The threat of colonialism lied within the core of this nation, these people couldn’t resist the imminent lurk any more. Centuries of repression by the Dutch, expanding their possessions and hegemony throughout these territories, were based on a rigid racial and social structure with an elite living separate and stigmatizing the native subjects. The situation quickly got into the attention of Sukarno, which took the Japanese invasion to the Dutch East Indies as an opportunity to reconstruct the vitality of his nation and acquire independence from the Netherlands, looking upon it as a fulfillment of a remarkable ancient prophesy. After a strong cooperation with the Japanese, Sukarno got a remarkable assistance for the future independence of Indonesia, arming and training the army to resist the return of the Dutch to its country with the help of the Japanese Government. Immediately after the Japanese Government surrender to the Allied forces of the Second World War, Sukarno and Muhammad Hatta declared the independence of Indonesia on August 17th (Whatkins).
Even though Sukarno’s strong opposition to the Dutch occupation in Indonesia was remarked internationally, he didn’t opposed to imperialism as a whole, he only opposed to the Javanese being the victim of it, as it could be justified by his declarations along with other nationalists that insisted that the new nation would include all the territories conquered by the Dutch, even taking into account those that had no cultural affiliation with the Javanese or the Malay peoples. After the sudden return of the Dutch to the islands and the constant battles against them, Indonesia was officially free to function after the Netherland’s withdrawal, thanks to the ultimatum the American government gave to them of retiring the Marshall Plan in their territory if they didn’t disengage from their attempt to recolonize Indonesia. The threaten by the United States of America was the result of the prove Sukarno showed to correctly identify them as non-communists based on the events in Madium, disclaimed by the Siliwangi Division under Nasution (Annanta, 1999).
Sukarno once said: “In my political outlook, I'm nationalist! In my social outlook, I'm socialist! In my religious outlook, I'm completely theist! That I am! I'm not a communist, not at all satellite of any other "-ism" in the world! I'm just pro-Indonesia! I'll fight and work and sacrifice myself for this Indonesian people, this Indonesian fatherland of mine!”. History was not kind to Sukarno, the West constantly remembered this glamorous revolutionary as a debauch and a demagogue. He was the man who erased the west out of his priorities and retired Indonesia of the United Nations; in the other hand he was seen as someone who would allow communism to expand its influence across the region, a warning sign for the United States. Even though it was probably true he was not a communist, he didn’t saw anything wrong with it. In fact, any systematic ideology would interfere with his regime, which was closed to any kind of interferences for external factors and manipulated certain information via censorship to ensure his tenure in the Indonesian presidential seat would last forever. However, Sukarno never opposed to the increasing presence the PKI (Indonesia’s Communist Party) started having in the country, situation that foreshadowed his fate.
His name is usually associated to a dictator; however he doesn’t really characterize this role completely. In fact, Sukarno was strongly motivated and inspired by the ideas of the West, especially democracy which pushed him to institute in 1959 an executive-dominated electoral system called Guided Democracy. By this point, Indonesia had no fewer than 60 political parties and faced the prospect of a new government every few months. Perhaps Sukarno’s commitment to democracy was the reason why he reorganized all of these parties into 11 as a political necessity, all of which retained their independence and dismantled free enterprise.
Economics was not Sukarno’s forte; he was a miserable failure at financial policy. He spent the limited funds Indonesia had for the reconstruction of infrastructure in private luxuries for himself and his family. Indonesia was not meeting its food needs and shortages were becoming serious, as a consequence the government started printing economic resources and inflation began to surge into the hyperinflation rage (Whatkins).
Sukarno’s critics may have called him a dictator, yet they never expected his removal in 1966 in a shadowy coup by a true totalitarian character, that of Suharto. The father of land died in 1970, a man whose dreams of a free, socialist and peaceful Indonesia were hijacked by a violent and stifling military rule. The “century of the awakening of the colored peoples” came to an end. As Suharto came to power free enterprise was reestablished, censorship and the centralization or control of the power increased, the use of violence raised and Indonesia’s expectative under the frame of national pride suddenly vanished.
Bibliography
Adams, C. (1965). Sukarno: An Autobiography. En C. Adams. Bobbs-Merill.
Annanta, P. (23 de August de 1999). Time Asia. Recuperado el 30 de October de 2011, de Sukarno: http://premium.edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/asia/magazine/1999/990823/sukarno1.html
Dake, A. (2006). Sukarno Files. Yasayan Obor .
Friend, T. (2003). Indonesian Destinies. En T. Friend. The Belknap Press of Harvard University.
Legge, J. D. (1965). A Political Biography. En J. D. Legge. Singapore: Archipielago Press.
Whatkins, T. (s.f.). The Sukarno Era of Indonesian History. Recuperado el 31 de October de 2011, de http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/indonesia1.htm
