Word: indonesians
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Then Sukarno stepped boldly into the breach he himself had opened. As Djakarta's sunset gun heralded an end to the day's fasting for the Moslem Ramadan, Sukarno summoned 69 leading Indonesian politicians and 60 of his top-ranking military leaders through a driving tropical downpour to the vaulted, marble-floored State Palace. In one bank of chairs on one side of the hall sat the civilian politicians of all persuasions. Facing them across a space of 20 feet sat the military men-who are, to a man, disturbed by the politicians' bickering. With a proper...
...Java-Centric." First of all. President Sukarno was eager for the government to take in the Communists, who held 39 seats in Parliament. Second, local politicians and military commanders all over the Indonesian string of 3,000 islands accused the government of being "Java-centric." Java, site of the capital city of Djakarta, has two-thirds of the country's population. But though Java accounts for only 17% of Indonesia's exports, it gobbles up a disproportionate slice (73%) of its imports. Sumatra, on the other hand, contributes 72% of Indonesia's exports in return...
...long Red agitprop specialists spattered Djakarta's buildings with red-paint slogans supporting Sukarno's proposal. Across the city's swill-strewn byways and broad, palm-lined boulevards diligent Communist cadres hung hortatory banners. The Red campaign was the most impressive show of organized political strength Indonesians had seen in years, and to many Indonesian politicians it was also the most frightening...
Promising Retreat. Sukarno finally backed down. He still insisted on including the Communists in a National Council which, as originally proposed, would have had veto powers over Cabinet decisions as well as acts of the Indonesian Parliament. But now, he said, the council's role would be advisory only...
Later, in a talk with a Western visitor, Sukarno revealed the naivete that from the beginning has marked his dealings with the Communists. "You talk of wanting independence from foreign intervention," said the visitor, "but the Communist Party is not a national Indonesian party-it represents a foreign power." The President flushed in anger, clenched his fist and replied: "If I learn and can prove that Indonesia's Communists are being actively supported from outside this country, I will crush them...