Sukarno

Early life and family

The son of a Muslim Javanese primary school teacher, a priyayi named Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo who hailed from Grobogan, Central Java, and his Hindu Balinese wife from the Brahmin caste named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai from Buleleng, Bali, Sukarno was born in Surabaya, East Java, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where his father had been sent following an application for a transfer to Java. He was originally named Kusno Sosrodihardjo. Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness.

Education

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 a focus on architecture) at the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng (Bandoeng Institute of Technology), where he obtained an Ingenieur degree (abbreviated as "Ir.", a Dutch-type engineer's degree) in 1926. During his study in Bandung, Sukarno became romantically involved with Inggit Garnasih, the wife of Sanoesi, the owner of the boarding house where he lived as a student. Inggit was 13 years older than Sukarno. In March 1923, Sukarno divorced Siti Oetari to marry Inggit (who also divorced her husband Sanoesi). Sukarno later divorced Inggit and married Fatmawati.

Atypically among the country's small educated elite, Sukarno was fluent in several languages. In addition to the Javanese language of his childhood, he spoke Sundanese, Balinese, Indonesian, and Dutch. He was also quite comfortable in German, English, French, Arabic, and Japanese, all of which were taught at his HBS.

In his studies, Sukarno was "intensely modern", both in architecture and in politics. He despised both the traditional Javanese feudalism, which he considered "backward" and to blame for the fall of the country under Dutch occupation and exploitation, and the imperialism practised by Western countries, which he termed as "exploitation of humans by other humans" (exploitation de l'homme par l'homme). He blamed this for the deep poverty and low levels of education of the Indonesian people under the Dutch. To promote nationalistic pride amongst Indonesians, Sukarno interpreted these ideas in his dress, in his urban planning for the capital (eventually Jakarta), and in his socialist politics, though he did not extend his taste for modern art to pop music; he had the Indonesian musical group Koes Bersaudara imprisoned for their allegedly decadent lyrics despite his reputation for womanising. For Sukarno, modernity was blind to race, neat and elegant in style, and anti-imperialist.

After graduation in 1926, Sukarno and his university friend Anwari established the architectural firm Soekarno & Anwari in Bandung, which provided planning and contractor services. Among Sukarno's architectural works are the renovated building of the Preanger Hotel (1929), where he acted as assistant to famous Dutch architect Charles Prosper Wolff Schoemaker. Sukarno also designed many private houses on today's Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jalan Palasari, and Jalan Dewi Sartika in Bandung.

Later on, as president, Sukarno remained engaged in architecture, designing the Proclamation Monument and adjacent Gedung Pola in Jakarta; the Youth Monument (Tugu Muda) in Semarang; the Alun-alun Monument in Malang; the Heroes' Monument in Surabaya; and also the new city of Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan. Sukarno was also deeply involved in building the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex which includes him proposing the design for the roof of its main stadium.

Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence

On 29 April 1945, when the Philippines were liberated by American forces, the Japanese allowed for the establishment of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan, BPUPK), a quasi-legislature consisting of 67 representatives from most ethnic groups in Indonesia. Sukarno was appointed as head of the BPUPK and was tasked to lead discussions to prepare the basis of a future Indonesian state. To provide a common and acceptable platform to unite the various squabbling factions in the BPUPK, Sukarno formulated his ideological thinking developed over the previous twenty years into five principles. On 1 June 1945, he introduced a set of five principles, known as pancasila, during the joint session of the BPUPK held in the former Volksraad Building (now called the Pancasila Building).

Pancasila, as presented by Sukarno during the BPUPK speech, consisted of five principles which Sukarno saw as commonly shared by all Indonesians:

Nationalism, whereby a united Indonesian state would stretch from Sabang to Merauke, encompassing all former Dutch East Indies

Internationalism, meaning Indonesia is to appreciate human rights and contribute to world peace, and should not fall into chauvinistic fascism such as displayed by Nazis with their belief in the racial superiority of Aryans

Democracy, which Sukarno believed has always been in the blood of Indonesians through the practice of consensus-seeking (musyawarah untuk mufakat), an Indonesian-style democracy different from Western-style liberalism

Social justice, a form of populist socialism in economics with Marxist-style opposition to free capitalism. Social justice also intended to provide an equal share of the economy to all Indonesians, as opposed to the complete economic domination by the Dutch and Chinese during the colonial period

Belief in God, whereby all religions are treated equally and have religious freedom. Sukarno saw Indonesians as spiritual and religious people, but in essence tolerant towards different religious beliefs

On 22 June, the Islamic and nationalist elements of the BPUPK created a small committee of nine (Indonesian: Panitia Sembilan), which formulated Sukarno's ideas into the five-point Pancasila, in a document known as the Jakarta Charter:

Belief in one and only Almighty God with obligation for Muslims to adhere to Islamic law (Ketuhanan dengan kewajiban menjalankan syariat Islam bagi para pemeluknya)

Just and civilised humanity (Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab)

Unity of Indonesia (Persatuan Indonesia)

Democracy through inner wisdom and representative consensus-building (Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam musyawarah perwakilan)

Social justice for all Indonesians (Keadilan bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia)

Due to pressure from the Islamic element, the first principle mentioned the obligation for Muslims to practice Islamic law (sharia). However, the final Sila as contained in the 1945 Constitution which was put into effect on 18 August 1945, excluded the reference to Islamic law for the sake of national unity. The elimination of sharia was done by Hatta based upon a request by Christian representative Alexander Andries Maramis, and after consultation with moderate Islamic representatives Teuku Mohammad Hassan, Kasman Singodimedjo, and Ki Bagoes Hadikoesoemo.

Marriages

Sukarno was of Javanese and Balinese descent. He married Siti Oetari in 1921, and divorced her in 1923 to marry Inggit Garnasih, whom he divorced in about 1943 to marry Fatmawati. In 1953, Sukarno married Hartini, a 30-year-old divorcee from Salatiga, whom he met during a reception. Fatmawati was outraged by this fourth marriage and left Sukarno and their children, although they never officially divorced. In 1958, Sukarno married Maharani Wisma Susana Siregar, an independence veteran from Liverpool who was 23 years his junior, and divorced in 1962. He was introduced to the then 19-year-old Japanese hostess Naoko Nemoto, whom he married in 1962 and renamed Ratna Dewi Sukarno. Sukarno also had five other spouses: Sakiko Kanase (1958–1959), Kartini Manoppo (1959–1968), Haryati (1963–1966), Yurike Sanger (1964–1968), and Heldy Djafar (1966–1969). Sukarno was known for his relationships with several women such as Gusti Nurul, Baby Huwae, Nurbani Yusuf, and Amelia De La Rama. In 1964, he married Rama in Jakarta and remained with her until his death in 1970. The marriage was kept as a secret until Rama mentioned it during an interview in 1979.

Children

Before his marriage to Fatmawati, Sukarno was married and had a daughter, Rukmini, who later became an opera singer in Italy. Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Sukarnoputra (1953-2026) inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and was a choreographer and songwriter, who made a movie Untukmu, Indonesiaku (For You, My Indonesia) about Indonesian culture. He was also a member of the Indonesian People's Representative Council for Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of 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 Dutch-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank. Other children include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, a son named Totok Suryawan Sukarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo, and a daughter, Siti Aisyah Margaret Rose, by his wife Maharani Wisma Susana Siregar.

On 9 September 2024, the MPR officially revoked MPR Resolution No. XXXIII/MPRS/1967 that was used as an instrument to revoke Sukarno from presidency and barred him from politics. Since there was no trial to prove that Sukarno is responsible for 30 September incident, the MPR revoked the resolution and resolved to restore his reputation posthumously.

Arrest, trial, and imprisonment

Arrest and trial

PNI activities came to the attention of the colonial government, and Sukarno's speeches and meetings were often infiltrated and disrupted by agents of the colonial secret police (Politieke Inlichtingendienst). Eventually, Sukarno and other key PNI leaders were arrested on 29 December 1929 by Dutch colonial authorities in a series of raids throughout Java. Sukarno himself was arrested while on a visit to Yogyakarta. During his trial at the Bandung Landraad courthouse from August to December 1930, Sukarno made a series of long political speeches attacking colonialism and imperialism, titled Indonesia Menggoegat (Indonesia Accuses).

Imprisonment

In December 1930, Sukarno was sentenced to four years in prison, which were served in Sukamiskin prison in Bandung. His speech, however, received extensive coverage by the press, and due to strong pressure from the liberal elements in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, his sentence was shortened to two years by governor-general Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff. Sukarno was released early on 31 December 1931. By this time, he had become a popular hero widely known throughout Indonesia.

However, during his imprisonment, the PNI had been splintered by the oppression of colonial authorities and internal dissension. The original PNI was disbanded by the Dutch, and its former members formed two different parties; the Indonesia Party (Partindo) under Sukarno's associate Sartono who were promoting mass agitation, and the Indonesian Nationalist Education (New PNI) under Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, two nationalists who recently returned from studies in the Netherlands, and who were promoting a long-term strategy of providing modern education to the uneducated Indonesian populace to develop an intellectual elite able to offer effective resistance to Dutch rule. After attempting to reconcile the two parties to establish one united nationalist front, Sukarno chose to become the head of Partindo on 28 July 1932. Partindo had maintained its alignment with Sukarno's own strategy of immediate mass agitation, and Sukarno disagreed with Hatta's long-term cadre-based struggle. Hatta himself believed Indonesian independence would not occur within his lifetime, while Sukarno believed Hatta's strategy ignored the fact that politics can only make real changes through formation and utilisation of force (machtsvorming en machtsaanwending).

During this period, to support himself and the party financially, Sukarno returned to architecture, opening the bureau of Soekarno & Roosseno with his university junior Roosseno. He also wrote articles for the party's newspaper, Fikiran Ra'jat (People's Mind). While based in Bandung, Sukarno travelled extensively throughout Java to establish contacts with other nationalists. His activities attracted further attention by the Dutch PID. In mid-1933, Sukarno published a series of writings titled Mentjapai Indonesia Merdeka ("To Attain Independent Indonesia"). For this writing, he was arrested by Dutch police while visiting fellow nationalist Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin in Jakarta on 1 August 1933.