"BUNG KARNO: 6 JUNE - 21 JUNE"
I wish that the following brief account of Sukarno's political
biography [1,2] would refresh your memory about him, and I also wish
that you'd share my curiosity about the Gestapu "coup" which is still
an unsolved mistery (see Appendix I) :
6 June 1901: Sukarno was born in Surabaya (father, Raden Sukemi So-
srodihardjo [a Javanese], and mother, Idayu Njoman Rai
[a Balinese])
1911 - 1913 : Sukarno attended his father's primary school at Mojo-
kerto
1914 - 1915 : attended ELS (Europeesche Lagere School), a Dutch-language
elementary school, at Mojokerto
1916 - 1921 : attended HBS (Hogere Burger School), an elite Dutch high
school, in Surabaya
1921 - 1926 : attended THS (Technische Hoogeschool te Bandung) in Bandung,
earned "Ingenieur" with a dissertation on Harbour Design;
he also developed his own version of Marxism, called MAR-
HAENISM; he claimed to have met a sundanese farmer nicknamed
Marhaen while cycling through the countryside near Bandung;
the following is a conversation between Sukarno and Marhaen:
'Who owns this field ?' asked Sukarno
'I do,' replied Marhaen
'And the hoe, who owns that ?'
'I do.'
'Those tools, who owns them ?'
'I do.'
'The crop on which you're working, for whom is it ?'
'For me.'
'Is it sufficient for your needs ?'
'There's barely enough to keep us alive.'
'Do you ever sell your labour ?'
'No.I must work hard, but my labours are all for myself.'
'But brother, you live in poverty.'
'That's right, I live poorly.'
'I thought to myself,' said Sukarno,'this man clearly and
certainly is not a member of the proletariat, he is a pauper,
he is poor, he suffers much, has not enough to live on, but
he is not a member of the proletariat, for he does not sell
his labour-power to another without participating in owner-
ship of the means of production.
[ He then asked the farmer his name and was told MARHAEN. Sukar-
no then decided to use that name to describe the DESTITUTE
PEOPLE OF INDONESIA ]
4 Jul. 1927 : Ir. Sukarno, Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo, and Dr. Tjipto Mangunku-
sumo established 'Perserikatan National Indonesia' (PNI);
Party's position was political independence of Indonesia and
non-cooperation with the Netherland Indies Gov't.
May 1928 : PNI became 'Partai Nasional Indonesia'
29 Dec. 1929: Sukarno and his colleagues at PNI were arrested by the Dutch
police
18 Aug -
22 Dec 1930: Sukarno was tried at the Bandung District Court under
the presidency of Mr. R. Siegenbeek van Heukelom on charges
(under Article 153 of HAATZAAI Article) of a crime to contri-
bute by speaking or writing, directly or by implication, to
the disturbance of public order; Sukarno then made an eloquent
speech titled 'Indonesia Menggugat' in his own defence; he was
then found guilty and sentenced 4 years in the jail of Suka-
miskin near Bandung.
25 Apr 1931 : PNI was dissolved and replaced by 'Partai Indonesia' (Pertindo)
31 Dec 1931 : Sukarno got clemency and was released from jail, and then joined
Partindo
1 Oct 1933 -
9 Jul 1942 : Sukarno was arrested for the second time and exiled to Endeh
(Flores), then tranferred to Bengkulu in 1938 after he suf-
ferred a severe bout of malaria
9 Mar 1942 : The Netherland Indies Gov't surrendered to Japan without
offering much resistance on land; Sukarno was subsequently
released from jail
9 Mar 1943 : Putera ('Pusat Tenaga Rakyat') was set up with Sukarno as
Chairman; however, his reputation was tarnished by his role
in recruiting Romusha, a conscription of Indonesian laborers
to serve the Japanese army, not only in Indonesia, but also
in other parts of Southeast Asia (estimated that 270,000 ro-
musha were sent Outer Islands and Japanese-held territories
in Southeast Asia, but only 52,000 were repatriated to Java);
Sukarno's collaboration with the Japanese gov't (who was hos-
tile to the Allies) also brought into being a familiar refrain
in his oratory 'Amerika kita setrika, Inggris kita linggis !'.
March 1944 : Djawa Hokokai replaced Putera which was dissolved by the end
of 1943; the new party was under the chairmanship of Sukarno.
1 Mar 1945 : BPUPKI ('Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indone-
sia) was founded under the chairmanship of Dr. Radjiman We-
diodiningrat.
1 June 1945 : Sukarno introduced his Pancasila during BPUPKI meeting. His
Pancasila contained five principles:
1. nationalism
2. internationalism (humanism)
3. democracy (representative government or consent)
4. social prosperity for all
5. belief in God
He said,'The first two principles, nationalism and interna-
tionalism, can be pressed to one, which I used to call socio-
nationalism.' Similarly with democracy 'which is not the de-
mocracy of the West' together with social justice for all
can be pressed down to one, and called socio democracy. Fi-
nally - belief in God. 'And so what originally was five has
become three: socio nationalism, socio democracy, and belief
in God.' 'If I press down five to get three, and three to
get one, then I have a genuine Indonesian term - GOTONG RO-
YONG [mutual co-operation]. The state of Indonesia which we
are to establish should be a state of mutual co-operation.
How fine that is ! A Gotong Royong state !'
8 Aug 1945 : Sukarno, Hatta, and Radjiman Wediodiningrat were summoned by
Marshal Terauchi, Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern
Expeditionary Forces in Saigon.
14 Aug 1945 : they return from Saigon
15 Aug 1945 : Sukarno, Hatta, and Mr. Ali Subardjo visited Admiral Maeda.
In the evening, Sukarno received Wikana and his colleagues
and was later kidnapped by Jakarta youth leaders
16 Aug 1945 : Sukarno and Hatta were held kidnapped at Rengasdengklok.
They then returned to Jakarta in the evening in order to
see the Gunseikan, General Yamamoto, the meeting with Nishi-
mura and the drafting of the proclamation.
17 Aug 1945 : The proclamation by Sukarno and Hatta on behalf of all In-
donesian people
15 Aug 1950 : Sukarno unilaterally declared the unitary Republic of In-
donesia and abandoned the Round Table Conference signed
by Indonesia and its former ruler, the Netherlands, on 27
Dec. 1949; Indonesia followed a Parliamentary Democracy
till 1959.
April 1955 : Sukarno hosted the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung; 29
Non-Bloc countries attended the conference
10 Nov 1956 : The newly elected Constituent Assembly started to draft
a new Indonesian constitution
18 May 1958 : During PRRI revolt in Sulawesi, an American B-25 pilot,
Allan Pope, was shot down over Ambon. After this incident,
Sukarno had good reason to believe that America would like to
see him toppled, and he started developing closer relations
with the Soviet Union and, especially, the People's Republic
of China
5 July 1959 : Sukarno with influence from the Army dissolved the Cons-
tituent Assembly and adopted by decree the Constitution of
1945 (UUD 45); later this year, Sukarno introduced his NASAKOM
('Nasionalisme, Agama, dan Komunisme') which was to serve as
the basis for a revolutionary 'just and prosperous society.'
Under Nasakom, to oppose PKI ('Partai Komunis Indonesia') was
to be anti-Pancasila/anti-Sukarno.
1960 : Sukarno introduced his most important formulas, Manipol/USDEK;
USDEK was an acronym of UUD 45, 'Sosialisme ala Indonesia',
'Demokrasi Terpimpin','Ekonomi Terpimpin',and 'Kepribadian
Indonesia'; at the same time, the PKI power in Java's villages
grew strongly
23 Sep 1963 : Sukarno who had proclaimed himself President-for-Life declared
'Ganyang Malaysia' Policy
Late 1963 : following Sukarno's call for implementation of land reform mea-
sures that had been made into law in 1960, the PKI announced
'aksi sepihak' and began dispossessing landlords and distribu-
ting the land to poor Javanese, northern Sumatrans, and Balinese
peasants. Reforms were not accomplished without violance. Old
rivalries between nominal Moslems, the abangan (many of whom
were PKI supporters), and orthodox Moslems ('santri') were
exacerbated. The PKI membership rolls then totalled 2 million.
Dec. 1964 : After the UN General Assembly elected Malaysia as a nonpermanent
member of the Security Council, Sukarno took Indonesia out of
the world body and promised to establish CONEFO (Conference of
New Emerging Forces); 1964 was called by Sukarno as TAVIP ('Ta-
hun Vivere Pericoloso' = The Year of Living Dingereously )
29 May 1965 : Sukarno announced that he had documentary evidence (called Gil-
christ Letter) of a plot against the lives of himself, Suban-
drio, and Ahmad Yani, to be carried out by 'henchmen' of the
imperialists( which in the Gilchrist Letter were called 'our
local army friends' and which could be held to imply the exis-
tence of close connections between the British Embassy and mem-
bers of the Indonesian Army). These statements were made in the
context of Gilchrist letter, produced by Subandrio and purpor-
ting to be a telegram of the preceeding March from the British
Ambassador, Sir Andrew Gilchrist to the British Foreign Office.
17 Aug 1965 : D.N. Aidit, the PKI chairman, called for the arming of 5 million
workers and 10 million peasants to carry on 'Ganyang Malaysia';
this new armed force were then called 'the Fifth Force'
30 Sep -
1 Oct 1965 : A coup d'etat was launched by Lt.Col. Untung, commander of the
Tjakrabirawa Presidential Guard, but smashed by Lt.Gen. Suharto
from KOSTRAD; this event however remains a mistery to Indonesian
people up to this present moment (especially about who has mas-
terminded the coup d'etat)==> please see explanation below in
Appendix I
11 Mar. 1967: Sukarno was FORCED to sign the executive order of March 11 ('Su-
persemar) in front of three generals, Basuki Rachmat, Mohammad
Yusuf, and Amir Machmud, and Sukarno was obliged to transfer
supreme authority to Suharto ( Please note that the above three
generals were sent by Suharto [Minister and Commander of the Ar-
my], so this 11 March event should be viewed as COUP d'ETAT by
Suharto against Sukarno)
12 Mar. 1967: MPRS stripped Sukarno of all political power and installed Su-
harto as Acting President.
21 June 1970: After a sudden deterioration in his condition on 16 June 1970,
Sukarno was taken to the Jakarta Military Hospital and died
there on the morning of 21 June. Sukarno's wish to be buried
in the garden of his Batu Tulis home near Jakarta was not
granted by Suharto (then President of Indonesia); and he was
instead buried next to his mother at Blitar (East Java).
Years before his death, Sukarno had written,"And when I die,
don't write on my tombstone, President Sukarno, doctor,
engineer,leader of the Revolution ... No ! Just write on my
tombstone,
"Here lies Sukarno, 'Penyambung Lidah Rakyat Indonesia' "
References:
- J.D. Legge, "Sukarno: A Political Biography", The Penguin Press (1972)
- W.H. Frederick and R.L. Worden, "Indonesia: a country study", Department
of the Army (1993)
Salam dari Calgary, Canada
Paul H. Salim
Encl. Appendix I
source