At a glance
Era 12- Dates
- 1901-1970 CE
- Who
- Leader of the independence movement and first president of Indonesia
- Era
- The Modern Ummah
ProfileSukarno
Sukarno was born in Java in 1901 and trained as an engineer. In the 1920s he became a leader of the movement for independence from the Netherlands and spent years in Dutch prisons and exile.
On 17 August 1945, two days after Japan's surrender, he and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia. The Dutch fought to return, and four years of struggle followed before they recognised the new state in 1949. Sukarno became the first president of what would be the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. He set out the five principles of the state, the Pancasila, the first of which is belief in one God. In 1955 he hosted the Bandung conference of newly independent nations of Asia and Africa.
His rule grew more authoritarian, and after a time of turmoil in the mid-1960s he lost power. He died in 1970.
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SourcesSources for this profile
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