Sukarno was the first president of independent Indonesia and was politically active from an early age. He was captured several times by the Dutch colonial government, but eventually his wish was fulfilled and Indonesia gained independence and became its first president. However, that presidency was not always a bed of roses and he was eventually removed from power by General Suharto, who subsequently took his position.
Youth
Sukarno was born on June 6, 1901 in Surabay on Java in the then Dutch East Indies as Kusno Sosrodihardjo, but was later called Sukarno after an illness. He was the son of Javanese nobility, although his mother was a Hindu from Bali. Like many Javanese, he only had one name. Among Indonesians, Sukarno (also written as Soekarno) is known as Bung Karno or Pak Karno. As a child he went to a Dutch school, after which he went to Bandung in 1921, where he studied at the Technical University. Sukarno was a very gifted student and he immersed himself in various political philosophies, such as Marxism, capitalism and Islamism and founded the General Study Club , where he discussed his ideas with like-minded students. Sukarno would marry ten times and only had the daughter who would become Indonesia’s first female president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, with his third wife Fatmawati .
Sukarno and the Dutch
In 1927, the Partai Nasional Indonesia was founded by friends of the General Study Club, of which Sukarno became leader. This party was anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and focused on independence. People strove for unity among the Indonesians. Sukarno had foresight, he expected the Japanese to invade his country and wanted to take advantage of this by gaining independence and throwing out the Dutch colonials. In 1929, Sukarno was first arrested by Dutch authorities and sentenced to four years in prison, making him a hero to the local population. However, he only served one year of his sentence. From then on, he was continuously recaptured until the Japanese invaded the country in 1942. Sukarno was also imprisoned at that time.
Sukarno and the Japanese
During the Second World War, the Japanese received support from part of the local population against the Dutch. There was an exception, they did not want to help the occupiers with fuel for their planes. To gain support, the Japanese brought Sukarno to Jakarta. This indeed had the desired result. Volunteer Indonesian troops arrived and by mid-1945 there were more than two million Indonesians fighting on the side of the Japanese against the Allies, who wanted to take Java. Not all Indonesians were happy with the Japanese, who soon started using forced labor among the local population, and did not shy away from making these workers work under appalling conditions. Sukarno collaborated with the Japanese to gain a platform for his nationalist plans. Japanese Marshal Terauchi advised the Indonesians to declare independence after the Japanese gave up the fight for the islands. Sukarno was initially reluctant, but he changed tack and on August 17, 1945, he declared independence together with Mohammed Hatta, making himself president and Hatta vice-president.
After Independence
Now it was time to create a constitution for the new nation and Sukarno came up with Panca Sila (Five Pillars), a mix of nationalism, communism and Islam. However, the constitution proved unworkable and caused chaos in the Indonesian parliament. In the meantime, the Dutch were trying to re-establish their colonial rule and the country was in chaos, as various Indonesian factions were also fighting among themselves. The Dutch again captured Sukarno in 1948 but he was released a year later and a ceasefire was declared.
Growing Dictatorship
Even after the departure of the Dutch, Sukarno continued to have problems maintaining the unity of the new state. Many factions and regions wanted to continue independently and Sukarno suppressed this with military action. The 1950s were a time of chaos and attempted military coups. Sukarno decided to move to what he called ‘ guided democracy ‘. He became increasingly dependent on the army and the Communist Party (the PKI) to stay in power. Censorship was imposed on the media and books and various laws were passed that discriminated against Indonesians of Chinese descent. In July 1959, Sukarno went so far as to dissolve parliament and take full control himself. He called this new system Manifesto Politik or Manipol.
Sukarno and the Cold War
Sukarno played a game of divide and rule, taking advantage of the prevailing Cold War. He strengthened his ties with communist China and received increasing help from the Soviet Union, while the Americans redoubled their aid to at least maintain Indonesia as an unaffiliated state. In 1963, a conflict broke out with neighboring Malaysia, which before Sukarno was a neo-colonist country in the hands of the British. This was the signal for the Americans to stop their aid to Indonesia and Sukarno withdrew from the United Nations Security Council and Malaysia took Indonesia’s place.
Suharto’s Coup
There was now great dissatisfaction in the country. The military and Islamists were not happy with the communist course the country was taking. Sukarno sensed that a coup was brewing and on October 1, 1965, six generals were forced from their beds by part of the presidential guard and officers and then murdered. This was the beginning of what would become known as the ‘September 30 Movement’, a coup that would end Sukarno’s regime. He dissolved parliament and established a ‘Revolutionary Council’ in its place. Major General Suharto watched it all with dismay and subsequently brought the army under his control after Sukarno declared him army chief and put an end to the communist coup. Suharto then began removing communists from high-ranking positions, killing half a million people and imprisoning one and a half million. Sukarno tried to secure his position, but on March 11, 1966 he was forced to sign the ‘Supersemar’, transferring power to General Suharto. On March 12, 1967, Sukarno was formally removed from office and placed under house arrest in Bogor Palace. Sukarno was already ill at that time and did not receive sufficient medical attention, so he died on June 21, 1970 in the Jakarta Army Hospital of kidney disease.