Birth of Sukarno

Sukarno was born on 6 June 1901 in Surabaya. An Indonesian nationalist leader, Sukarno was born in Java, studied engineering and became a charismatic orator in the movement against Dutch colonial rule. He founded the Indonesian National Party in 1927, and was imprisoned and exiled by the Dutch. On 17 August 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrender, he proclaimed Indonesia's independence alongside Mohammad Hatta and became the first president. He promoted the national philosophy of Pancasila, hosted the 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African states and was a leader of the non-aligned movement. His increasingly authoritarian Guided Democracy faced economic troubles, and after the events of 1965 he was gradually stripped of power by General Suharto and kept under house arrest until his death.

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