Soekarno, 1901-1970

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Sukarno born Kusno Sosrodihardjo, 6 June 1901, Surabaya, East Java, Dutch East Indies – 21 June 1970, Jakarta, Indonesia; son of a Javanese primary school teacher, an aristocrat named Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo, and his Hindu Balinese wife from the Brahmin varna named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai from Buleleng regency; After graduating from a native primary school in 1912, he was sent to the Europeesche Lagere School (a Dutch primary school) in Mojokerto. Subsequently, in 1916, Sukarno went to a Hogere Burgerschool (a Dutch type higher level secondary school) in Surabaya, where he met Tjokroaminoto, a nationalist and founder of Sarekat Islam. In 1920, Sukarno married Tjokroaminoto's daughter Siti Oetari. In 1921, he began to study civil engineering (with focusing on architecture) at the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng (Bandoeng Institute of Technology), where he obtained an engenieering degree; After graduation in 1926, Sukarno and his university friend Anwari established the architectural firm Sukarno & Anwari in Bandung; Sukarno was first exposed to nationalist ideas while living under Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto; On 4 July 1927, Sukarno with his friends from the Algemeene Studieclub established a pro-independence party, Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI), of which Sukarno was elected the first leader; n December 1930, Sukarno was sentenced to four years in prison, which were served in Sukamiskin prison in Bandung; Sukarno was willing to support the Japanese, in exchange for a platform for himself to spread nationalist ideas to the mass population. The Japanese, on the other hand, needed Indonesia's manpower and natural resources to help its war effort; To gain cooperation from Indonesian population and to prevent resistance to these measures, the Japanese put Sukarno as head of Tiga-A mass organisation movement. In March 1943, the Japanese formed a new organisation called Poesat Tenaga Rakjat (POETERA/ Center of People's Power) under Sukarno, Hatta, Ki Hadjar Dewantara, and KH Mas Mansjoer; 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; In the early morning of 17 August 1945, Sukarno returned to his house at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56, where he was joined by Mohammad Hatta. Throughout the morning, impromptu leaflets printed by PETA and youth elements informed the population of the impending proclamation. Finally, at 10 am, Sukarno and Hatta stepped to the front porch, where Sukarno declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia in front of a crowd of 500 people; 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 Republik Indonesia Serikat (Republic of United States of Indonesia), 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. 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; Sukarno came to resent his figurehead position and the increasing disorder of the country's political life. Claiming that Western-style parliamentary democracy was unsuitable for Indonesia, he called for a system of "guided democracy." Sukarno argued that at the village level, important questions were decided by lengthy deliberation designed to achieve a consensus, under the guidance of village elders. Sukarno argued it should be the model for the entire nation, with the president taking the role assumed by village elders. He proposed a government based not only on political parties but on "functional groups" composed of the nation's basic elements, which would together form a National Council, through which a national consensus could express itself under presidential guidance. Vice-President Mohammad Hatta was strongly opposed to Sukarno's guided democracy concept. Citing this and other irreconcilable differences, Hatta resigned from his position in December 1956. Hatta's retirement sent a shockwave across Indonesia, particularly among the non-Javanese ethnicities, who viewed Hatta as their representative in a Javanese-dominated government; By December 1957, Sukarno began to take serious steps to enforce his authority over the country. On that month, he nationalized 246 Dutch companies which had been dominating the Indonesian economy, most notably the NHM, Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, Escomptobank, and the "big five" Dutch trading corporations (NV Borneo Sumatra Maatschappij / Borsumij, NV Internationale Crediet- en Handelsvereeneging "Rotterdam" / Internatio, NV Jacobson van den Berg & Co, NV Lindeteves-Stokvis, and NV Geo Wehry & Co), and expelled 40,000 Dutch citizens remaining in Indonesia while confiscating their properties, purportedly due to the failure by the Dutch government to continue negotiations on the fate of Netherlands New Guinea as was promised in the 1949 Round Table Conference; 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; Domestically, Sukarno continued to consolidate his control. He was made president for life by the MPRS in 1963; While Sukarno devoted his energy to domestic and international politics, the economy of Indonesia was neglected and deteriorated rapidly; On the dawn of 1 October 1965, six of Indonesia's most senior army generals were kidnapped and murdered by a movement calling themselves the "30 September Movement" (G30S); Major General Suharto, commander of the Army's strategic reserve command, took control of the army the following morning; 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. After making another unsuccessful accountability speech (Nawaksara Addendum) on 10 January 1967, Sukarno was stripped of his president-for-life title by MPRS on 12 March 1967, in a session chaired by his former ally, Nasution. On the same day, the MPR named Suharto acting president. Sukarno was put under house arrest in Bogor Palace, where his health deteriorated due to denial of adequate medical care. He died of kidney failure in Jakarta Army Hospital on 21 June 1970 at age 69. He was buried in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia; Sukarno was of Javanese and Balinese descent. Sukarno married Siti Oetari in 1920, and divorced her in 1923 to marry Inggit Garnasih, whom he divorced c. 1943 to marry Fatmawati. Sukarno also married Hartini in 1954, after which he and Fatmawati separated without divorcing. In 1959, he was introduced to the then 19-year-old Japanese hostess Naoko Nemoto, whom he married in 1962 and renamed Ratna Dewi Sukarno.[54] Sukarno also married four other spouses: Haryati (1963–1966); Kartini Manoppo (1959–1968); Yurike Sanger (1964–1968); Heldy Djafar (1966–1969); Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Sukarnoputra (born 1953) has inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and is a choreographer and songwriter, who made a movie Untukmu, Indonesiaku (For You, My Indonesia) about Indonesian culture. He is also a member of the Indonesian People's Representative Council for Megawati's 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. In 2006 Kartika Sukarno married Frits Seegers, the Netherlands-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank. Other offspring include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, and a son named Toto Suryawan Sukarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo; The spelling Soekarno, based on Dutch orthography, is still frequently used, mainly because he signed his name in the old spelling. Sukarno himself insisted on a "u", not "oe", but said that he had been told in school to use the Dutch style. He said that it was too difficult to change his signature, so still wrote it with an "oe". Official Indonesian presidential decrees from the period 1947–1968, however, printed his name using the 1947 spelling. The Soekarno–Hatta International Airport which serves near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, still uses the Dutch spelling. Indonesians also remember him as Bung Karno (Brother/Comrade Karno) or Pak Karno ("Mr. Karno"). Like many Javanese people, he had only one name.[7] According to author Pramoedya Ananta Toer in several interviews, "bung" is an affectionate title meaning "friend" creatively used to be an alternative way of addressing person in equal manner, as an opposite word of old-form "tuan", "mas" or "bang".

He is sometimes referred to in foreign accounts as "Achmad Sukarno", or some variation thereof. The fictitious first name may have been added by western journalists confused over someone with just a single name, or by Indonesian supporters of independence to attract support from Muslim countries. According to author Pramoedya Ananta Toer in several interviews, "bung" is an affectionate title meaning "friend" creatively used to be an alternative way of addressing person in equal manner, as an opposite word of old-form "tuan", "mas" or "bang". He is sometimes referred to in foreign accounts as "Achmad Sukarno", or some variation thereof. The fictitious first name may have been added by western journalists confused over someone with just a single name, or by Indonesian supporters of independence to attract support from Muslim countries.

Wikipedia article, Sukarno (accessed April 26, 2019)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno

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Name Entry: Soekarno, 1901-1970

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Note: Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest

Name Entry: Sukarno, 1901-1970

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Note: Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest