Sukarno - Removal From Power

Removal From Power

On the dawn of 1 October 1965, six of Indonesia's most senior army generals were kidnapped and killed by a movement calling themselves the "30 September Movement" (G30S). Among those killed was Ahmad Yani, while Nasution narrowly escaped. The G30S Movement consisted of members of the Presidential Guards, Brawidjaja Division, and Diponegoro Division, under the command of a Lieutenant-Colonel Untung bin Sjamsuri, a known communist sympathiser who participated in the 1948 PKI rebellion. The movement took control of the radio station and the Merdeka Square. They broadcasted statement declaring the kidnappings were meant to protect Sukarno from a coup attempt by CIA-influenced generals. Later, it broadcasted the disbandment of Sukarno's cabinet, to be replaced by a "Revolutionary Council". In Central Java, soldiers associated with the Movement also seized control of Yogyakarta and Solo between 1–2 October, killing two colonels in the process.

Major General Suharto, commander of the Army's strategic reserve command, took control of the army the following morning. Suharto ordered troops to take-over the radio station of Radio Republik Indonesia and Merdeka Square itself. On the afternoon of that day, Suharto issued an ultimatum to the Halim Air Force Base, where the G30S had based themselves and where Sukarno (the reasons for his presence are unclear and were subject of claim and counter-claim), Air Marshal Omar Dhani, and PKI chairman Aidit had gathered. By the following day, it was clear that the incompetently organised and poorly coordinated coup had failed. Sukarno took-up residence in the Bogor Palace, while Omar Dhani fled to Cambodia and Aidit to Central Java. By 2 October, Suharto's soldiers occupied Halim Air Force Base, after a short gunfight. Sukarno's obedience to Suharto's 1 October ultimatum to leave Halim is seen as changing all power relationships. Sukarno's fragile balance of power between the military, political Islam, communists, and nationalists that underlay his "Guided Democracy" was now collapsing. A public funeral for 3 of the 6 who were later found dead was set for Armed Forces Day, October 5.

In early October 1965, a military propaganda campaign began to sweep the country, successfully convincing both Indonesian and international audiences that it was a Communist coup, and that the murders were cowardly atrocities against Indonesian heroes since those who were shot were veteran military officers. The PKI's denials of involvement had little effect. Following the discovery and public burial of the generals' corpses on 5 October, the army along with Islamic organisations Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, led a campaign to purge Indonesian society, government and armed forces of the communist party and other leftist organisations. Leading PKI members were immediately arrested, some summarily executed. Aidit was captured and killed on November 1965 The purge spread across the country with the worst massacres in Java and Bali. (see: Indonesian killings of 1965–66) In some areas the army organised civilian groups and local militias, in other areas communal vigilante action preceded the army. The most widely accepted estimates are that at least half a million were killed. It is thought that as many as 1.5 million were imprisoned at one stage or another.

As a result of the purge, one of Sukarno's three pillars of support, the Indonesian Communist Party, had been effectively eliminated by the other two, the military and political Islam. The killings and the failure of his tenuous "revolution" distressed Sukarno and he tried unsuccessfully to protect the PKI by referring to the generals' killings as a rimpeltje in de oceaan ("ripple in the sea of the revolution"). He tried to maintain his influence appealing in a January 1966 broadcast for the country to follow him. Subandrio sought to create a Sukarnoist column (Barisan Sukarno), which was undermined by Suharto's pledge of loyalty to Sukarno and the concurrent instruction for all those loyal to Sukarno to announce their support for the army.

On 1 October 1965, Sukarno appointed General Pranoto Reksosamudro as Army Chief to replace the dead Ahmad Yani, but he was forced to give this position to Suharto two weeks later. In February 1966, Sukarno reshuffled his cabinet, sacking Nasution as Defence Minister and abolishing his position of armed forces chief of staff, but Nasution refused to step down. Beginning in January 1966, university students started demonstrating against Sukarno, demanding the disbandment of PKI and for the government to control spiraling inflation. On February 1966, student demonstrators in front of Merdeka Palace were shot at by Presidential Guards, killing the student Arief Rachman Hakim, who was quickly turned into a martyr by student demonstrators.

A meeting of Sukarno's full cabinet was held at the Merdeka Palace on 11 March 1966. As students were demonstrating against the administration, unidentified troops began to assemble outside. Sukarno, Subandrio and another minister immediately left the meeting and went to the Bogor Palace by helicopter. Three pro-Suharto generals (Basuki Rahmat, Amirmachmud, and Mohammad Jusuf) were dispatched to the Bogor palace and they met with Sukarno who signed for them a Presidential Order known as Supersemar. Through the order, Sukarno assigned Suharto to "take all measures considered necessary to guarantee security, calm and stability of the government and the revolution and to guarantee the personal safety and authority ". The authorship of the document, and whether Sukarno was forced to sign, perhaps even at gunpoint, is a point of historic debate. The effect of the order, however, was the transfer of authority to Suharto. After obtaining the Presidential Order, Suharto had the PKI declared illegal and the party was abolished. He also arrested many high-ranking officials that were loyal to Sukarno on the charge of being PKI members and/or sympathizers, further reducing Sukarno's political power and influence.

The MPRS, now purged from communist and pro-Sukarno elements, began proceedings to impeach Sukarno on the grounds of the following:

1. Toleration 30 September Movement and violation of the constitution by supporting PKI's international communist agenda
2. Negligence of the economy
3. Promotion of national "moral degradation" by Sukarno's blatant womanising behaviour.

On 22 June 1966, Sukarno made the Nawaksara speech in front of the MPRS session, an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to defend himself and his guided democracy system. On August 1966, over Sukarno's objections, Indonesia ended its confrontation with Malaysia and rejoined the United Nations. After making another unsuccessful accountability speech (Nawaksara Addendum) on 10 January 1967, Sukarno was stripped of his presidential title by MPRS on 12 March 1967, in a session chaired by his former ally, Nasution. He was put under house arrest in Bogor Palace, where his health deteriorated due to denial of adequate medical care. He died of kidney failure in Jakarta Army Hospital on 21 June 1970 at age 69. He was buried in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia. In recent decades, his grave has been a significant venue in the network of places that Javanese visit on ziarah and for some is of equal significance to those of the Wali Songo.

A semi-official version of the events of 1965–1966 claims that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) chairman Aidit organised the murders of the six generals, using communist sympathisers within the military, to secure PKI's position in case of feared incapacitation of Sukarno, who suffered a mild stroke on 4 August 1965. Others believe that Sukarno and PKI cooperated to kidnap and murder the generals, to forestall a potential Western-backed coup as mentioned in the Gilchrist Document, a view based on Sukarno being in close contact with Aidit and the conspirators in Halim Air Force Base during 1 October. It is believed that upon taking power, the Suharto government deliberately covered-up Sukarno's involvement and sought to solely blame the PKI out of respect of his past services to bring independence to the country, and to protect the integrity of the nation's historic narrative. After the fall of Suharto in 1998, some of his opponents theorise that Suharto orchestrated the assassinations to remove potential rivals for the presidency.