Remembering Sukarno after collective amnesia

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

One of the greatest smear campaigns ever committed in the country's modern history was the one that was waged against the country's first president, Sukarno.

For more than three decades after he was removed from power following an alleged coup attempt, the regime of president Soeharto embarked on a massive campaign to erase Sukarno's name from the history books and painted an otherwise dismal picture of the country's founding father.

Imagine George Washington being written out of American history and you would have some idea of the lengths successive governments here went to discredit him.

During the Soeharto era, Sukarno's contribution to nation building was rarely mentioned, and over time his name slowly faded from the country's collective consciousness.

In general, a blackout on Sukarno left the country in the dark over the work of the outspoken leader. Most school children nowadays know him merely as the person who read the country's Declaration of Independence on Aug. 17, 1945, at the side of Mohammad Hatta, the country's first vice president.

Unfortunately, parents educated under the New Order curriculum can do little to help their children, as forgetting Sukarno was also part of their education.

Although a ban was never officially slapped on books penned by Sukarno, not a single publishing house ever dared to publish his books during the New Order regime and the country's younger generation was stripped of the opportunity to learn about his ideas, or from his experiences.

As a result, one of Sukarno's books Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi (Under the Banner of Revolution) -- published for the last time in 1965 -- became a collectible item and was one of the most sought-after books during the New Order era, aside from the banned Buru Quartet by Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Whatever one's position on this admittedly controversial figure, there is no doubt that the founding member of the country's Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), independence leader and one of the authors of the nation's five principals, the Pancasila, is far too important a figure to be ignored in Indonesian history.

In an effort to bring Sukarno back into the country's consciousness and dispel the New Order's decades of disinformation, the Bung Karno Foundation (YBK), a political Jakarta-based organization set up by Sukarno's children, has began a campaign to reintroduce the country's flamboyant founding father.

Part of this campaign is the publication of nine-volume illustrated biography of Sukarno, Seri Biografi Bung Karno, targeted at children.

The book's publisher said the illustrated biography was designed for children aged 12 years and above. "We believe that the pictures and the way the story was told will be more interesting to children rather than presenting (the narrative) as an historical text," the publisher of the book, Zamzani, said.

With limited resources at his disposal, Zamzani said a picture book was also more cost-effective than a graphic novel.

"It took us four years to complete this series. How long would it have took if we had decided to use a comic as our medium, where we would have had to draw one sequence for one piece of information," he said.

The illustrated biography depicts Sukarno as a regular person, struggling for the freedom of a country he loved. "We shied away from the controversial aspects of Sukarno's life," the book's author, Sari Pusparini Soleh, said.

Researching the book took a long time, Sari said. "To tell a balanced story I had to read dozens of books on Sukarno from all parts of the political spectrum as my reference," she said.

However, Sari said Soekarno: An Autobiography: As told to Cindy Adams, an uncritical tome written in 1965 where the former president told his life story to an American journalist, served as her main reference. "People could say that what Soekarno told Cindy Adams did contradict the facts, but at least that was what came out from his mouth, meaning that it couldn't have be far from the truth," Sari said.

The books, which have been on bookstore shelves for the past four years, have won an award from the Indonesian Association of Book Publishers (Ikapi).

The public, however, has only given a lukewarm response to the series. Despite being available at an affordable low price, Rp 27,000 (US$2.6) a volume, only a small number of parents have bought it.

"There was a time when we only printed one or two runs per year," Zamzani said.

YBK chairman Guruh Soekarnoputra, the son of Sukarno, said that the publication of the illustrated book was but one of many events held to celebrate Sukarno's 104th birthday this year.

The YBK also initiated the re-issue of Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi and Bung Karno Sang Arsitek (Soekarno the Architect) and unveiled a monument to the president in Berastagi, North Sumatra.

Guruh said the foundation had declared 2005 the Year of Soekarno and had written to all government institutions, political parties and the media asking them to observe it by flying banners or running public service announcements commemorating the late Sukarno's 104th birthday, which would have fallen on Juni 21.

"However, so far we have learned that only one newspaper has run the ads, which we had to pay for," Guruh said.