Believers claim Sukarno is alive and well

By Gin Kurniawan

SURABAYA (JP): Deathly quiet Lengkong village sprung into a whirl of activity when word spread that Bung Karno, who died 29 years ago, would appear for a speech.

Several thousand people from across East Java descended on the town in Mojokerto regency. They were mainly longtime admirers of Sukarno, affectionately known as Bung Karno, the charismatic orator who proclaimed the country's independence and became its first president. Many of them believe Sukarno is still alive.

Hopes of seeing him in person and listening to his fiery delivery were enough of a draw. News was spread through invitations in which the organizer said Sukarno would attend a shadow puppet show. The host was Hariono, 35, who was throwing the party to mark his son's circumcision last February.

Sukarno, the invitation said, would be accompanied by five people, also deceased: Supriyadi, a guerrilla fighter in the war of independence; Gen. Soedirman; coproclaimer of independence Bung Hatta; Sukarno's second wife Fatmawati and a man named Satrio Piningit.

But the eager wait ended in disappointment when police banned the shadow puppet show and none of the anticipated VIPs showed up. Local radio stations broadcast news of the cancellation in the afternoon.

Police said they worried the event would become violent once the publicized group of people did not appear to address their admirers.

"We were afraid that the mob would run amok," said Mojokerto Police chief Lt. Col. Heru Setiawan.

The crowd dispersed peacefully.

The police questioned three people suspected of organizing the event. They were Hariono, puppet master Dimyati and Supardi, 45, who circulated invitations in many regions. They were detained on the evening of the scheduled event and released the next morning.

Supardi was held most responsible because he circulated the invitations far outside the town. Local media also reported on the event. Invitation letters explicitly stated that Bung Karno would meet his admirers at the show.

Supardi was incensed. He deplored the cancellation of the show and denied the police allegations of spreading lies.

"I swear before God that Bung Karno would come. He didn't turn up because the show was canceled," Supardi told The Jakarta Post last month.

Bung Karno is alive and his grave in his birthplace of Blitar, East Java, is empty, he declared.

Sukarno died on June 21, 1970, in Jakarta.

"If you do not believe me, just open the grave. If you find his bones there, you can hang me," Supardi said.

He insisted that the police should have let the puppet show go on to allow him to show that Sukarno was alive and well.

"If Bung Karno did not show up, they could take me to the police station. How could I prove my belief if the show was canceled?"

Admirers believe Sukarno is not dead, but merely passed to heaven in his physical being thanks to supernatural powers. They hold the same belief for other independence fighters such as Gen. Soedirman, Bung Hatta and Supriyadi. Gajah Mada, a well-known prime minister of the 13th century Majapahit kingdom, also is believed to be alive.

"Five days after Bung Karno was declared dead, somebody saw him riding in a pedicab," Supardi said.

According to Supardi, Sukarno will help Indonesians get out of their current hardships.

He boasts a collection of pictures he claimed showed Sukarno. Some of the figures are dressed like Sukarno, but their faces bear no resemblance.

So strong is the belief in Sukarno's immortality that Sukarno look-alikes have been known to travel on speaking tours in East Java, Yogyakarta and Central Java.

In East Java's cool mountain town of Malang, a Sukarno impostor introduced himself to the public as "Romo (father) Kusno" or "Romo Sukarno". Kusno was Sukarno's nickname when he was a child. Romo Kusno has two "wives" he calls Dewi Putih and Dewi Hitam.

Romo Kusno is probably the best-known Sukarno impostor, with many followers grouped in an informal battalion called "Division X".

Romo Kusno, whom followers describe as "charismatic", claims to be the reincarnation of Bung Karno.

Asked for an ID card and his address, he replies he has none. He lives everywhere and wherever he sets his foot is his home.

Romo Kusno always wears similar clothes to those donned by Bung Karno during public appearances. Like Sukarno, he dresses in all white -- shoes, pants, jacket -- with a black cap. He never forget to carry a baton and put on sunglasses. Both his face and voice bear a strong resemblance to Sukarno.

"Meeting him, it was as if we were hypnotized and unable to deny he was the real Bung Karno," said a journalist in Malang.

His convincing appearance has won Romo Kusno a lot of supporters, many of them educated people from places in Java and Bali. They meet regularly in Kediri, Banyuwangi and Malang.

Romo Kusno tells his supporters that Sukarno never died. He says there is no corpse in the Blitar grave because Bung Karno keeps visits remote areas to help the oppressed.

"He makes appearances to help people who are in difficulty," said Norman, 60, a resident of Gedongtengen, Yogyakarta, who described himself as Romo Kusno's confidante.

Among the dozens of people Romo Kusno recruited for his battalion was a member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) and a candidate of Bali governor. Many members of the division are military veterans who show up in their old uniforms.

Suspicions led to a police raid of Romo Kusno's headquarters in Malang where short-barreled FN-46 rifles were seized.

Romo Kusno was arrested in a hotel in Kediri, East Java, where he was briefing members of the organization. They were detained in Malang on charges of conspiracy against the Soeharto government.

In 1998, a court in Malang sentenced Romo Kusno to 7.5 years in jail. But the Habibie government pardoned him on Aug. 17, 1998, on the occasion of Indonesia's 53rd anniversary.

In a show of loyalty, dozens of his fanatical followers picked him up from the prison and paraded him through the streets on luxury cars. They maintain contact and his followers' loyalty was undented by his imprisonment.

L. Dison, an anthropologist at Airlangga University in Surabaya, said there was nothing unusual in Javanese culture for a belief that a charismatic figure like Sukarno remained alive.

"People believe Sukarno did not die but moved to another world with his physical entity. His admirers believe he will reappear some day."

The belief, Dison said, was often exploited by "rather paranoid" people who try to convince others they are reincarnations of the dead.

"The impostors suffer from emotional disturbances. They are ready to do anything and imitate the behavior of the person 'reincarnated' in them," Dison said.

The belief is linked to the messianic tradition, he said. "They usually make their appearance in a community in a crisis. It is as if they are saviors. Therefore, many people believe in them and become their followers."