Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (born June 25, 1936), more commonly known simply as Rudi Habibie or B J Habibie, was the third President of Indonesia, holding office from 1998 to 1999.

Early life

He was born in Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi; and studied at the Bandung Institute of Technology.

In 1950, when Habibie was fourteen, he became acquainted with Lieutenant Colonel Suharto. The future Indonesian President was then stationed in Makassar to put down a separatist rebellion and lived in a house across the road from the Habibie family's. Suharto quickly became a family friend. He was present during the death of Habibie's father and became an intermediary when one of his soldiers wanted to marry Habibie's sister.

Time in Germany

During 1955-1965, he studied aerospace engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, receiving Diploma (Germany's First degree certificate which is equivalent to Master in most countries) in 1960 and doctorate in 1965. He then worked for Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in Hamburg. It might have been due to his time spent in Europe that made him interested in the Leica line of cameras.

While working in Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, Habibie conducted many research assignments, producing theories on thermodynamics, construction, and aerodynamics, known as the Habibie Factor, Habibie Theorem, and Habibie Method.

Minister of Technology and Research

In 1974, Suharto sent Ibnu Sutowo to Germany to meet Habibie and convince him to come back to Indonesia. Habibie was convinced and returned to Indonesia, taking the position of Technological Adviser to the President.

From 1978 to 1998 Habibie served as Minister of Technology and Research in Suharto's Cabinet. He pushed for a leapfrog strategy of development, which he hoped would bypass the foundational low-skill technology stages to turn Indonesia into an industrialized nation. Despite national and international opposition (which preferred agricultural investments to technological investments) to this;he once famously announced that "I have some figures which compare the cost of one kilo of airplane compared to one kilo of rice. One kilo of airplane costs thirty thousand US dollars and one kilo of rice is seven cents. And if you want to pay for your one kilo of high-tech products with a kilo of rice, I don't think we have enough.."

Habibie had considerable power as Minister of Technology. His long acquaintance with Suharto combined with Suharto's own desire that Indonesia master technology as part of its development meant that Habibie was able to get extra fundings from the budget for his projects at the expense of other ministers' project. In 1989, Suharto increased Habibie's power, putting him in charge of strategic industries.

Aviation industry

When Habibie came back to Indonesia in 1974, he was also made CEO of a new state owned enterprise called PT. Nurtanio. By the early 1980s it had made considerable progress, specializing in making helicopters and small passenger planes. In 1995, Habibie succeeded in flying a N-250 (dubbed Gatotkoco) commuter plane.

In developing Indonesia's Aviation Industry, Habibie adopted an approach called "Begin at the End and End at the Beginning". In this method, things such as basic research became the last things that the workers at IPTN focused on while actual manufacturing of the planes was placed as the first objective.

In 1985, PT. Nurtanio changed its name to Indonesian Aviation Industry (IPTN) and is now known as Indonesian Aerospace Inc. (Dirgantara).

Union of Indonesian Intellectual Muslims (ICMI)

By the late 80's, it became apparent that there was a rift between Suharto and his main political ally, ABRI. Suharto, who had repressed Islamists in the earlier years of his regime now began to make concilliatory gestures in a bid to build a new power base to compensate the one he was losing with ABRI.

In December 1990, the ICMI was formed with Habibie as its Chairman. In Suharto's eyes, ICMI would become his main weapon in appealing to the Muslim society. ICMI was a successful venture, by 1994, it had 20,000 members including future political opponents such as Nurcolish Majid and Amien Rais.

Habibie served as Chairman of ICMI for 10 years.

Member of Golkar

Like all Government officials in Suharto's regime, Habibie was a member of Golkar.

From 1993-1998, Habibie was a Daily Coordinator for the Chairman of the Executive Board.

Vice presidency

The 1998 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) General Session was to be held in the midst of the Asian Financial Crisis and many were hoping for Suharto to take serious steps to take the country out of trouble. In January 1998, after accepting nomination for a 7th term as President, Suharto announced the criteria for the person who he wanted as Vice President. Suharto did not mention Habibie by name but his suggestion that the next Vice President should have mastery over science and technology made it obvious who he wanted to nominate. The market reacted badly, causing the rupiah to further depreciate in value.

Despite protests and former Minister Emil Salim trying to nominate himself as Vice President, Habibie was elected as Vice President in March 1998.

Presidency

Main article: Post-Suharto Era

Rise to office

By May 1998, the increasing poverty caused by the Financial Crisis and political discontent had reached boiling point. On 13th May, the shooting of six students at Trisakti University in Jakarta, caused extreme anger which in turn caused widespread riots and lootings. There were now explicit calls for Suharto to step down as President of Indonesia. Suharto responded by saying on 19 May 1998 that if he stepped down, the Vice President would become President and in a not too subtle jab to Habibie, said that he was not sure whether the Vice President could solve the problems facing the country.

Habibie, who learned of Suharto's comments from television, was upset with his mentor and from then on was increasingly sympathetic to those who wanted Suharto to step down. While careful not to oppose him directly or support those who did, Habibie left the president in little doubt that he saw himself as Suharto's legitimate successor. Suharto, faced with dwindling civilian and military support, even among loyalists like Wiranto and Ginandjar Kartasasmita, decided to resign late on the evening of 20 May 1998.

The next morning, on 21 May 1998, Suharto publicly announced his resignation and Habibie was immediately sworn in as President. There was mixed reaction to Habibie's assumption of the Presidency. Hardline reformists saw Habibie as an extension of Suharto's regime while moderate reformists saw him as leading a transitional Government.

With the release of his 2006 book, Detik-Detik Yang Menentukan: Jalan Panjang Indonesia Menuju Demokrasi (Decisive Moments: Indonesia's Long Road Towards Democracy), there is speculation that Suharto had wanted Habibie to resign along with him.In Javanese style, Suharto hinted at this intention subtly. Habibie, who isn't Javanese, didn't take the hint and decided to take the office of the President. Because of this inability to read his intentions, Suharto showed nothing but contempt and never talked to Habibie again.

Cabinet

Habibie's Cabinet, which was called the Development Reform Cabinet consisted mostly of the same faces which had served in Suharto's last Cabinet. To show his reformist bent, Habibie included United Development Party (PPP) member Hamzah Haz in the Cabinet.

East Timor

When he took office, Habibie made it clear that East Timorese Independence was out of the question, but that he would consider giving East Timor special autonomy. In January 1999, however, Habibie surprised everyone by announcing that a referendum, choosing between special autonomy and independence, would be held in East Timor. This particular decision made Habibie extremely unpopular with ABRI.

On 30th August 1999, the referendum was held and the East Timorese people chose overwhelmingly for Independence. However, the retreat of Indonesian troops from East Timor would not be peaceful as many were killed by Pro-Indonesian para-militaries.

Suharto's corruption charge

The 1998 MPR Special Session in November declared that an investigation should be made into corruption charges especially that of Suharto's.

Habibie also thought of forming a special commission as a gesture of good faith towards Reformasi and invited noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution to be on the commission. Nasution would ask for a lot of power in investigating the matter and Habibie rejected the offer. Instead, he appointed Attorney General and loyalist, Andi Muhammad Ghalib to head the investigation.

On 9th December 1998, Suharto was questioned for three hours by Ghalib. The Habibie Government declared that Suharto had not gained his wealth by corruption.

A controversial tape was released which involved a telephone conversation between Habibie and Ghalib. The conversation seemed to suggest that Habibie's Government was not giving a serious attempt at investigating Suharto's corruption charges.

The economy

Habibie's Government stabilized the economy after the chaos which it went through in the Asian Financial Crisis and the last few months of Suharto's Presidency.

Social

Habibie's Government also began making concilliatory gestures towards Chinese Indonesianspribumi (Native) and non-pribumi (Non-Native) In May 1999, Habibie followed this up with another Presidential Instruction which states that a display of ID Card is enough to prove someone's Indonesian citizenship whereas before, displaying the Letter of Evidence of Republic of Indonesia Citizenship (SBKRI) was the norm. who because of their wealth and dominance of the Indonesian economy were targeted during the violence and looting. In September 1998, Habibie issued a Presidential Instruction which does not allow for the discriminatorial reference to

Although they were not mentioned specifically, it is clear that these policies were targeted towards Chinese Indonesians who in the Suharto years were referred to as non-Pribumi and had to display SBKRI to prove their Indonesian citizenship.

Other

Habibie also proposed banning Indonesians from studying abroad, despite himself having been educated abroad, and his son enrolled in a university abroad during the time he flirted with the idea.

End of presidency

Although he had been viewed as just leading a transitional Government, Habibie seemed determined to continue as President. In May 1999, Golkar announced that Habibie would be their Presidential candidate.

At the 1999 MPR General Session in October, Habibie delivered an accountability speech, which was a report of what he had achieved during his Presidency. Once this was completed, the MPR members began voting to decide if they would accept or reject Habibie's speech. During this process, pro-Reform members of Golkar broke with the ranks and voted against Habibie and the accountability speech was rejected with 355 votes to 322. Seeing that it would be unethical to go for the Presidency after having his accountability speech rejected, Habibie withdrew his nomination.

Singapore

In 1998, Habibie insulted Singapore by calling the country a little red dot.

Post-presidency

Since relinquishing the presidency, Habibie has spent more time in Germany than in Indonesia.

In September 2006, Habibie released a book called Detik-Detik Yang Menentukan: Jalan Panjang Indonesia Menuju Demokrasi (Decisive Moments: Indonesia's Long Road Towards Democracy). The book recalled the events of May 1998 which led to his rise to the Presidency. In the book, he controversially accused Lieutenant General Prabowo, Suharto's son-in-law and the Kostrad Commander in May 1998, of planning a coup d'etat against him.

Family

Habibie is married to Hasri Ainun with whom he had two sons, both of them are married and give Habibie grand children. Habibie's father was from Sulawesi (Celebes) but his mother was Javanese from Central Java. His brother, Yunus Habibie, is the current Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands.

Sukarno (June 6, 1901 – June 21, 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands and was President from 1945 to 1967, presiding with mixed success over the country's turbulent transition to independence. Sukarno was forced out of power by one of his generals, Suharto, who formally became President in March 1967.'

Name

The spelling "Sukarno" has been official in Indonesia since 1947 but the older spelling Soekarno is still frequently used, mainly because he signed his name in the old spelling. Official Indonesian presidential decrees from the period 1947-1968, however, printed his name using the 1947 spelling.

Indonesians also remember him as Bung Karno or Pak Karno.Like many Javanese people, he had only one name; in religious contexts, he was occasionally referred to as 'Achmad Sukarno'.

Background

The son of a Javanese primary school teacher, an aristocrat named Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo and his Balinese wife named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai from Buleleng regency, Sukarno was born as Kusno Sosrodihardjo in Blitar, East Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after a childhood illness. He was admitted into a Dutch-run school as a child. When his father sent him to Surabaya in 1916 to attend a secondary school, he met Tjokroaminoto, a future nationalist. In 1921 he began to study at the Technische Hogeschool (Technical Institute) in Bandung. He studied civil engineering and focused on architecture.

Atypically, even among the colony's small educated elite, Sukarno was fluent in several languages. In addition to the Javanese language of his childhood, he was a master of SundaneseIndonesian, and especially strong in Dutch. He was also quite comfortable in German, English, and French, all of which were taught at his HBS. Sukarno once remarked that when he was studying in Surabaya, he often sat behind the screen in movie theaters reading the Dutch subtitles in reverse because the front seats were only for elite Dutch people. and of

In his studies, Sukarno was "intensely modern," both in architecture and in politics. 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; he had Koes Plus imprisoned for their allegedly decadent lyrics despite his reputation for womanising. For Sukarno, modernity was blind to race, neat and Western in style, and anti-imperialist.

Independence struggle

Sukarno became a leader of a pro-independence party, Partai Nasional Indonesia, when it was founded in 1927. He opposed imperialism and capitalism because he thought both systems worsened the life of Indonesian people.

He also hoped that Japan would commence a war against the western powers and that Java could then gain its independence with Japan's aid. He was arrested in 1929 by Dutch colonial authorities and sentenced to two years in prison. By the time he was released, he had become a popular hero. He was arrested several times during the 1930s and was in jail when Japan occupied the archipelago in 1942.

World War II and the Japanese occupation

In early 1929, during the so-called Indonesian National Revival, Sukarno and fellow Indonesian nationalist leader Mohammad Hatta (later Vice President), first foresaw a Pacific War and the opportunity that a Japanese advance on Indonesia might present for the Indonesian independence cause.In February 1942 Imperial Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies quickly over-running outmatched Dutch forces who marched, bussed and trucked Sukarno three hundred kilometres to Padang, Sumatra. They intended keeping him prisoner, but abruptly abandoned him to save themselves.

The Japanese had their own files on Sukarno and approached him with respect wanting to use him to organise and pacify the Indonesians. Sukarno on the other hand wanted to use the Japanese to free Indonesia: "The Lord be praised, God showed me the way; in that valley of the Ngarai I said: Yes, Independent Indonesia can only be achieved with Dai Nippon...For the first time in all my life, I saw myself in the mirror of Asia."

Subsequently, indigenous forces across both Sumatra and Java aided the Japanese against the Dutch but would not cooperate in the supply of the aviation fuel which was essential for the Japanese war effort. Desperate for local support in supplying the volatile cargo, Japan now brought Sukarno back to Jakarta. He helped the Japanese in obtaining its aviation fuel and labor conscripts, called sukarela in Indonesian and Romusha in Japanese. Sukarno was lastingly ashamed of his role with the romusha.He also was involved with Peta and Heiho (Javanese volunteer army troops) via speeches broadcast on the Japanese radio and loud speaker networks across Java. By mid-1945 these units numbered around two million, and were preparing to defeat any Allied forces sent to re-take Java.

On November 10, 1943 Sukarno was decorated by the Emperor of Japan in Tokyo. He also became head of Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI), the Japanese-organized committee through which Indonesian independence was later gained. On 7 September 1944, with the war going badly for the Japanese, Prime Minister Koiso promised independence for Indonesia, although no date was set.This announcement was seen as immense vindication for Sukarno's apparent collaboration with the Japanese.

Early independence

Following the Japanese surrender, Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, and Dr. Radjiman Wediodiningrat were summoned by Marshal Terauchi, Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Forces in Saigon. Sukarno initially hesitated in declaring Indonesia's independence. He and Mohammad Hatta were kidnapped by Indonesian youth groups to Rengasdengklok, west of Jakarta. Finally Sukarno and Hatta declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945.

Sukarno's vision for the 1945 Indonesian constitution comprised the Pancasila (Sanskrit - five principles). Sukarno's political philosophy, Marhaenism, was guided by (in no particular order) elements of Marxism, nationalism and Islam. This is reflected in the Pancasila, in the order in which he originally espoused them in a speech on June 1, 1945¹:

1. Nationalism (with a focus on national unity)
2. Internationalism ('one nation sovereign amongst equals')
3. Representative democracy (all significant groups represented)
4. Social Justice (Marxist influenced)
5. Theism (with a secular bent)

In the same speech, he argued that all of the principles of the nation could be summarized in the phrase gotong royong.The Indonesian parliament, founded on the basis of this original (and subsequently revised) constitution, proved all but ungovernable. This was due to irreconcilable differences between various social, political, religious and ethnic factions².

Sukarno's government initially postponed the formation of a national army, for fear of antagonizing the Allied occupation forces and their doubt over whether they would have been able to form an adequate military apparatus to maintain control of seized territory. The various militia groups at that time were encouraged to join the BKR -- Badan Keamanan RakyatTentara Keamanan Rakyat (The People's Security Army) in response to the increasing Dutch presence in Indonesia. In the ensuing chaos between various factions and Dutch attempts to re-establish colonial control, Dutch troops captured Sukarno in December 1948, but were forced to release him after the ceasefire. He returned to Jakarta in December 28, 1949. At this time, Indonesia adopted a new federal constitution that made the country a federal state. This was replaced by another provisional constitution in 1950 that restored a unitary form of government. Both constitutions were parliamentary in nature, which--on paper--limited presidential power. However, even with his formally reduced role, he commanded a good deal of moral authority as Father of the Nation. (The People's Security Organization) -- itself a subordinate of the "War Victims Assistance Organization". It was only in October 1945 that the BKR was reformed into the TKR --

Sukarno's government was not universally accepted in Indonesia. Indeed, many factions and regions attempted to separate themselves from his government, and there were several internal conflicts even during the period of armed insurgency against the Dutch. One such example is the leftist-backed coup attempt by elements of the military in Madiun, East Java in 1948, in which many supporters of communism were allegedly executed.

There were further attempts of military coups against Sukarno in 1956, including the PRRI-Permesta rebellion in Sulawesi supported by the CIA, during which an American aviator, Allen Lawrence Pope, operating in support of the rebels was shot down and captured. ⁶

Guided Democracy' and increasing autocracy

Sukarno resented his figurehead position and used the increasing disorder to intervene more in the country's political life. Claiming Western-style democracy wasn't suitable for Indonesia, he called for a system of "guided democracy" based on what he called traditional Indonesian principles. The Indonesian way of deciding important questions, he argued, was by way of prolonged deliberation designed to achieve a consensus. He proposed a government based not only on political parties but on "functional groups" composed of the nation's basic elements, in which a national consensus could express itself under presidential guidance.

During this later part of his presidency, Sukarno came to increasingly rely on the army and the support of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).

In the 1950s he increased his ties to China and admitted more communists into his government. He also began to accept increasing amounts of Soviet bloc military aid. This aid, however, was surpassed by military aid from the Eisenhower Administration, which worried about a leftward drift should Sukarno rely too much on Soviet bloc aid. However, Sukarno increasingly attempted to forge a new alliance called the "New Emerging Forces", as a counter to the old superpowers, whom he accused of spreading "Neo-Colonialism, Colonialism and Imperialism" (NEKOLIM). His political alliances gradually shifted towards Asian powers such as the PRC and North Korea. In 1961, this first president of Indonesia also found another political alliance, an organization, called the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM, in Indonesia known as Gerakan Non-Blok, GNB) with Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser, India's Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito, and Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah, in an action called The Initiative of Five (Sukarno, Nkrumah, Nasser, Tito, and Nehru). This action was a movement to not give any favour to the two superpower blocs, who were involved in the Cold War.

The Bandung Conference was held in 1955, with the goal of uniting developing Asian and African countries into a non-aligned movement to counter against the competing superpowers at the time. In order to increase Indonesia's prestige, Sukarno supported and won the bid for the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta. Many sporting facilities such as the Senayan sports complex (now Bung Karno Stadium), and supporting infrastructure were built to accommodate the games. There was political tension when the Indonesians refused the entry of delegations from IsraelTaiwan. and

On November 30, 1957, an assassination attempt was made by grenade attack against Sukarno when he was visiting a school in Cikini, Central Jakarta. Six children were killed, but Sukarno did not suffer any serious wounds. In December he ordered the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses. In February he began a crackdown on the PRRI rebels at Bukittinggi.

These PRRI rebels, a mix of anti-communist and Islamic movements, received arms and aid from Western sources, including the CIA, until J. Allan Pope, an American pilot, was shot down after a bombing raid in northern Indonesia in 1958. The CIA sent arms to rebel movements on Sumatra as well as Sulawesi. The downing of this pilot, together with impressive victories of government forces against the PRRI, evoked a shift in US policy, leading to closer ties with Sukarno as well as Major General Abdul Haris Nasution, the head of the army and the most powerful anti-communist in the Jakarta government.

Sukarno also established government control over media and book publishing as well as laws discriminating against Chinese permanent residents (China Totok). On July 5, 1959 he reestablished the 1945 constitution by presidential edict. It established a presidential system which he believed would make it easier to implement the principles of guided democracy. He called the system Manifesto Politik or Manipol--but was actually government by decree. He sent his opponents to internal exile.

In March 1960 Sukarno dissolved the elected Assembly (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) and replaced it with an appointed Assembly--the Gotong Royong Parliament.

In August Sukarno broke off diplomatic relations with the Netherlands over Dutch New GuineaWest Irian (Dutch New Guinea). There were more assassination attempts when he visited Sulawesi in 1962. West Irian was brought under Indonesian authority in May 1963 under the Bunker Plan. (West Papua.) After West Papua declared itself independent in December 1961, Sukarno ordered raids on

In July of the same year People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat) proclaimed Sukarno as President for Life.

Sukarno also opposed the British-supported Federation of Malaysia, claiming that it was a neocolonial plot to advance British interests. In spite of his political overtures, which was partly justified when some political elements in British Borneo territories Sarawak and Brunei opposed the Federation plan and aligned themselves with Sukarno, Malaysia was proclaimed in September 1963. This led to the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (Konfrontasi) and the end of remaining US military aid to Indonesia. Sukarno withdrew Indonesia from the UN membership in 1965 when, with US backing, the nascent Federation of Malaysia took a seat of UN Security Council. Sukarno's increasing illness was demonstrated when he collapsed in public in August 9, 1965, and he was secretly diagnosed with kidney disease.

Removal from power

On the night of 30 September 1965, six of Indonesia's most senior generals were killed by a movement calling themselves the "30 September Movement (G30S)." With much of its senior leadership killed or missing, Major General Suharto, commander of the Army's strategic reserves, took control of the army the following morning.Suharto issued an ultimatum to the Halim Air Force Base, where the G30S had based themselves and where Sukarno (the reasons for his presence are unclear and were subject of claim and counter-claim), Air Marshal Omar Dhani and Aidit had gathered. By the following day, it was clear that the incompetently organised and poorly coordinated coup had failed.By 2 October, Suharto's faction was firmly in control of the army. Sukarno's obedience to Suharto's 1 October ultimatum to leave Halim is seen as changing all power relationships.Sukarno's fragile balance of power between the military, political Islam, communists, and nationalists that underlay his "Guided Democracy" was now collapsing.

In early October, a military propaganda campaign began to sweep the country, successfully convincing both Indonesian and international audiences that it was a Communist coup, and that the murders were cowardly atrocities against Indonesian heroes.The PKI's denials of involvement had little effect.The army led campaign to purge Indonesian society, government and armed forces of the communist party and other leftist organisations. Leading PKI members were immediately arrested, some summarily executed.The purge quickly spread from Jakarta to the rest of the country, and the worst massacres were in Java and Bali.(see: Indonesian killings of 1965–66) The situation varied across the country; in some areas the army organised civilian groups and local militias, in other areas communal vigilante action preceded the army.The most widely accepted estimates are that at least half a million were killed.Many others were also imprisoned and for the next ten years people were still being imprisoned as suspects. It is thought that as many as 1.5m were imprisoned at one stage or another.

As a result of the purge, one of Sukarno's three pillars of support, the Indonesian Communist Party, had been effectively eliminated by the other two, the military and political Islam, although of the two, the military were in the position of unchallenged power. The killings and the failure of his tenuous "revolution" distressed Sukarno and he tried unsuccessfully to maintain his influence appealing in a January 1966 broadcast for the the country to follow him. Subandrio sought to create a Sukarnoist colum (Barisan Sukarno), which was undermined by Suharto's pledge of loyalty to Sukarno and the concurrent instruction for all those loyal to Sukarno to announce their support for the army.In February, Sukarno reshuffled his cabinet, sacking Nasution as Defence Minister and abolishing his position of armed forces chief of staff, but Nasution refused to step down.

On March 11, 1966, Suharto and his supporters in the military forced Sukarno to issue a Presidential Order called Supersemar (Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret -- The March 11 Order), in which Sukarno gave orders to Suharto only to restore peace and order, not to transfer of power to him. After obtaining the Presidential Order, Suharto had the PKI declared illegal and the party was abolished. He also arrested many high ranking officials that were loyal to Sukarno on the charge of being PKI members and/or sympathizers, further reducing Sukarno's political power and influence.

Sukarno was stripped of his presidential title by Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (Provisional Peoples Representative Assembly) on March 12, 1967, led by his former ally, Nasution, and remained under house arrest until his death at age 69 in Jakarta in 1970. He was buried in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia. 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 the Wali Songo.

While the semi-official version of the events of 1965-1966 claims that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) ordered the murders of the six generals, others blame Sukarno, and still others believe Suharto orchestrated the assassinations to remove potential rivals for the presidency.

Family

Sukarno officially married eight wives, namely Oetari, Inggit Garnasih, Fatmawati, Hartini, Ratna Sari Dewi Soekarno, Haryati, Yurike Sanger, and Kartini Manoppo. Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Soekarnoputra (born 1953) has inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and is a gifted choreographer and songwriter, who made a movie Untukmu, Indonesiaku (For You, My Indonesia) about Indonesian culture. He is also a member of the Indonesian Parliament for Megawati's PDI-P party. His siblings Guntur Soekarnoputra, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri and Sukmawati Soekarnoputri have all been active in politics. Sukarno had a daughter named Kartika by Dewi Sukarno. In 2006 Kartika Sukarno married Frits Seegers, the Netherlands-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank. Other offspring include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, and a son named Toto Suryawan Soekarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo. Popular ladies' magazines such as Femina and Kartini regularly run features about newly discovered lookalike sons and daughters throughout the archipelago, who often miraculously disappear when pressed to take a DNA test by the official Sukarno children.

Si Ahmad For My Heroes

Courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soekarno

Soeharto President of Indonesia 2

Suharto, official name Soeharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was the second President of Indonesia, holding the office from 1967 to 1998.

Suharto was born in a small village near Yogyakarta, during the era of Dutch colonial control. His ethnic Javanese peasant parents divorced not long after his birth, and he passed between several foster parents for much of his childhood. After a brief and unsuccessful stint as a village bank clerk, Suharto joined the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in 1940. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Suharto served in various Japanese-organized Indonesian security forces. He joined the newly formed Indonesian army, during Indonesia's independence struggle, in which he rose through the ranks to command a garrison against Dutch offensives at the Republican capital of Yogyakarta. Following Indonesian independence, Suharto rose to the rank of Major General.

An attempted coup on 30 September 1965 was countered by Suharto-led troops.The Suharto-led army blamed the attempt on the Indonesian Communist Party, which was subsequently outlawed, and led a violent anti-communist purge, which is thought to have killed over half a million people. Suharto wrested power from the weakened incumbent and founding president, Sukarno, who relied on the ICP for support, and was inaugurated President in March 1968. Popular, military and political support in Indonesia for Suharto's 32-year presidency eroded dramatically following the devastating effect of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis on Indonesia's economy and standard of living. Suharto was forced to resign from the presidency in May 1998 following mass demonstrations and violence. Suharto lived his post-presidential years in near seclusion, and died at the age of 86 in Jakarta in 2008.

The legacy of Suharto's 32-year presidency is debated both in Indonesia and abroad. Under his "New Order" administration, Suharto constructed a strong, centralized and military-dominated government. An ability to maintain stability over a sprawling and diverse Indonesia and an avowedly anti-Communist stance won him the economic and diplomatic support of the West during the Cold War. For most of his presidency, Indonesia experienced significant economic growth and industrialization, dramatically improving health, education and living standards.Against the backdrop of Cold War international relations, Suharto's "New Order" invasion of East Timor, and the subsequent 24-year occupation, resulted in an estimated minimum of 102,800 deaths.By the 1990s, the New Order's authoritarianism and widespread corruption—estimates of government funds missappropriated by the Suharto family range from US$1.5 billion and US$35 billion—was a source of much discontent, and was referred as one of the world's most corrupt leaders. In the years since his presidency, attempts to try him on charges of corruption and genocide failed because of his poor health.

Like many Javanese, Suharto had only one name.In religious contexts, he is sometimes called “Haji” or “el-Haj Mohammed Suharto”, but this Islamic title is not part of his formal name or generally used. The spelling "Suharto" reflects current Indonesian spelling rules, but people's names were always exempt from this. Although the English-language press generally uses the spelling 'Suharto', Suharto himself, as well as his family, his government and ANTARA and Apa dan Siapa use 'Soeharto'.It is still the spelling most commonly used in Indonesia

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Courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soeharto
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