Club, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the National Party of Indonesia (NPI; founded 1927). Sukarno served as the NPI’s first chairman.

In December 1929, Sukarno was arrested by the Dutch colonial authorities. In 1932, having regained his freedom, he joined the Indonesia Party (from 1931 the successor of the NPI, which had dissolved after Sukarno’s arrest) and was elected its chairman. Again arrested in 1933, he was interned on the island of Flores. In 1938 he was transferred to southern Sumatra, where he remained until the Japanese invasion of Indonesia in 1942.

In his writings, Sukarno formulated the ideology of marhaenism (an Indonesian type of petit bourgeois socialism), which was inseparably linked to the national liberation struggle. During the Japanese occupation of 1942–45, Sukarno remained outwardly loyal to the occupation authorities while actually working in the interest of the liberation movement and maintaining his ties with the country’s patriotic underground organizations. On Aug. 17, 1945, on behalf of the Indonesian people, Sukarno proclaimed the independence of the Netherlands colony known as the Dutch East Indies and the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia and became the republic’s first president. He was one of the organizers of the 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African nations and played a leading role in its preparation as well as in the conference itself. In 1960 he was awarded the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Between Nations.

In the late 1950’s, Sukarno adopted a new system of government—a “guided democracy”—that significantly strengthened the president’s personal powers. The title of “great leader of the revolution” was conferred on Sukarno in 1963 by the Provisional People’s Consultative Congress (PPCC), which also appointed him president for life.

Sukarno’s influence in Indonesia’s political life waned after 1965, when a right-wing military group assumed power as a result of the September 30 Movement. In March 1966, Sukarno was forced to surrender all power to General Suharto, minister in command of ground forces. The PPCC, meeting in July 1966, revoked its appointment of Sukarno to the presidency for life. On Feb. 20,1967, Sukarno officially surrendered presidential authority to General Suharto.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Indoneziia obviniaet. Moscow, 1956.
Sarina. Moscow, 1958.

V. A. ZHAROV