#sukarno

British declassified files show how Harold Wilson’s Labour government, together with the US government under Lyndon Johnson, were complicit in one of the worst slaughters in the postwar world. The killings in Indonesia started when a group of army officers loyal to President Sukarno assassinated several generals on 30 September 1965. They believed the generals were about to stage a coup to overthrow Sukarno.  The instability provided other anti-Sukarno generals, led by General Suharto, with an excuse for the army to move against a powerful and popular political faction with mass support, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). It did so brutally: in a few months hundreds of thousands of PKI members and ordinary people were killed and the PKI destroyed. Suharto emerged as leader and instituted a brutal regime that lasted until 1998. The files show British opposition to the nationalist Sukarno and the PKI, and that it wanted the army to act and encouraged it. “I have never concealed from you my belief that a little shooting in Indonesia would be an essential preliminary to effective change”, the ambassador in Jakarta, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, informed the Foreign Office on 5 October 1965. 

President Sukarno receives Robert Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy.

In early January [in 1964], the National Security Council, of which Bobby was still a member, convened for a meeting at the White House to discuss an escalating situation in Southeast Asia. A few months earlier, Great Britain had relinquished control over Malaysia, creating a rival power to Indonesia and its nationalist dictator, Sukarno. In retaliation, a mob of Indonesians stormed the British embassy in Jakarta, while Sukarno vowed to smash the new country, disputed its borders, and sent bands of guerrilla raiders into its territories... National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy said that Congress would soon be demanding answers and proposed that Bobby go to Asia and handle Sukarno personally... The first stop was Tokyo, where he began his talks with Sukarno. The general entered with his peci cap and chest full of medals and asked Bobby, ”Did you come here to threaten me?” “No,” Bobby said, “I've come to help get you out of trouble.” Bobby's “disarming directness” rattled some of the American diplomats, a member of the U.S. national security staff said... “On several occasions, the more proper types who sat in with him were appalled at Mr. Kennedy's frankness in talking to these people,” an unidentified Us. official told the New York Times, “but he has a way of dealing with people as equals, talking neither up nor down to them.' Within ten days, the attorney general was able to say that his mission was fulfilled: a cease-fire was in place, and there was agreement on talks... Though nothing would be solved between Indonesia and Malaysia for some time, diplomat Bobby “had performed a minor miracle” wrote Newsweek... Ethel said quietly, “This is the worst part. To go back to Washington and not find Jack waiting for him.” In fact, no president waited for him. Johnson was bitter over the way Kennedy's trip had turned out, feeling he had been suckered into raising Bobby's profile as the capital gamed who the next vice president would be The President appeared unappreciative and uninterested in Bobby's findings, having him brief in the presence of ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. The message was clear: Bobby's Oval Office privileges were revoked.

Dewi Sukarno (born in 1940, in Tokyo), she was one of the first wives of Indonesian president Sukarno. She is a businesswoman, socialite and TV personality. Dewi is also known for her philanthropic work.

Ir.Sukarno (1901-1970) - Assorted Cartoon Style

 Indonesia’s first president and founding father.

Sukarno and Fidel Castro meet in 1960 in Havana. Sukarno ruled Indonesia from its independence after World War II until 1967, when he was overthrown. In his last few years in office, he grew closer to elements on the political left, leaning more and more on the Communist Party of Indonesia. In 1965, anti-communist leaders in the military purged Indonesian communists, killing at least half a million people. After he lost his communist support, Sukarno’s power faded.