Soekarno

Properties2
tagsperson, nationalist, indonesian, indonesia-independence
aliasesSoekarno, Boeng Karno, Sukarno, President Soekarno

5 min read

Soekarno — Boeng Karno in the book’s idiom — was the Indonesian nationalist leader (and later the first President of Indonesia) whom Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. mentions as the communist who, with his “handlangers” (henchmen), tried to make their strike on Java between 1906 and 1927. Soekarno proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945, and was the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war in 1945-1949.

The 1906-1927 communist period

“Van 1906 tot ‘27 is het op Java nog even op een paar punten wat gevaarlijk geweest toen de communisten, met Soekarno (u kent hem wel!) en zijn handlangers, hun slag wilden slaan.” Between 1906 and 1927 the communists, with Soekarno and his henchmen, tried to make their strike on Java. The book’s parenthetical “(u kent hem wel!)” — “you know him!” — is the address to the Dutch reader of 1954, for whom Soekarno was the known adversary of the colonial state and, after 1949, the President of the Republic that had succeeded it.

The 17 August 1945 declaration

The Indonesian declaration of independence of 17 August 1945 was proclaimed by Soekarno and Hatta. The declaration opened the 1945-1949 Indonesian revolution — the war that the K.N.I.L. would fight against the Republic, and that would end with the transfer of sovereignty of 27 December 1949 and the dissolution of the colonial army.

The Republic’s political leader

Soekarno was the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war. The book’s Tegen de rood-witten — “Against the Red-Whites” — is the chapter on the war against the Republic, and the rood-witten (the Red-Whites, the red-and-white of the Indonesian flag) are the soldiers of Soekarno’s Republic. The book’s quiet point is that the Ambonese soldiers of the colonial army — the Oom Ambon who had served the Dutch since the Aceh War — were, in 1945-1949, used in a war against the Republic whose political leader the book had identified, twenty years earlier, as the communist threat to the colonial state.

Significance

Soekarno is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the Indonesian nationalist leader whom the book identifies as the communist adversary of the colonial state in the 1906-1927 period, and as the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war. The book’s argument is that the Ambonese soldiers of the colonial army were used in a war whose political outcome would leave them stateless, and that the Republic’s political leader — Soekarno — was the figure the book had identified as the communist threat twenty years earlier.

See Also

Source

Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Ooms leger” and the closing chapters on the Indonesian revolution.

Soekarno — Boeng Karno in the book’s idiom — was the Indonesian nationalist leader (and later the first President of Indonesia) whom Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. mentions as the communist who, with his “handlangers” (henchmen), tried to make their strike on Java between 1906 and 1927. Soekarno proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945, and was the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war in 1945-1949.

The 1906-1927 communist period

“Van 1906 tot ‘27 is het op Java nog even op een paar punten wat gevaarlijk geweest toen de communisten, met Soekarno (u kent hem wel!) en zijn handlangers, hun slag wilden slaan.” Between 1906 and 1927 the communists, with Soekarno and his henchmen, tried to make their strike on Java. The book’s parenthetical “(u kent hem wel!)” — “you know him!” — is the address to the Dutch reader of 1954, for whom Soekarno was the known adversary of the colonial state and, after 1949, the President of the Republic that had succeeded it.

The 17 August 1945 declaration

The Indonesian declaration of independence of 17 August 1945 was proclaimed by Soekarno and Hatta. The declaration opened the 1945-1949 Indonesian revolution — the war that the K.N.I.L. would fight against the Republic, and that would end with the transfer of sovereignty of 27 December 1949 and the dissolution of the colonial army.

The Republic’s political leader

Soekarno was the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war. The book’s Tegen de rood-witten — “Against the Red-Whites” — is the chapter on the war against the Republic, and the rood-witten (the Red-Whites, the red-and-white of the Indonesian flag) are the soldiers of Soekarno’s Republic. The book’s quiet point is that the Ambonese soldiers of the colonial army — the Oom Ambon who had served the Dutch since the Aceh War — were, in 1945-1949, used in a war against the Republic whose political leader the book had identified, twenty years earlier, as the communist threat to the colonial state.

Significance

Soekarno is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the Indonesian nationalist leader whom the book identifies as the communist adversary of the colonial state in the 1906-1927 period, and as the political leader of the Republic against which the K.N.I.L. fought its last war. The book’s argument is that the Ambonese soldiers of the colonial army were used in a war whose political outcome would leave them stateless, and that the Republic’s political leader — Soekarno — was the figure the book had identified as the communist threat twenty years earlier.

See Also

Source

Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Ooms leger” and the closing chapters on the Indonesian revolution.

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