Word: sukarnoism
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...death as in life, Sukarno was a problem. As Indonesia's deposed President last week succumbed at 69 after a long bout with kidney stones and high blood pressure, Djakarta's new leaders pondered the questions of how much to mourn him and how much to memorialize him. Indeed, many Indonesians were in a quandary over their bapak (father). Some felt that they should pay homage to him as the founding father who proclaimed Indonesia's independence in 1945 and spawned a sense of national identity. Others were prepared to damn him as the profligate...
...figures importantly in Indonesia's economic development plans, and Djakarta is, in effect, counting its wells before they are proved out. Deeply in debt after years of misrule under former President Sukarno, the country owes $2 billion to foreign creditors. If oil is produced on a large enough scale, it will strengthen Indonesia's economy and finance sorely needed development...
Since 1965, when at least 300,000 Communists were massacred in the wake of an abortive coup and President Sukarno was effectively removed from power, the military has not had a serious political rival. The parties are fragmented, and Parliament is under the army's thumb. In economic enterprise even more than in politics, the army is making its mark-and quite a few fortunes. Generals, colonels and majors serve as governors, industrialists and hotel managers. Occasionally they even serve as soldiers...
...Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have all enjoyed an annual economic growth rate of 8% or more; with the possible exception of Malaysia, these nations have also become more politically stable, while Indonesia, which once threatened to become a Peking satellite, has become aggressively anti-Communist since the overthrow of Sukarno. It may be that the U.S. presence in Viet Nam bought time for these states to put their own affairs in order and become more resistant to subversion because of their greater internal cohesion...
Except in art and conversation, blandness is not a mortal sin; and even in politics, charisma is not always a virtue. Nkrumah and Sukarno stirred the blood of their countrymen, but they very nearly ruined their countries. Two of the most persuasive leaders of the 20th century were also two of its greatest monsters-Hitler and Mussolini. Particularly in advanced nations, the leader who governs by emotion and style is apt to be regarded as a dangerous indulgence, one that people with stable institutions should not hanker...