Word: hatta
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Presumably, all was matey, once again between Indonesia's strong-willed President Sukarno and his disenchanted "Veep," Mohammed Hatta. They had been urged back together at an unusual assemblage of 150 top Indonesian leaders-including rebel colonels from the hill-all worried by the political disintegration of their country (TIME, Sept. 23). Basking in the joys of reconciliation, Hatta and Sukarno flew off together to "Indonesia's Arlington Cemetery" in Djokjakarta to purge their souls of rancor at the grave of General Sudirman, military hero of the revolt against the Dutch. For the first time since his resignation...
...shed eyed one another mistrustfully throughout. Before the conference began, Colonel Sumual carefully disguised himself as a Chinese merchant and made a secret trip from Celebes to Sumatra to confer with his fellow rebel colonels. They decided to attend the conference only if Premier Djuanda and Mohammed Hatta would guarantee their personal safety. This the two statesmen agreed...
Black Umbrella. Like other speakers at the conference, Sumual insisted that Sukarno and Hatta reconcile their differences. "If the worst comes to the worst," added one of the colonels, "they might as well be replaced by a new national leader." The colonels' favorite choice for such a leader: the taciturn and widely respected Sultan of Djokjakarta...
Sukarno yielded to his soldiers' entreaties, called on Hatta privately for two hours and requested Hatta's good offices in persuading the rebel colonels to obey constitutional authority again. Hatta agreed, provided that Sukarno would forgo his "unconstitutional" approach to Indonesia's problems. After the meeting they strolled out together, Sukarno armed with a black umbrella, the traditional symbol for Javanese aristocracy. For the assembled photographers they shook hands several times. But when the photographers asked them to join hands like brothers, they refused...
...conference officially ended with the signing of a vaguely worded statement in which both Sukarno and Hatta restated the original aims of the Indonesian proclamation of independence. Though some officials professed that all was now in order, neither of the two leaders seemed overly enthusiastic at what they had achieved. But the conference seemed to settle one point: Indonesia's army, long regarded as completely under Sukarno's thumb, has become a political force in its own right-and one that by no means sees eye to eye with the President...