Latest news with #Sukarno
Ammon
a day ago
- Politics
- Ammon
Indonesia's declaration of independence
Ammon News - On this day in 1945, Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands, and, after the Dutch transferred sovereignty four years later, he served as the country's first president (1949–67).
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First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
History Today: How Indonesia declared independence and defied Dutch rule
On August 17, 1945, Indonesia proclaimed its independence from the Netherlands. However, the fight for freedom continued. Sukarno, the leader of the independence movement and president of the fragile new republic, led resistance against the Dutch. Four years later, the Netherlands officially transferred sovereignty to Asian nation Sukarno was Indonesia's first president when the country was granted independence. AFP/File Photo On August 17, 1945, Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands. However, the fight for freedom went on until 1949, when the Dutch formally accepted Indonesia as a sovereign nation. Before independence, Indonesia was known as the Dutch East Indies, or the Netherlands East Indies. Also on this day in 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey's Kocaeli Province, killing over 17,000 people. Further, on this day in 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair came to a close after more than three days of peace, love and rock 'n' roll in upstate New York. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As part of Firstpost Explainers' History Today series, here's a look at what happened on August 17: Indonesia declares independence On August 17, 1945, Sukarno, leader of Indonesia's independence movement, announced the country's freedom from the Netherlands. Four years later, after the Dutch formally handed over sovereignty, he became Indonesia's first president, serving from 1949 to 1967. During the Second World War, the Japanese placed Sukarno in a position of influence, making him their chief adviser, propagandist, and recruiter of workers, soldiers, and prostitutes. Sukarno pushed the Japanese to allow Indonesia to become independent and, on June 1, 1945, delivered one of his most well-known speeches. On August 17, 1945, Sukarno announced the country's freedom from the Netherlands. Image: Wikimedia Commons As Japan's defeat became certain, Sukarno initially hesitated. However, after being kidnapped, pressured, and persuaded by a group of young activists, he went on to proclaim independence. The struggle for freedom did not end there. As president of the fragile new republic, Sukarno led resistance against the Dutch. Following two unsuccessful 'police actions' aimed at regaining control, the Dutch officially transferred sovereignty on December 27, 1949. It was only in 1969, when the United Nations recognised the western part of New Guinea as belonging to Indonesia, that the nation reached its current form. 1999 Turkey earthquake On this day in 1999, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck near Izmit, Turkey. The disaster claimed more than 17,000 lives and left about 500,000 people without homes. The main tremor lasted less than a minute and was followed by two moderate aftershocks on August 19, roughly 80 kilometres west of the original epicentre. Entire sections of several towns and cities were reduced to rubble. The worst-hit areas included Golcuk, Derince, Darıca, and Sakarya (Adapazari). Even Istanbul suffered hundreds of deaths and extensive damage. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Two men search the ruins of a building where they lived in Yalova, south of Istanbul. AFP/File Photo Most casualties were caused by the collapse of poorly built residential blocks. Anger grew towards private builders accused of poor workmanship and using substandard materials. While some faced criminal charges, only a small number were convicted. Officials were also criticised for failing to enforce safety regulations on earthquake-resistant construction. Woodstock's all-night finale On this day in 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair drew to a close after more than three days of peace, love and rock 'n' roll in upstate New York. Heavy rain and delays stretched the festival, which was meant to end before midnight, into an all-night music session that went on until after sunrise. Promoted as 'Three Days of Peace and Music,' Woodstock was organised by John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang. Their aim was to raise enough money to build a recording studio near the artistic town of Woodstock in New York. In the lead-up to the weekend, 186,000 tickets had been sold, with organisers expecting a crowd of no more than 200,000. But by Friday night, thousands had already gathered at the gates. People rest at the campground of the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. AFP/File Photo Worried about crowd control, the organisers decided to make the event free. Nearly half a million people came, filling the roads around Bethel and creating eight miles of traffic jams. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This Day, That Year 1947: The Radcliffe Line, marking the final border between India and Pakistan, was officially published. 1978: The first successful transatlantic balloon flight ended when Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed the Double Eagle II near Paris. 1988: Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances. 1998: US President Bill Clinton gave testimony to a grand jury from the White House through closed-circuit television about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
AllAfrica
07-08-2025
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Anti-Chinese 'Ali Baba' legacy still divides Indonesia
The Dutch presence in the Indonesian archipelago—first brought about by the decision of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century to establish a spice monopoly in the region—has now influenced many of the institutions, norms, and educational practices within the modern Republic of Indonesia. The colony of the 'Dutch East Indies' that makes up modern-day Indonesia was also marked by racial violence and discrimination that lasted even shortly after Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch. In a few extreme cases, native Indonesians were brutally killed and had their villages destroyed by Dutch colonizers, such as in the 1621 Banda massacre. But more subtly, discrimination mainly came in the form of a system the Dutch had implemented: one of racial stratification that continues to shape Indonesian politics through present-day ethnic hostilities. During Indonesia's colonial period, which ended at the conclusion of World War II, the Dutch frequently employed the strategy of divide et impera ('divide-and-conquer') in order to assert their dominance and prevent the possibility of organized resistance or joining of forces between ethnic groups against them. The white Dutch settlers became the ruling class, while ethnic Chinese and Arab-Indonesian minorities were positioned above native Indonesians as 'Foreign Orientals,' with native Indonesians, or the pribumi , occupying the lowest position. The Dutch maintained that the Arab- and Chinese-Indonesians, who had descended from merchant classes, were more adept at trade and economic matters. While Arab-Indonesians were able to more easily assimilate with native Indonesians after the formation of an independent Indonesia, due to shared religious ties in Islam, Chinese-Indonesians remained more socially separated. Furthermore, zoning and pass systems carried out by the Dutch in the mid-1800s prevented Chinese-Indonesians from living among the native population, as they were forced to live in restricted areas and were only allowed to leave with a pass, once again to prevent the two groups from uniting against the Dutch colonizers. University of Malaya professor Chong Wu Ling writes that Chinese-Indonesians during the colonial period were 'indispensable' to the functioning of the colonial economy. She asserts that the Chinese-Indonesian minority was favored by the colonial government in the distribution of licenses to all sorts of businesses like pawnshops and gambling establishments. When Indonesia finally gained independence, 'Ali Baba' policies (officially, the 'Benteng program') were introduced by the then-newly established Sukarno government. These affirmative-action policies, intended to encourage native Indonesians to participate in the economy, led native Indonesians, referred to as 'Ali,' to serve as the 'frontmen' for businesses, with Chinese-Indonesians, 'Baba,' operating in the background. The end result of these discriminatory 'Ali Baba' policies, however, was not a post-colonial transformation; rather, it was the continuation and perpetuation of old colonial ethnic divisions. The Dutch succeeded in entrenching a heightened racial and ethnic consciousness between native Indonesians ('Ali') and the Chinese minority ('Baba') that persisted long after colonialism. While Sukarno-era 'Ali Baba' policies ended in the latter half of the 1950s, their legacy persists in present-day Indonesia, where native Indonesians continue to occupy more public-facing roles, and Chinese-Indonesian contributions tend to be more concentrated in commercial sectors. This has thus formed a sharp divide in Indonesia between those who wield economic power and those who command political authority. While Chinese-Indonesians largely dominate the private economy—holding '70–75% of medium and large-scale private companies' in Indonesia, a figure that has unfortunately often been exploited for demagogic purposes, they continue to remain underrepresented in public-facing roles in politics and the civil service. The underrepresentation of Chinese-Indonesians in contemporary Indonesian politics reflects the legacy of the Ali Baba policies from the Sukarno era, which were themselves influenced by the racial and ethnic divisions established during Dutch colonial rule—despite the strong anti-colonial sentiments of that time. A 2017 study from the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute even reported that the majority of native Indonesians (from a sample taken from 34 provinces) were 'uncomfortable' with the notion of a Chinese-Indonesian being in a position of political leadership. However, Al Jazeera found that Chinese-Indonesians are participating in politics today at a higher rate than during Indonesia's New Order era, with candidates emerging from various political parties. Indonesia needs to rise above the ethnic divisions inherited from Dutch colonization. It is important to understand that many of the ethnic tensions seen today can be traced back to the divide et impera strategies employed by the Dutch to ensure control over what was then the Dutch East Indies. The 'othering' of Chinese-Indonesians is a product of this division, and it is hoped that a more united Indonesia will soon emerge once the colonial attitudes that were ingrained are finally overcome. Rinzen Widjaja is an Australia-based Indonesian writer and cultural critic with bylines in the The Hill , Merion West, Modern Age periodical, and RealClearEducation .
AFP
02-07-2025
- Business
- AFP
Silver note commemorating Indonesian independence is not legal tender
"BI (Bank Indonesia) releases 80,000 Indonesian rupiah banknote for Indonesia's 80th anniversary," reads a post on SnackVideo shared on June 21, 2025. Indonesia celebrates its independence day on August 17. The post's attached video shows a silver plaque resembling a banknote printed with an image of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, with the number 80 in its top-left and bottom-right corners. Superimposed Indonesian-language text repeats the claim the country's central bank has released an 80,000 rupiah banknote. Image Screenshot of false post captured on June 30, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The same claim was also shared on TikTok here, here and here. Commenters appeared to believe the note was legal tender, with one user asking, "Where can I find it?" Although Bank Indonesia did release a limited edition 75,000 Indonesian rupiah banknote for the 75th anniversary of independence in 2020, the circulating video does not show an official note released in the Southeast Asian country (archived link). The central bank also said in a TikTok post on June 20 that it had not issued a special banknote for the 80th anniversary, warning that the circulating posts were a "hoax" (archived link). A reverse image search on Google found the circulating video was first uploaded to TikTok on June 16, where the user said it showed a "commemorative silver sheet for Indonesia's 80th anniversary" and that it was "not a banknote" (archived link). Image Screenshot of false post (left) and the TikTok post from June 16, 2025 (right) Keyword searches found the sheet was produced by Mint Indonesia, a company offering commemorative coins and notes. The same silver note can be seen in an Instagram video by the company promoting a commemorative coin collection for the 80th anniversary (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the June 16 TikTok post (left) and Mint Indonesia's Instagram video (right) A Mint Indonesia sales administrator confirmed to AFP on July 2 that the silver plate is made by their company. Images of the product's packaging, provided by Mint Indonesia, also state it is for "collection purposes only" and "not legal tender". Image Image of the commemorative silver plate, provided by Mint Indonesia, with disclaimers that it is for "collection purposes only" and "not legal tender" highlighted by AFP AFP has debunked multiple misleading claims about supposed new banknotes here, here and here.
New Straits Times
28-06-2025
- New Straits Times
Man falls to death from PPR unit
KUALA LUMPUR: A 25-year-old man was found dead after falling from the 11th floor of the Beringin People's Housing Project (PPR) at Jalan Miri in Jinjang here last night. Sentul district police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Sukarno Mohd Zakaria said the deceased was believed to have been on a phone call with his girlfriend moments before the incident. "Police received a call from the public at 7.39pm alerting authorities to the incident. "Initial investigations at the scene revealed that the victim fell from the corridor in front of his unit on the 11th floor, where a plastic chair was also found," he said. Sukarno said based on accounts from several witnesses on the 11th and 9th floors, the man was heard shouting during a phone conversation prior to the fall. "His mother told police that she saw him speaking on the phone with his girlfriend, a Vietnamese national, at around 5pm before he left the house. "We are now waiting to record the girlfriend's statement, but she has not been contactable." He said the case has been classified as a sudden death report (SDR) pending further investigation.
