Word: sukarno
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...underline his contempt for U.S. public opinion, President Sukarno, then sent his air force chief of staff to Moscow. There he urgently requested speedier delivery of Soviet jet planes, subs and a battle cruiser so he could get on with the "liberation" of West New Guinea...
Indonesia's President Sukarno, who sorely lacks troopships, trained soldiers and hard cash for his threatened invasion of Netherlands New Guinea, is banking on jingo power to persuade the world that he means business. Though Sukarno last week slightly softened his repeated demand for immediate sovereignty over Netherlands New Guinea, allowing that "sooner or later" will be good enough, Indonesia's government and armed forces acted as if the country were already at war. Officials set up blood banks, ordered air-raid drills, recruited volunteer troops. Through Djakarta's streets tramped Irian Barat (West New Guinea) Liberation...
Inviting foreign newsmen to visit Macassar, Indonesia's invasion headquarters in the Celebes, Sukarno saw to it that the streets were draped with banners proclaiming in plain English: WE WILL GIVE OUR LIVES FOR IRIAN BARAT. No less clear to Western correspondents was the combat unreadiness of ill-fed, ill-disciplined, ill-conditioned infantrymen who, as one put it, "seemed exhausted after a 30-minute demonstration that would scarcely have tired a Finch College hockey team...
...invariable reply when asked for bread, sugar or cooking oil-"We don't have any." A rice shortage, caused by severe drought last fall, has brought a 300% price increase in the nation's staple food in three months. Gasoline and auto parts are virtually unobtainable, and Sukarno's war scare has caused hoarding and profiteering in many other goods...
Haunted Hunters. The paradox of Sukarno's economic plight is that it will be immeasurably worsened if ever he gets New Guinea. Between its jagged mountains, jungles and vast, malarial swamplands, Netherlands New Guinea is one of the most meagerly endowed countries on earth. Says one longtime settler: "If the Dutch ever pull out of here, the country will be taken over by the jungle again." Thousands of settlers have already pulled out; yields from the Dutch oilfield at Sorong have dwindled steadily, and the colony last year cost the Dutch $26 million...