Admirers mark 94th birthday of Sukarno

JAKARTA (JP): More than 400 people, mostly activists from various affiliations, from Moslem associations to nationalists, gathered at the house of Megawati Soekarnoputri to pay homage to her father, the late President Sukarno, on his birthday on Tuesday.

In her speech, Megawati called on the young generation to perceive his ideas and views in a holistic way and judge them proportionally.

"I hope the young people of today can understand his ideas and views as an entity. Many of Sukarno's ideas, some of which were conceived long before independence, are not yet known to the public," she said at the gathering to commemorate Sukarno's 94th birthday.

"What is always clear in his ideas is that they were always meant to help people in their struggle against colonialism. That is why his life has always been filled with trouble, with many years spent in prison and exile," she said.

Sukarno, who proclaimed Indonesia's independence on Aug. 17, 1945, ruled the country between 1945 and 1966. He died in 1970 in official, but not popular, disgrace.

Some of his ideas have been the source of controversy to this day and his image and teachings have been used by the Indonesian Democratic Party as rallying points. Megawati is currently the chairperson of the party.

Tuesday night's gathering, at Megawati's spacious house in South Jakarta, was organized by young people from the Indonesian Moslem University Students Associations, the Indonesian Moslem Students Association and the Indonesian Students' National Movement.

The gathering was preceded by a prayer session organized by the Independent Alliance of Tasauf (Moslem contemplators) and followed by a speech from Dahlan Ranoewihardjo, former chairperson of the Indonesian Moslem Students Union, and Abdurrahman Wahid, Chairman of the Moslem-oriented Nahdlatul Ulama organization.

Other guests attending the gathering included former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, education expert Mochtar Buchori, executive director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, Mulyana W. Kusumah, former editor of the defunct DeTik weekly, Eros Djarot, and numerous activists and members of the Indonesian Democratic Party, of which Megawati is the chairperson.

Although Megawati's brothers and sisters did not attend the gathering, Sukarno's fifth wife, Ratna Sari Dewi, and Megawati's sister-in-law Levana Taufan, were present.

Clad in a white dress and head scarf, Megawati, who is Sukarno's daughter from his third wife, Fatmawati, said that the Sukarno family was accustomed to celebrating his birthday quietly.

Dewi, who came in a neon-bright green two-piece suit, became the center of attraction when she entered the packed house, which was extended by several tarpaulins and mats.

Speaking in slightly accented Bahasa Indonesia, Dewi, who is a Japanese native and has been spending most of her life abroad since Sukarno's death in 1970, said that she came to visit Indonesia especially to attend the gathering as she would not be able to attend the Independence Day celebration in August due to her work at the New York-based United Nations' Environment Program.

"I am very happy to meet with the Sukarno family again. My daughter, Karlina, will be coming in August to attend the Independence Day celebrations," she said.

Dewi, whose former name is Naoko Nemoto, pointed out that the commemoration of Indonesia's 50 years of independence coincides with the end of World War II and the end of colonialism in Asian countries.

"It is therefore a very important year for all the people in the world," she stressed.

Mochtar Buchori said the commemoration ceremony was expected to remind Indonesia of Sukarno's views and strengths.

"Sukarno sacrificed himself totally for the people's cause. As an engineer, he could have lived comfortably but instead he chose to fight," he said.

"Hopefully, we will not repeat the mistakes we have made in the past. Currently we are making too many mistakes, which we should have already learned not to do, if only we were willing to look back at history," he added.

Sukarno was born on June 6, 1901 in Surabaya. He died in Jakarta in 1970 and was buried in Blitar, East Java. (pwn)