Sukarno
“What I expect of the design is one thing that seems impossible but we didn’t give up on it.”
- Sukarno on the challenges of constructing the Monas
Kusno Sosrodihardjo was born on the 6th of June 1901 in Surabaya to a Muslim aristocratic father who was a school teacher and Hindu mother who belonged to the Brahmin caste. After surviving a serious illness, he was renamed Sukarno, which means ‘good karma’.
As a young man, he had a photographic memory and could speak about 10 languages. It was also the period known as the Indonesian National Awakening, when many people from different parts of the archipelago then known as the Dutch East Indies became interested in the concepts of nationhood and nationalism. As a result, Sukarno would become deeply interested in politics and philosophy and read a lot about the subjects. He married the first of his eight wives (as polygamy is allowed according to Islamic law) in high school. He took up engineering and architecture at the Technische Hogeschool in Bandung (now known as Bandung Institute of Technology) and later practiced the profession.
In 1927, Sukarno and his friends established the Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI), a pro-independence group, of which he would become its first leader. They were critical of the Dutch authorities which would eventually land him and his fellow party members in jail. He would, however, get the support of the masses and would make further connections with other pro-independence groups.
When World War II erupted in the Pacific Theatre, Sukarno and Mohammad Atta (who would later become his vice-president) saw the Japanese as an opportunity to advance their independence causes. When they cooperated with the Japanese they were accused of being collaborators. Nevertheless, it was during this time that Sukarno would hatch his ideas of the Pancasila, or Five Principles, which would later be adopted as the official philosophical foundation of Indonesia.
On the morning of the 17th of August 1945, two days after the Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Forces, Sukarno would declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia from the Japanese. The struggle against the Dutch, however, would continue until the 27th of December 1949.
Sukarno would later introduce his concept of ‘Guided Democracy’, as Western-style democracy according to him is not applicable to Indonesia’s setting. Many criticized this, however, as a form of autocracy. To build Indonesia’s international prestige, Sukarno supported and won the bid for the 1962 Asian Games and ordered massive construction projects including the Monumen Nasional.
Despite all the prestige-building, he was accused of economic negligence, corruption, and ‘moral degradation’. Domestic tensions continued to rise until he was removed from power on the 12th of March 1967 and replaced by General Suharto, the leader of the coup. He was put under house arrest in Bogor Palace until his death from kindey failure on the 21st of June 1970. He was 69.
Despite his tragic end, he no doubt left his mark in Indonesia. He is named after some of the most important landmarks of Jakarta including the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta’s primary international gateway and the 80,000 seater Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
The Monas, however, would remain one of his most important legacies, as he was an integral part of the struggle for independence, and he was one of those who eloquently put forth the ideas of unity. Currently, there are plans to rename Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, the southern edge of the Merdeka Square, into Jalan Sukarno.
