SUKARNO

Sukarno, who was born as Kusno Sosrodihardjo on 6 June 1901 at Jalan Pandean IV/40 Surabaya East Java, was the leader of Indonesia's struggle from independence from Nedherlands and Indonesia's first president from 1945 to 1967. He is the son of a Javanese primary school teacher, an aristocrat named Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo and Balinese woman from Brahman caste named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai from Buleleng Bali. Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness. After graduating from a native primary school in 1912, he was sent to Europeesche Lagere School (Dutch medium junior secondary school) in Mojokerto. When his father sent him to Surabaya in 1916 to attend a Hogere Burger School (Dutch medium secondary school), he met Tjokroaminoto, a nationalist and founder of Sarekat Islam, the owner of the boarding house where he lived. 

In 1921, he began to study at Technische Hogeschool (Technical Institute) in Bandung. He studied Civil Engineering and focus on Architecture. Sukarno graduated with a degree in Engineering on 25 May 1926. In July 1926, with his university friend Anwari, he established the architectural firm 'Sukarno & Anwari' in Bandung which provided planning and contractor service. Among Sukarno's architectural works are the renovated building of Preanger Hotel in 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 Tugu Proklamasi (Proclamation Monument) and adjacent Gedung Pola in Jakarta, Tugu Muda (Youth Monument) in Semarang, Alun-Alun Monument in Malang, Tugu Pahlawan (Heroes Monument) in Surabaya and also the new city Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.

A typically, even among the colony's small educated elite, Sukarno was fluent in several languages. In addition to Javanese language of his childhood, he was a master of Sundanese, Balinese and Indonesian, and especially strong in Dutch. He was also quite comfortable in German, English, French, Arabic and Japanese, all of which were taught at his HBS. He was helped by photographic memory and precocious mind.

In his studies, Sukarno was 'intensely modern', both in architecture and in politics. He despised both the traditional Javanese feudalism, which he considered as 'backward' and was to blame for the fall of the country under Dutch colonialism, and the imperialism practiced by Western countries, which he termed as 'exploitation of humans by other humans' (exploitation de l'homme par l'homme) and is responsible for the deep poverty and low levels of education of Indonesian people under the Dutch. To promote nationalistic pride amongst Indonesian people, 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. For Sukarno, modernity was blind to race, neat and Western in style, and anti-imperialist.

Sukarno married Siti Oetari, the daughter of Tjokroaminoto, in 1920. In Bandung Sukarno became romantically involved with Inggit Garnasih, the wife of Sanoesi, the owner of the boarding house where he lived as student. Inggit was 13 years older than Sukarno. On March 1923, Sukarno divorced Siti Oetari to marry Inggit Garnasih who also divorced her husband Sanoesi. And later on, Sukarno divorced Inggit also and married Fatmawati. Sukarno also married Hartini in 1954, after which he and Fatmawati separated without divorcing. In 1959, he was introduced to the then 19 years old Japanese hostess Naoko Nemoto, whom he married in 1962 and renamed Ratna Dewi Sukarno. Sukarno also married five other wives: Haryati (1963-1966), Kartini Manoppo (1959-1968), Yurike Sanger (1964-1968), Heldy Djafar (1966-1969), Amelia Amantee de la Rama, a Filipino movie star (1964-1970).

Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Sukarnoputra has inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and is a choreographer and songwriter who also a member of Indonesian People's Representative Council for Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-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 who married Frits Seegers, Nedherlands-born chief executive officer of Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank in 2006. Other offspring include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, and a son named Toto Suryawan Sukarnoputra who was born in Germany in 1967 by his wife Kartini Manoppo.

In popular culture there are some works which dedicated to him such as Kuantar Ke Gerbang, an Indonesian novel by Ramadhan KH, telling the story of romantic relationship between Sukarno and Inggit Garnasih, a song titled Oentoek Paduka Jang Mulia Presiden Sukarno (To His Excellency President Sukarno) was written in early 60s by Soetedjo and popularized by Lilis Suryani, a famous Indonesian female singer, and presented in some movies The Year of Living Dangerously, Pengkhianatan G 30 S/PKI, Blanco The Colour of Love, Gie, and in two new Indonesian movies 9 Reasons and Sukarno: Indonesia Merdeka!. 

Sukarno received some awards and honors as Bintang Mahaputera Adipurna (1950), Bintang Gerilya (1952), Bintang Republik Indonesia (1959), Supreme Commander of the Revolution (1958), Tri Windu Surakarta Honorary Knights Cross (1947), Honorary Doctorate University of Belgrade (1956), Honorary Doctorate Columbia University (1958), International Lenin Peace Prize (1960), Order of the Sacred Treasure (1901-1970), Order of the Rising Sun (1943). His name also used as streetnames in Cairo, Egypt and Rabat, Morocco and  as major square in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Sukarno died of kidney failure in Jakarta Army Hospital on 21 June 1970 at age 69. He was buried in Blitar, East Java. In recent decades, his grave has been a significant venue in the network of places that Javanese visit on ziarah and for some is of equal significance to those of Wali Songo.