Bonnie Triyana: Soekarno and Multatuli, Two Sides of Resistance Against Coloniality

Bandung – Bonnie Triyana, head of the Historical Affairs Body of PDI Perjuangan (PDIP), invited the public to trace the red thread of colonialism still constraining Indonesia, extending from Soekarno’s conception of the Indonesian human being to the dark history of Badur Village immortalised in Max Havelaar, a novel by Multatuli.

This was presented during the ITB Grand Professor Seminar titled ‘History as a National Movement in the Post-Modern Era’, held at the ITB Scientific Meeting Hall (BPI) in Bandung on Friday, 27 February 2026.

Commencing his presentation, Bonnie, also a member of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, specifically chose Soekarno as a representation of anti-colonial nationalism. Bonnie referred to a book by Jason Stanley that divides nationalism into two types: anti-colonial and supremacist.

“I intentionally selected Soekarno as part of the anti-colonial nationalist faction,” said Bonnie before ITB professors.

Bonnie then examined Soekarno’s imagination of a fully independent Indonesian human being. In his 10 April 1962 speech, Soekarno dreamed of a new Indonesian person who would no longer be oppressed physically or mentally.

“Bung Karno said, the Indonesian human being is not one with a scrawny, small body. This probably refers to stunting. One who is sturdy, spirited, upright. The Javanese person is not just deferential; the Sundanese say sumuhun—one who is upright with a well-proportioned body, forming a new type of Indonesian, a new Indonesian human being, with a new Indonesian spirit too,” recounted Bonnie, mimicking Bung Karno’s speech.

According to the founder of Historia.id, Soekarno’s speech emerged from the context of heated debate concerning the position of Chinese Indonesians during the 1950s. At that time, the Baperki group, led by Siauw Giok Tjhan, promoted the concept of natural integration, whilst other groups sought total assimilation.

Bonnie cited Soekarno’s statement moderating the debate with a visionary perspective. Bung Karno stated that regardless, physical characteristics could not be eliminated; what mattered was eradicating racialism.

“What is important is that we understand them as a dialectical unity. What is important is to thoroughly erase the remnants of racialism. Well, here again, racialism as an invention, as a discovery of colonialism itself. So Bung Karno, if we interpret him here, when he speaks of physical characteristics, he is actually also speaking of DNA,” explained Bonnie.