Sukarno’s Spell Broken

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 4

Sukarno’s Spell Broken

The End of Sukarno. By John Hughes. Angus and Robertson. 304 pp.

John Hughes won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting with this account of how the spell of political magic that Sukarno had cast across Indonesia for almost 22 years was broken. The specific cause of his downfall was the drama of one night in 1965—the abortive coup on September 30October 1 when six leading army generals were tortured and murdered and their bodies thrown into a well. Another general, Nasution, escaped but his five-year-old daughter was fatally injured. General Suharto surprisingly escaped because, according to his Javanese belief in the mystic, he bad taken the advice of a seer to spend that night at "the confluence of two waters” and had been fishing at a spot where the river runs into the sea. On his return bis shock and horror at the murders was matched only by his disgust at the fact that President Sukarno had mysteriously disappeared, and neither be nor a delegation from the Peking Embassy made an appearance at the mass funeral of the generals. During Sukarno’s gradual assuming of dictatorship he had severed relationships with all the world powers, maintaining allegiance only to Peking, so the Indonesians jumped to their own conclusions and the anti-Communist purge was on. Although Suharto, who was acting President, urged restraint, it seemed as though nothing could have prevented the holocaust that followed when about 500,000 lost their lives. Seething student unrest and continuous demonstrations including the burning and looting of the Chinese Embassy had brought Djakarta to chaos. Bouncing back into the picture Sukarno launched “The Great Whitewash of the Communists” campaign, relying on his magnetic power over the Indonesian people to sway them back to the left,

but he bad fallen toe far from grace.

During the trials that followed the complete truth concerning the murder of the generals was never fully revealed, although it seemed obvious that the coup had been backed to the hilt by the Communists. LieutenantColonel Untung of the presidential palace guard, one of the ringleaders, said he had moved to forestall a coup planned by the generals. It is difficult to believe that if the generals had been planning a take-over bid they would have been so lax about their personal security. Aidlt, the Communist Party leader, admitted his party’s interest was in power and that the Indonesian army had; been an obstacle in their way. Subandrio, the former Foreign Minister and Sukarno’s right-hand man, said he had picked up rumours of the Communist plot, but Sukarno was too wily a fox to admit anything. Suharto, taking a moderate course in the dethronement of Sukarno, gave him ample opportunity to make a graceful exit, his idea being to let Sukarno retain his palaces, cars and women as long as he kept his hands out of politics. It was not in Sukarno’s nature to compromise or play second fiddle and become a mere figurehead. On the anniversary of Indonesian independence Sukarno made his last impassioned public speech. Posturing and perspiring in the sun he urged the sullen crowd not to rush to rejoin the United Nations and to be cautious about recognising Malaysia, thus cutting right across the laborious effort of Mr Malik (the Foreign Minister) to make Indonesia internationally respectable again. Breaking into hoarse English Sukarno begged, “America, please get out of Vietnam.” The dynamics and fireworks which once would have brought a roaring response of approval went out like a damp squib. Sukarno was finished.

Sukarno’s greatest accomplishment was the welding together of the Indonesian people into one nation, but as his megalomania increased he lost touch with their needs. Instead of building up a secure and happy future for the people who trusted him, he squandered their money on enormous, tasteless monuments and luxury hotels. When the people wanted rice be gave them battleships and submarines. “Perhaps unjustly he seems destined to be recorded not as the man who united Indonesia, but as the man who nearly wrecked it”

Although the Indonesian Nationalists have achieved order, a long road lies ahead to economic security. Indonesia, with Its 105,000,000 people and its strategicallyplaced territory, is of immense importance to the West, and its fertile soil, benevolent climate and mineral resources make it one of the richest countries in the world. “Indonesia has won a second chance. Not all countries get that opportunity. Now the challenge for both Indonesians and their friends is to see it is not squandered like the first.”

Mr John Hughes has left no stone unturned to sift rumour from fact, and his on-the-spot reporting is impressive. (He was the first reporter to question Sukarno after the coup-) Add to this an imaginative style and you have a first-class documentary for the reading.