- Title: VARIOUS: PROFILE: DR. ACHMED SUKARNO, PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA
- Date: 18th January 1965
- Summary: PONTIAN, MALAYSIA, 1964: SV AND REAR V INDONESIAN PRISONERS MARCHED IN. DJAKARTA, 1964: CU SUKARNO SPEAKING GV CROWD WAVE.
- Embargoed: 2nd February 1965 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: INDONESIA (VARIOUS); VATICAN CITY; CUBA; WASHINGTON, USA; CAIRO, UAR; MALAYSIAN; NEW YORK, U.S.A.
- City:
- Country: Usa Indonesia
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1R2DDY3CUQKI46YQJBOE3OADA
- Story Text: DR. ACHMED SUKARNO, PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA, AND THE MAN AT THE STORM-CENTRE IN THE PRESENT DISPUTE WITH MALAYSIA, HAS BEN THE DOMINANT FIGURE IN HIS COUNTRY'S AFFAIRS FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS.
HE WAS BORN ON 6TH JUNE 1901, AT SURABAYA, AND QUALIFIED AS A GRADUATE CIVIL ENGINEER. HE LED MOVEMENTS FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM DUTCH COLONIAL RULE, FOR WHICH HE WAS IMPRISONED AND THEN EXILED; AND THEN HEADED A JAPANESE-SPONSORED GOVERNMENT SET UP IN 1941.
WITH DR. HATTA, HE PROCLAIMED INDONESIA A REPUBLIC IN 1945, TWO DAYS AFTER JAPAN'S DEFEAT IN WORLD WAR. INDONESIA'S SOVEREIGNTY WAS RECOGNISED BY THE NETHERLANDS IN 1949, AND DR. SUKARNO WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT.
SINCE THEN HE HAS BROUGHT ABOUT CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES MAKING HIM A NEAR-ABSOLUTE RULER; HAS SURVIVED SEVERAL ATTEMPTS ON HIS LIFE, AND PUT DOWN A SERIES OF LOCAL RISINGS AGAINST HIM. HE HAS TRAVELLED WIDELY ABROAD, AND SOUGHT TO PLAY A LEADING PART IN THE GROUPINGS OF "NON-ALIGNED" AND AFRO-ASIAN NATIONS.
FILM SHOWS SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS CAREER FROM 1945 TO THE PRESENT TIME.
SYNOPSIS: INDONESIA FIRST PROCLAIMED ITSELF INDEPENDENT AT THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. FOR CENTURIES IT HAD FORMED PART OF THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES; FOR FOUR YEARS IT HAD BEEN OCCUPIED BY JAPAN. IN AUGUST 1945, THE JAPANESE WERE DEFEATED, THE DUTCH HAD NOT YET RETURNED.
DR. ACHMED SUKARNO, THE NATIONALIST LEADER, HAD HEADED A JAPANESE-SPONSORED GOVERNMENT DURING THE OCCUPATION WITH HIS COLLEAGUE DR. HATTA. THEY TOOK THEIR OPPORTUNITY AND PROCLAIMED AN INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC. DR. SUKARNO HAS BEEN THE DOMINANT FIGURE IN INDONESIA EVER SINCE.
THERE WERE TO BE FOUR YEARS OF STRUGGLE - NEGOTIATIONS PUNCTUATED BY SPORADIC BUT BITTER GUERILLA WARFARE - BEFORE THE INDONESIANS CAME TO TERMS WITH THEIR FORMER COLONIAL RULERS, THE DUTCH. THE INDONESIAN "SCORCHED EARTH" TACTICS AGAINST FOREIGN FACTORIES AND ESTATES WERE TO ADD TO THE ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES OF THE NEW STATE WHEN A SETTLEMENT WAS EVENTUALLY REACHED.
1949:SUKARNO IS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT:
BY AGREEMENT WITH THE DUTCH, INDONESIA HAD BECOME A FEDERAL REPUBLIC, INDEPENDENT, BUT LINKED WITH HOLLAND IN A NETHERLANDS - INDONESIAN UNION.
PRESIDENT SUKARNO IS A GRADUATE CIVIL ENGINEER, AND SHOWED RECENTLY THAT HE STILL RETAINS HIS TECHNICAL INTERESTS. HE HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN POLITICS SINCE HIS STUDENT DAYS, AND WAS TWICE IMPRISONED BY THE DUTCH WHILE CAMPAIGNING FOR INDEPENDENCE BEFORE THE WAR.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES IN THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE BROUGHT IN PRESIDENT SUKARNO'S POLICY OF "GUIDED DEMOCRACY". IN 1950, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC HAD BEEN TURNED INTO UNITARY STATE.
IN 1959, THE PRESIDENT TOOK VIRTUALLY DICTATORIAL POWERS, WITH A RETURN TO THE 1945 CONSTITUTION, UNDER WHICH PARLIAMENT COULD NOT OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT. NINE MONTHS LATER HE DISSOLVED THE ASSEMBLY AND REPLACED IT BY A NEW ONE NOMINATED BY HIMSELF.
A CEREMONIAL WELCOME FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM THE PEOPLE OF NORTHERN SUMATRA IN 1959. BUT NOT LONG BEFORE HIS TROOPS HAD BEEN SUPPRESSING A REBELLION IN THE ISLAND - ONE OF SEVERAL THAT BROKE OUT IN THE MORE DISTANT PARTS OF INDONESIA'S VASTLY SCATTERED TERRITORY.
FIVE APPARENT ATTEMPTS HAVE BEEN MADE ON PRESIDENT SUKARNO'S LIFE. IN THE MOST SENSATIONAL, HIS PALACE IN DJAKARTA WAS MACHINE-GUNNED FROM THE AIR WHILE HE WAS ATTENDING A MEETING IN THE CABINET BUILDING IN THE GROUNDS. HERE, THE DAY AFTER, HE HAD A WELL-ARMED ESCORT.
BUT THE PILOT SAID AT HIS COURT-MARTIAL LATER THAT HE HAD INTENDED ONLY TO MAKE A DEMONSTRATION, AND NOT TO HURT THE PRESIDENT.
IN RECENT YEARS, PRESIDENT SUKARNO HAS TRAVELLED WIDELY, AND MADE SEVERAL WORLD TOURS. IN 1959, HE WAS RECEIVED AT THE VATICAN BY POPE JOHN. LIKE THE MAJORITY OF HIS HUNDRED MILLION COUNTRYMEN, PRESIDENT SUKARNO IS A MOSLEM.
THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN MARRIED THREE TIMES. HE DIVORCED HIS FIRST WIFE AND MARRIED MADAME FATMAWATI (ON THE RIGHT) WHO BORE HIM FIVE CHILDREN. THEN HE SHOCKED EMANCIPATED INDONESIAN WOMEN BY TAKING ANOTHER WIFE, MADAME HARTINI, UNDER MOSLEM LAW. SHE USUALLY ACTS AS HIS OFFICIAL HOSTESS-AS HERE WITH HO CHI MINH OF NORTH VIETNAM.
PRESIDENT SUKARNO ENJOYING THE FESTIVITIES AT A CO-OPERATIVE FARM IN CUBA. DR. FIDEL CASTRO ENTERTAINED HIM THERE IN 1960. ON HIS TOURS, DR. SUKARNO HAS MET MANY WORLD LEADERS OF BOTH EAST AND WEST.
BACK HOME, HE WELCOMED MR. MIKOYAN - THEN TRADE MINISTER, NOW PRESIDENT, OF THE SOVIET UNION. INDONESIA HAS RECEIVED SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC HELP FROM BOTH RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES.
SHE ALSO HAS CLOSE AND FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE CHINESE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC. CHAIRMAN LIU VISITED DJAKARTA IN 1963 AND SIGNED A TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP. THE CHINESE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC HAS SUPPORTED INDONESIA IN HER CURRENT DISPUTE WITH THE UNITED NATIONS.
PRESIDENT SUKARNO TOOK A MESSAGE FROM THE "NON-ALIGNED" NATIONS TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN 1961 AND MADE A SPEECH IN ENGLISH. (HE ALSO SPEAKS FRENCH, GERMAN, DUTCH AND AT LEAST FOUR INDONESIAN LANGUAGES):
THE NEXT "NON-ALIGNED" NATIONS' CONFERENCE TOOK HIM TO CAIRO IN THE AUTUMN OF 1964. PRESIDENT SUKARNO HAS PLAYED A LEADING PART IN THIS MOVEMENT, AND ALSO IN THE AFRO-ASIAN GROUPING. THE FIRST AFRO-ASIAN CONFERENCE WAS HELD IN INDONESIA, IN BANDUNG IN 1955.
PRESIDENT SUKARNO'S BITTEREST QUARRELS HAVE ARISEN FROM HIS HATRED OF ANYTHING HE REGARDS AS COLONIALISM. HE EXPELLED THOUSANDS OF DUTCH NATIONALS, SEIZED DUTCH PROPERTY AND FINALLY BROKE OFF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH HOLLAND IN A DISPUTE OVER WEST IRAN - WEST NEW GUINEA WHICH THE DUTCH DID NOT CONSIDER INDONESIAN AND CONTINUED TO HOLD AFTER INDONESIA'S INDEPENDENCE. DUTCH FORCES FOUGHT OFF ATTACKS BY INDONESIAN INFILTRATORS UNTIL A SETTLEMENT WAS WORKED OUT WITH THE UNITED NATIONS. THE U.N. ADMINISTERED THE TERRITORY FOR SEVEN MONTHS, AND THEN HANDED IT OVER TO INDONESIA. INDONESIA AND THE NETHERLANDS HAVE SINCE RESUMED FRIENDLY RELATIONS.
MORE FAR-REACHING IN ITS CONSEQUENCES WAS THE DISPUTE OVER MALAYSIA. IN SEPTEMBER 1963, DEMONSTRATORS ATTACKED THE BRITISH AND MALAYSIAN EMBASSIES IN DJAKARTA THE DAY THE MALAYSIAN FEDERATION CAME INTO BEING. THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR'S CAR WAS SET ON FIRE. TWO DAYS LATER, THE EMBASSY ITSELF WAS BURNT DOWN...
MR. ROBERT KENNEDY - BEARING TRACES OF A ROSE-PETAL WELCOME - WAS ONE OF SEVERAL MEDIATORS WHO TRIED TO PERSUADE PRESIDENT SUKARNO TO DROP HIS IMPLACABLE DETERMINATION TO CRUSH MALAYSIA. MALAYSIAN TROOPS, WITH BRITISH, AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND HELP, HAVE FACED GUERILLA ATTACKS ACROSS THE BORDER IN BORNEO AND LANDINGS BY SMALL PARTIES ON THE MALAYSIAN COAST.
WITH HIS "CONFRONTATION" POLICY, PRESIDENT SUKARNO CLAIMED HE WOULD CRUSH MALAYSIA "BY THE TIME THE COCK CREW" ON THE FIRST DAY OF THIS YEAR. BUT THE VIGILANCE THAT HAS HIS COMMANDO RAIDERS GOES ON - AND IN THE MEANTIME, MALAYSIA HAS BEEN ELECTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL.
PRESIDENT SUKARNO'S REACTION WAS IMMEDIATE - TO RESIGN FROM THE UNITED NATIONS ALTOGETHER. THIS WAS THE LATEST SURPRISE IN HIS DRAMATIC AND UNPREDICTABLE CAREER. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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