title: University College London

text: Notable former UCL faculty and staff include Jocelyn Bell Burnell (co-discoverer of radio pulsars), A. S. Byatt (writer), Ronald Dworkin (legal philosopher and scholar of constitutional law), John Austin (legal philosopher, founder of analytical jurisprudence), Sir Jack Drummond (noted for his work on nutrition as applied to the British diet under rationing during the Second World War), Sir A.J. Ayer (philosopher), Sir Ambrose Fleming (inventor of the first thermionic valve, the fundamental building block of electronics), Lucian Freud (painter), Andrew Goldberg (chairman of Medical Futures), Peter Higgs (the proposer of the Higgs mechanism, which predicted the existence of the Higgs boson), Andrew Huxley (physiologist and biophysicist), William Stanley Jevons (economist), Sir Frank Kermode (literary critic), A. E. Housman (classical scholar, and poet), Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (first President of Czechoslovakia and "Father of the Nation"), John Stuart Mill (philosopher), Peter T. Kirstein (computer scientist, significant role in the creation of the Internet), George R. Price (population geneticist), Edward Teller ("Father of the Hydrogen Bomb"), David Kemp (the first scientist to demonstrate the existence of the otoacoustic emissions), Dadabhai Naoroji (Indian Parsi leader, the first Asian to be elected to UK House of Commons), Hannah Fry (data scientist, mathematician and BBC presenter), Tom Dyckhoff (writer, broadcaster and historian on architecture), and Carl Gombrich (opera singer and university founder).


title: University College London

text: All five of the naturally occurring noble gases were discovered at UCL by Professor of Chemistry Sir William Ramsay, after whom Ramsay Hall is named.


title: University College London

text: Hormones were first discovered at UCL by William Bayliss and Ernest Starling, the former also an alumnus of UCL.


title: University College London

text: Population Health student Aliza Ayaz was appointed as the world's youngest United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. She subsequently made UCL divest from fossil fuels through the student club Climate Action Society.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch colonialists. He was a prominent leader of Indonesia's nationalist movement during the colonial period and spent over a decade under Dutch detention until released by the invading Japanese forces in World War II. Sukarno and his fellow nationalists collaborated to garner support for the Japanese war effort from the population, in exchange for Japanese aid in spreading nationalist ideas. Upon Japanese surrender, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945, and Sukarno was appointed president. He led the Indonesian resistance to Dutch re-colonisation efforts via diplomatic and military means until the Dutch recognition of Indonesian independence in 1949. Author Pramoedya Ananta Toer once wrote, "Sukarno was the only Asian leader of the modern era able to unify people of such differing ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds without shedding a drop of blood."


title: Sukarno

text: After a chaotic period of parliamentary democracy, Sukarno established an autocratic system called "Guided Democracy" in 1959 that successfully ended the instability and rebellions which were threatening the survival of the diverse and fractious country. In the early 1960s Sukarno embarked on a series of aggressive foreign policies under the rubric of anti-imperialism and personally championed the Non-Aligned Movement. These developments led to increasing friction with the West and closer relations with the USSR. After the events surrounding the 30 September Movement of 1965, the military general Suharto largely took control of the country in a Western backed military overthrow of the Sukarno-led government. This was followed by repression of real and perceived leftists, including executions of Communist party members and suspected sympathisers in several massacres with support from the CIA and British intelligence services, resulting in an estimated 500,000 to over 1,000,000 deaths. In 1967, Suharto officially assumed the presidency, replacing Sukarno, who remained under house arrest until his death in 1970.


title: Sukarno

text: The name was derived from a hero in the "Mahabharata" Hindu epic, Karna. His father being from Indonesia was inspired by Indian historical heroes and Hindu culture and was deeply influenced by Karna that he named his son as Sukarno. Su(good)+ Karna or "The good Karna". Karna was a main hero of the great epic Mahabharata and Sukarno's father projected him to grow up a brave person like Karna, become Daanveer for his subjects, savior or the messiah for his people and a king like Karna. The spelling Soekarno, based on Dutch orthography, is still in frequent use, mainly because he signed his name in the old spelling. Sukarno himself insisted on a "u" in writing, not "oe", but said that he had been told in school to use the Dutch style, and that after 50 years, it was too difficult to change his signature, so still spelled his signature with "oe". Official Indonesian presidential decrees from the period 1947–1968, however, printed his name using the 1947 spelling. The Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, which serves the area near Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, still uses the Dutch spelling.


title: Sukarno

text: Indonesians also remember him as Bung" Karno (Brother/Comrade Karno) or Pak" Karno ("Mr. Karno"). Like many Javanese people, he had only one name.


title: Sukarno

text: He is sometimes referred to in foreign accounts as "Achmed Sukarno", or some variation thereof. The fictitious first name may have been added by Western journalists confused over someone with just a single name, or by Indonesian supporters of independence to attract support from Muslim countries. Source from Ministry of Foreign Affairs later revealed, "Achmed" (later, written as "Ahmad" or "Ahmed" by Arabian states and other foreign state press) was coined by M. Zein Hassan, an Indonesian student at Al-Azhar University and later a member of the staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs, to establish Soekarno's identity as a Muslim to the Egyptian press after a brief controversy at that time in Egypt alleging Sukarno's name was "not Muslim enough". After adopting the name "Achmed" Muslim and Arab states freely supported Sukarno. Thus, in correspondence with the Middle East, Sukarno always signed his name as "Achmed Soekarno."


title: Sukarno

text: The son of a Javanese primary school teacher, an aristocrat named , and his Hindu Balinese wife from the Brahmin family named from Buleleng, Sukarno was born in Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where his father had been sent following an application for a transfer to Java. He was originally named Kusno Sosrodihardjo. Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness.


title: Sukarno

text: After graduating from a native primary school in 1912, he was sent to the "Europeesche Lagere School" (a Dutch primary school) in Mojokerto. Subsequently, in 1916, Sukarno went to a "Hogere Burgerschool" (a Dutch type higher level secondary school) in Surabaya, where he met Tjokroaminoto, a nationalist and founder of Sarekat Islam. In 1920, Sukarno married Tjokroaminoto's daughter Siti Oetari. In 1921, he began to study civil engineering (with a focus on architecture) at the "Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng" (Bandoeng Institute of Technology), where he obtained an Ingenieur degree (abbreviated as "ir.", a Dutch type engineer's degree) in 1926. During his study in Bandung, Sukarno became romantically involved with Inggit Garnasih, the wife of Sanoesi, the owner of the boarding house where he lived as a student. Inggit was 13 years older than Sukarno. In March 1923, Sukarno divorced Siti Oetari to marry Inggit (who also divorced her husband Sanoesi). Sukarno later divorced Inggit and married Fatmawati.


title: Sukarno

text: Atypically even among the country's small educated elite, Sukarno was fluent in several languages. In addition to the Javanese language of his childhood, he was a master of Sundanese, Balinese and Indonesian, and was especially strong in Dutch. He was also quite comfortable in German, English, French, Arabic, and Japanese, all of which were taught at his HBS. He was helped by his photographic memory and precocious mind.


title: Sukarno

text: In his studies, Sukarno was "intensely modern", both in architecture and in politics. He despised both the traditional Javanese feudalism, which he considered "backward" and to blame for the fall of the country under Dutch occupation and exploitation, and the imperialism practised by Western countries, which he termed as "exploitation of humans by other humans" ("exploitation de l'homme par l'homme"). He blamed this for the deep poverty and low levels of education of Indonesian people under the Dutch. To promote nationalistic pride amongst Indonesians, Sukarno interpreted these ideas in his dress, in his urban planning for the capital (eventually Jakarta), and in his socialist politics, though he did not extend his taste for modern art to pop music; he had Koes Bersaudara imprisoned for their allegedly decadent lyrics despite his reputation for womanising. For Sukarno, modernity was blind to race, neat and elegant in style, and anti-imperialist.


title: Sukarno

text: After graduation in 1926, Sukarno and his university friend Anwari established the architectural firm Sukarno & Anwari in Bandung, which provided planning and contractor services. Among Sukarno's architectural works are the renovated building of the Preanger Hotel (1929), where he acted as assistant to famous Dutch architect Charles Prosper Wolff Schoemaker. Sukarno also designed many private houses on today's Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jalan Palasari, and Jalan Dewi Sartika in Bandung. Later on, as president, Sukarno remained engaged in architecture, designing the Proclamation Monument and adjacent "Gedung Pola" in Jakarta; the Youth Monument ("Tugu Muda") in Semarang; the Alun-alun Monument in Malang; the Heroes' Monument in Surabaya; and also the new city of Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was first exposed to nationalist ideas while living under Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto. Later, while a student in Bandung, he immersed himself in European, American, Nationalist, communist, and religious political philosophy, eventually developing his own political ideology of Indonesian-style socialist self-sufficiency. He began styling his ideas as Marhaenism, named after Marhaen, an Indonesian peasant he met in southern Bandung area, who owned his little plot of land and worked on it himself, producing sufficient income to support his family. In university, Sukarno began organising a study club for Indonesian students, the "Algemeene Studieclub", in opposition to the established student clubs dominated by Dutch students.


title: Sukarno

text: On 4 July 1927, Sukarno with his friends from the "Algemeene Studieclub" established a pro-independence party, the Indonesian National Party (PNI), of which Sukarno was elected the first leader. The party advocated independence for Indonesia, and opposed imperialism and capitalism because it opined that both systems worsened the life of Indonesian people. The party also advocated secularism and unity amongst the many different ethnicities in the Dutch East Indies, to establish a united Indonesia. Sukarno also hoped that Japan would commence a war against the western powers and that Java could then gain its independence with Japan's aid. Coming soon after the disintegration of Sarekat Islam in the early 1920s and the crushing of the Indonesian Communist Party after its failed rebellion of 1926, the PNI began to attract a large number of followers, particularly among the new university-educated youths eager for broader freedoms and opportunities denied to them in the racist and constrictive political system of Dutch colonialism.


title: Sukarno

text: PNI activities came to the attention of the colonial government, and Sukarno's speeches and meetings were often infiltrated and disrupted by agents of the colonial secret police ("Politieke Inlichtingen Dienst"/PID). Eventually, Sukarno and other key PNI leaders were arrested on 29 December 1929 by Dutch colonial authorities in a series of raids throughout Java. Sukarno himself was arrested while on a visit to Yogyakarta. During his trial at the Bandung "Landraad" courthouse from August to December 1930, Sukarno made a series of long political speeches attacking colonialism and imperialism, titled "Indonesia Menggoegat" ("Indonesia Accuses").


title: Sukarno

text: In December 1930, Sukarno was sentenced to four years in prison, which were served in Sukamiskin prison in Bandung. His speech, however, received extensive coverage by the press, and due to strong pressure from the liberal elements in both Netherlands and Dutch East Indies, Sukarno was released early on 31 December 1931. By this time, he had become a popular hero widely known throughout Indonesia.


title: Sukarno

text: However, during his imprisonment, the PNI had been splintered by the oppression of colonial authorities and internal dissension. The original PNI was disbanded by the Dutch, and its former members formed two different parties; the Indonesia Party (Partindo) under Sukarno's associate Sartono who were promoting mass agitation, and the Indonesian Nationalist Education (New PNI) under Mohammad Hatta and Soetan Sjahrir, two nationalists who recently returned from studies in the Netherlands, and who were promoting a long-term strategy of providing modern education to the uneducated Indonesian populace to develop an intellectual elite able to offer effective resistance to Dutch rule. After attempting to reconcile the two parties to establish one united nationalist front, Sukarno chose to become the head of Partindo on 28 July 1932. Partindo had maintained its alignment with Sukarno's own strategy of immediate mass agitation, and Sukarno disagreed with Hatta's long-term cadre-based struggle. Hatta himself believed Indonesian independence would not occur within his lifetime, while Sukarno believed Hatta's strategy ignored the fact that politics can only make real changes through formation and utilisation of force ("machtsvorming en machtsaanwending").


title: Sukarno

text: During this period, to support himself and the party financially, Sukarno returned to architecture, opening the bureau of Soekarno & Roosseno with his university junior Roosseno. He also wrote articles for the party's newspaper, "Fikiran Ra'jat". While based in Bandung, Sukarno travelled extensively throughout Java to establish contacts with other nationalists. His activities attracted further attention by the Dutch PID. In mid-1933, Sukarno published a series of writings titled "Mentjapai Indonesia Merdeka" ("To Attain Independent Indonesia"). For this writing, he was arrested by Dutch police while visiting fellow nationalist Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin in Jakarta on 1 August 1933.


title: Sukarno

text: This time, to prevent providing Sukarno with a platform to make political speeches, the hardline governor-general Jonkheer Bonifacius Cornelis de Jonge utilised his emergency powers to send Sukarno to internal exile without trial. In 1934, Sukarno was shipped, along with his family (including Inggit Garnasih), to the remote town of Ende, on the island of Flores. During his time in Flores, he utilised his limited freedom of movement to establish a children's theatre. Among its members was future politician Frans Seda. Due to an outbreak of malaria in Flores, the Dutch authorities decided to move Sukarno and his family to Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) on the western coast of Sumatra, in February 1938.


title: Sukarno

text: In Bengkulu, Sukarno became acquainted with Hassan Din, the local head of Muhammadiyah organisation, and he was allowed to teach religious teachings at a local school owned by the Muhammadiyah. One of his students was 15-year-old Fatmawati, daughter of Hassan Din. He became romantically involved with Fatmawati, which he justified by stating the inability of Inggit Garnasih to produce children during their almost 20-year marriage. Sukarno was still in Bengkulu exile when the Japanese invaded the archipelago in 1942.


title: Sukarno

text: In early 1929, during the Indonesian National Revival, Sukarno and fellow Indonesian nationalist leader Mohammad Hatta (later Vice President), first foresaw a Pacific War and the opportunity that a Japanese advance on Indonesia might present for the Indonesian independence cause. In February 1942, Imperial Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies quickly defeating Dutch forces who marched, bussed and trucked Sukarno and his entourage three hundred kilometres from Bengkulu to Padang, Sumatra. They intended keeping him prisoner and shipping him to Australia but abruptly abandoned him to save themselves upon the impending approach of Japanese forces on Padang.


title: Sukarno

text: The Japanese had their own files on Sukarno, and the Japanese commander in Sumatra approached him with respect, wanting to use him to organise and pacify the Indonesians. Sukarno, on the other hand, wanted to use the Japanese to gain independence for Indonesia: "The Lord be praised, God showed me the way; in that valley of the Ngarai I said: Yes, Independent Indonesia can only be achieved with Dai Nippon...For the first time in all my life, I saw myself in the mirror of Asia." In July 1942, Sukarno was sent back to Jakarta, where he re-united with other nationalist leaders recently released by the Japanese, including Mohammad Hatta. There, he met the Japanese commander General Hitoshi Imamura, who asked Sukarno and other nationalists to galvanise support from Indonesian populace to aid the Japanese war effort.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was willing to support the Japanese, in exchange for a platform for himself to spread nationalist ideas to the mass population. The Japanese, on the other hand, needed Indonesia's workforce and natural resources to help its war effort. The Japanese recruited millions of people, mainly from Java, to be forced labour called "romusha" in Japanese. They were forced to build railways, airfields, and other facilities for the Japanese within Indonesia and as far away as Burma. Additionally, the Japanese requisitioned rice and other food produced by Indonesian peasants to supply their troops, while forcing the peasantry to cultivate castor oil plants to be used as aviation fuel and lubricants.


title: Sukarno

text: To gain cooperation from Indonesian population and to prevent resistance to these measures, the Japanese put Sukarno as head of "Tiga-A" mass organisation movement. In March 1943, the Japanese formed a new organisation called "Poesat Tenaga Rakjat" (POETERA/ Center of People's Power) under Sukarno, Hatta, Ki Hadjar Dewantara, and KH Mas Mansjoer. These organisations aimed to galvanise popular support for recruitment of "romusha", to requisition of food products, and to promote pro-Japanese and anti-Western sentiments amongst Indonesians. Sukarno coined the term, "Amerika kita setrika, Inggris kita linggis" ("Let's iron America, and bludgeon the British") to promote anti-Allied sentiments. In later years, Sukarno was lastingly ashamed of his role with the "romusha". Additionally, food requisitioning by the Japanese caused widespread famine in Java, which killed more than one million people in 1944–1945. In his view, these were necessary sacrifices to be made to allow for the future independence of Indonesia. He also was involved with the formation of "Defenders of the Homeland" (PETA) and "Heiho" (Indonesian volunteer army troops) via speeches broadcast on the Japanese radio and loudspeaker networks across Java and Sumatra. By mid-1945 these units numbered around two million and were preparing to defeat any Allied forces sent to re-take Java.


title: Sukarno

text: In the meantime, Sukarno eventually divorced Inggit, who refused to accept her husband's wish for polygamy. She was provided with a house in Bandung and a pension for the rest of her life. In 1943, he married Fatmawati. They lived in a house in Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56, confiscated from its previous Dutch owners and presented to Sukarno by the Japanese. This house would later be the venue of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945.


title: Sukarno

text: On 10 November 1943, Sukarno and Hatta were sent on a 17-day tour of Japan, where they were decorated by Emperor Hirohito and wined and dined in the house of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in Tokyo. On 7 September 1944, with the war going badly for the Japanese, Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso promised independence for Indonesia, although no date was set. This announcement was seen, according to the U.S. official history, as immense vindication for Sukarno's apparent collaboration with the Japanese. The U.S. at the time considered Sukarno one of the "foremost collaborationist leaders."


title: Sukarno

text: On 29 April 1945, when Philippines liberated by American forces, the Japanese allowed for the establishment of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK), a quasi-legislature consisting of 67 representatives from most ethnic groups in Indonesia. Sukarno was appointed as head of the BPUPK and was tasked to lead discussions to prepare the basis of a future Indonesian state. To provide a common and acceptable platform to unite the various squabbling factions in the BPUPK, Sukarno formulated his ideological thinking developed over the previous twenty years into five principles. On 1 June 1945, he introduced these five principles, known as "pancasila", during the joint session of the BPUPK held in the former Volksraad Building (now called the Pancasila Building).


title: Sukarno

text: "Pancasila", as presented by Sukarno during the BPUPK speech, consisted of five principles which Sukarno saw as commonly shared by all Indonesians:


title: Sukarno

text: On 22 June, the Islamic and nationalist elements of the BPUPK created a small committee of nine, which formulated Sukarno's ideas into the five-point Pancasila, in a document known as the Jakarta Charter:


title: Sukarno

text: Due to pressure from the Islamic element, the first principle mentioned the obligation for Muslims to practice Islamic law (sharia). However, the final Sila as contained in the 1945 Constitution which was put into effect on 18 August 1945, excluded the reference to Islamic law for the sake of national unity. The elimination of sharia was done by Mohammad Hatta based upon a request by Christian representative Alexander Andries Maramis, and after consultation with moderate Islamic representatives Teuku Mohammad Hassan, Kasman Singodimedjo, and Ki Bagoes Hadikoesoemo.


title: Sukarno

text: On 7 August 1945, the Japanese allowed the formation of a smaller Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI), a 21-person committee tasked with creating the specific governmental structure of the future Indonesian state. On 9 August, the top leaders of PPKI (Sukarno, Hatta, and KRT Radjiman Wediodiningrat), were summoned by Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Forces, Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, to Da Lat, 100 km from Saigon. Field Marshal Terauchi gave Sukarno the freedom to proceed with preparation for Indonesian independence, free of Japanese interference. After much wining and dining, Sukarno's entourage was flown back to Jakarta on 14 August. Unbeknownst to the guests, atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese were preparing for surrender.


title: Sukarno

text: The following day, on 15 August, the Japanese declared their acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration terms and unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. On the afternoon of that day, Sukarno received this information from leaders of youth groups and members of PETA Chairul Saleh, Soekarni, and Wikana, who had been listening to Western radio broadcasts. They urged Sukarno to declare Indonesian independence immediately, while the Japanese were in confusion and before the arrival of Allied forces. Faced with this quick turn of events, Sukarno procrastinated. He feared bloodbath due to hostile response from the Japanese to such a move and was concerned with prospects of future Allied retribution.


title: Sukarno

text: At early morning on 16 August, the three youth leaders, impatient with Sukarno's indecision, kidnapped him from his house and brought him to a small house in Rengasdengklok, Karawang, owned by a Chinese family and occupied by PETA. There they gained Sukarno's commitment to declare independence the next day. That night, the youths drove Sukarno back to the house of Admiral Tadashi Maeda, the Japanese naval liaison officer in the Menteng area of Jakarta, who sympathised with Indonesian independence. There, he and his assistant Sajoeti Melik prepared the text of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.


title: Sukarno

text: In the early morning of 17 August 1945, Sukarno returned to his house at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56, where Mohammad Hatta joined him. Throughout the morning, impromptu leaflets printed by PETA and youth elements informed the population of the impending proclamation. Finally, at 10 am, Sukarno and Hatta stepped to the front porch, where Sukarno declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia in front of a crowd of 500 people. This most historic of buildings was later ordered to be demolished by Sukarno himself, without any apparent reason.


title: Sukarno

text: On the following day, 18 August, the PPKI declared the basic governmental structure of the new Republic of Indonesia:


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno's vision for the 1945 Indonesian constitution comprised the Pancasila ("five principles"). Sukarno's political philosophy was mainly a fusion of elements of Marxism, nationalism and Islam. This is reflected in a proposition of his version of Pancasila he proposed to the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) in a speech on 1 June 1945.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno argued that all of the principles of the nation could be summarised in the phrase "gotong royong." The Indonesian parliament, founded on the basis of this original (and subsequently revised) constitution, proved all but ungovernable. This was due to irreconcilable differences between various social, political, religious and ethnic factions.


title: Sukarno

text: In the days following the proclamation, the news of Indonesian independence was spread by radio, newspaper, leaflets, and word of mouth despite attempts by the Japanese soldiers to suppress the news. On 19 September, Sukarno addressed a crowd of one million people at the Ikada Field of Jakarta (now part of Merdeka Square) to commemorate one month of independence, indicating the strong level of popular support for the new Republic, at least on Java and Sumatra. In these two islands, the Sukarno government quickly established governmental control while the remaining Japanese mostly retreated to their barracks awaiting the arrival of Allied forces. This period was marked by constant attacks by armed groups on Europeans, Chinese, Christians, native aristocracy and anyone who were perceived to oppose Indonesian independence. The most serious cases were the Social Revolutions in Aceh and North Sumatra, where large numbers of Acehnese and Malay aristocrats were killed by Islamic groups (in Aceh) and communist-led mobs (in North Sumatra), and the "Three Regions Affair" in northwestern coast of Central Java where large numbers of Europeans, Chinese, and native aristocrats were butchered by mobs. These bloody incidents continued until late 1945 to early 1946, and begin to peter out as Republican authorities begin to exert and consolidate control.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno's government initially postponed the formation of a national army, for fear of antagonizing the Allied occupation forces and their doubt over whether they would have been able to form an adequate military apparatus to maintain control of seized territory. The members of various militia groups formed during Japanese occupation such as the disbanded PETA and "Heiho", at that time were encouraged to join the BKR—"Badan Keamanan Rakjat" (The People's Security Organization)—itself a subordinate of the "War Victims Assistance Organization". It was only in October 1945 that the BKR was reformed into the TKR—"Tentara Keamanan Rakjat" (The People's Security Army) in response to the increasing Allied and Dutch presence in Indonesia. The TKR armed themselves mostly by attacking Japanese troops and confiscating their weapons.


title: Sukarno

text: Due to the sudden transfer of Java and Sumatra from General Douglas MacArthur's American-controlled Southwest Pacific Command to Lord Louis Mountbatten's British-controlled Southeast Asian Command, the first Allied soldiers (1st Battalion of Seaforth Highlanders) did not arrive in Jakarta until late September 1945. British forces began to occupy major Indonesian cities in October 1945. The commander of the British 23rd Division, Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison, set up command in the former governor-general's palace in Jakarta. Christison stated that he intended to free all Allied prisoners-of-war and to allow the return of Indonesia to its pre-war status, as a colony of Netherlands. The Republican government were willing to cooperate with the release and repatriation of Allied civilians and military POWs, setting-up the Committee for the Repatriation of Japanese and Allied Prisoners of Wars and Internees ("Panitia Oeroesan Pengangkoetan Djepang dan APWI"/POPDA) for this purpose. POPDA, in cooperation with the British, repatriated more than 70,000 Japanese and Allied POWs and internees by the end of 1946. However, due to the relative weakness of the military of the Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno sought independence by gaining international recognition for his new country rather than engage in battle with British and Dutch military forces.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was aware that his history as a Japanese collaborator and his leadership in the Japanese-approved during the occupation would make the Western countries distrustful of him. To help gain international recognition as well as to accommodate domestic demands for representation, Sukarno "allowed" the formation of a parliamentary system of government, whereby a prime minister controlled day-to-day affairs of the government, while Sukarno as president remained as a figurehead. The prime minister and his cabinet would be responsible to the Central Indonesian National Committee instead of the president. On 14 November 1945, Sukarno appointed Sutan Sjahrir as first prime minister; he was a European-educated politician who was never involved with the Japanese occupation authorities.


title: Sukarno

text: In late 1945 Dutch administrators who led the Dutch East Indies government-in-exile and soldiers who had fought the Japanese began to return under the name of Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA), with the protection of the British. They were led by Hubertus Johannes van Mook, a colonial administrator who had evacuated to Brisbane, Australia. Dutch soldiers who had been POWs under the Japanese were released and rearmed. Shooting between these Dutch soldiers and police supporting the new Republican government Indonesian and civilians soon developed. This soon escalated to armed conflict between the newly constituted Republican forces aided by a myriad of pro-independence mobs and the Dutch and British forces. On 10 November, a full-scale battle broke out in Surabaya between the 49th Infantry Brigade of the British Indian Army and Indonesian nationalist militias. The British-Indian force were supported by air and naval forces. Some 300 Indian soldiers were killed (including their commander Brigadier Aubertin Walter Sothern Mallaby), as were thousands of nationalist militiamen and other Indonesians. Shootouts broke out with alarming regularity in Jakarta, including an attempted assassination of Prime Minister Sjahrir by Dutch gunmen. To avoid this menace, Sukarno and majority of his government left for the safety of Yogyakarta on 4 January 1946. There, the Republican government received protection and full support from Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX. Yogyakarta would remain as the Republic's capital until the end of the war in 1949. Sjahrir remained in Jakarta to conduct negotiations with the British.


title: Sukarno

text: The initial series of battles in late 1945 and early 1946 left the British in control of major port cities on Java and Sumatra. During the Japanese occupation, the Outer Islands (excluding Java and Sumatra) were occupied by the Japanese Navy (Kaigun), who did not allow for political mobilisation of the islanders. Consequently, there was little Republican activity in these islands post-proclamation. Australian and Dutch forces were able to quickly take control of these islands without much fighting by the end of 1945 (excluding the resistance of I Gusti Ngurah Rai in Bali, the insurgency in South Sulawesi, and fighting in Hulu Sungai area of South Kalimantan). Meanwhile, the hinterland areas of Java and Sumatra remained under Republican control.


title: Sukarno

text: Eager to pull its soldiers out of Indonesia, the British allowed for large-scale infusion of Dutch forces into the country throughout 1946. By November 1946, all British soldiers had been withdrawn from Indonesia. They were replaced with more than 150,000 Dutch soldiers. The British sent Lord Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel and Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn to bring the Dutch and Indonesians to the negotiating table. The result of these negotiations was the Linggadjati Agreement signed in November 1946, where the Dutch acknowledged "de facto" Republican sovereignty over Java, Sumatra, and Madura. In exchange, the Republicans were willing to discuss a future Commonwealth-like United Kingdom of Netherlands and Indonesia.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno's decision to negotiate with the Dutch was met with strong opposition by various Indonesian factions. Tan Malaka, a communist politician, organised these groups into a united front called the "Persatoean Perdjoangan" (PP). PP offered a "Minimum Program" which called for complete independence, nationalisation of all foreign properties, and rejection of all negotiations until all foreign troops are withdrawn. These programmes received widespread popular support, including from armed forces commander General Sudirman. On 4 July 1946, military units linked with PP kidnapped Prime Minister Sjahrir who was visiting Yogyakarta. Sjahrir was leading the negotiation with the Dutch. Sukarno, after successfully influencing Sudirman, managed to secure the release of Sjahrir and the arrest of Tan Malaka and other PP leaders. Disapproval of Linggadjati terms within the KNIP led Sukarno to issue a decree doubling KNIP membership by including many pro-agreement appointed members. As a consequence, KNIP ratified the Linggadjati Agreement in March 1947.


title: Sukarno

text: On 21 July 1947, the Linggadjati Agreement was broken by the Dutch, who launched Operatie Product, a massive military invasion into Republican-held territories. Although the newly reconstituted TNI was unable to offer significant military resistance, the blatant violation by the Dutch of an internationally brokered agreement outraged world opinion. International pressure forced the Dutch to halt their invasion force in August 1947. Sjahrir, who has been replaced as prime minister by Amir Sjarifuddin, flew to New York City to appeal Indonesian case in front of United Nations. UN Security Council issued a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and appointed a Good Offices Committee (GOC) to oversee the ceasefire. The GOC, based in Jakarta, consisted of delegations from Australia (led by Richard Kirby, chosen by Indonesia), Belgium (led by Paul van Zeeland, chosen by the Netherlands), and United States (led by Frank Porter Graham, neutral).


title: Sukarno

text: The Republic was now under firm Dutch military stranglehold, with the Dutch military occupying West Java, and the northern coast of Central Java and East Java, along with the key productive areas of Sumatra. Additionally, the Dutch navy blockaded Republican areas from supplies of vital food, medicine, and weapons. As a consequence, Prime Minister Amir Sjarifuddin had little choice but to sign the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948, which acknowledged Dutch control over areas taken during Operatie Product, while the Republicans pledged to withdraw all forces that remained on the other side of the ceasefire line ("Van Mook Line"). Meanwhile, the Dutch begin to organise puppet states in the areas under their occupation, to counter Republican influence utilising ethnic diversity of Indonesia.


title: Sukarno

text: The signing of highly disadvantageous Renville Agreement caused even greater instability within the Republican political structure. In Dutch-occupied West Java, Darul Islam guerrillas under Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo maintained their anti-Dutch resistance and repealed any loyalty to the Republic; they caused a bloody insurgency in West Java and other areas in the first decades of independence. Prime Minister Sjarifuddin, who signed the agreement, was forced to resign in January 1948 and was replaced by Mohammad Hatta. Hatta cabinet's policy of rationalising the armed forces by demobilising large numbers of armed groups that proliferated the Republican areas also caused severe disaffection. Leftist political elements, led by resurgent Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) under Musso took advantage of public disaffections by launching a rebellion in Madiun, East Java, on 18 September 1948. Bloody fighting continued during late-September until end of October 1948, when the last communist bands were defeated, and Musso shot dead. The communists had overestimated their potential to oppose the strong appeal of Sukarno amongst the population.


title: Sukarno

text: On 19 December 1948, to take advantage of the Republic's weak position following the communist rebellion, the Dutch launched Operatie Kraai, a second military invasion designed to crush the Republic once and for all. The invasion was initiated with an airborne assault on Republican capital Yogyakarta. Sukarno ordered the armed forces under Sudirman to launch a guerrilla campaign in the countryside, while he and other key leaders such as Hatta and Sjahrir allowed themselves to be taken prisoner by the Dutch. To ensure continuity of government, Sukarno sent a telegram to Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, providing him with the mandate to lead an Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI), based on the unoccupied hinterlands of West Sumatra, a position he kept until Sukarno was released in June 1949. The Dutch sent Sukarno and other captured Republican leaders to captivity in Parapat, in Dutch-occupied part of North Sumatra and later to the island of Bangka.


title: Sukarno

text: The second Dutch invasion caused even more international outrage. The United States, impressed by Indonesia's ability to defeat the 1948 communist challenge without outside help, threatened to cut off Marshall Aid funds to the Netherlands if military operations in Indonesia continued. TNI did not disintegrate and continued to wage guerrilla resistance against the Dutch, most notably the assault on Dutch-held Yogyakarta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Suharto on 1 March 1949. Consequently, the Dutch were forced to sign the Roem–Van Roijen Agreement on 7 May 1949. According to this treaty, the Dutch released the Republican leadership and returned the area surrounding Yogyakarta to Republican control in June 1949. This was followed by the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference held in The Hague which led to the complete transfer of sovereignty by the Queen Juliana of the Netherlands to Indonesia, on 27 December 1949. On that day, Sukarno flew from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, making a triumphant speech at the steps of the governor-general's palace, immediately renamed the Merdeka Palace ("Independence Palace").


title: Sukarno

text: At this time, as part of a compromise with the Dutch, Indonesia adopted a new federal constitution that made the country a federal state called the Republic of United States of Indonesia (Indonesian: "Republik Indonesia Serikat, RIS"), consisting of the Republic of Indonesia whose borders were determined by the "Van Mook Line", along with the six states and nine autonomous territories created by the Dutch. During the first half of 1950, these states gradually dissolved themselves as the Dutch military that previously propped them up was withdrawn. In August 1950, with the last state – the State of East Indonesia – dissolving itself, Sukarno declared a Unitary Republic of Indonesia based on the newly formulated provisional constitution of 1950.


title: Sukarno

text: Both the Federal Constitution of 1949 and the Provisional Constitution of 1950 were parliamentary in nature, where executive authority laid with the prime minister, and which—on paper—limited presidential power. However, even with his formally reduced role, he commanded a good deal of moral authority as Father of the Nation.


title: Sukarno

text: The first years of parliamentary democracy proved to be very unstable for Indonesia. Cabinets fell in rapid succession due to the sharp differences between the various political parties within the newly appointed parliament ("Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat"/DPR). There were severe disagreements on future path of Indonesian state, between nationalists who wanted a Secular state (led by Partai Nasional Indonesia first established by Sukarno), the Islamists who wanted an Islamic state (led by Masyumi Party), and the communists who wanted a Communist state (led by PKI, only allowed to operate again in 1951). On the economic front, there was severe dissatisfaction with continuing economic domination by large Dutch corporations and the ethnic-Chinese.


title: Sukarno

text: The Darul Islam rebels under Kartosuwirjo in West Java refused to acknowledge Sukarno's authority and declared an NII (Negara Islam Indonesia – Islamic State of Indonesia) in August 1949. Rebellions in support of Darul Islam also broke out in South Sulawesi in 1951, and in Aceh in 1953. Meanwhile, pro-federalism members of the disbanded KNIL launched failed rebellion in Bandung (APRA rebellion of 1950), in Makassar in 1950, and Ambon (Republic of South Maluku revolt of 1950).


title: Sukarno

text: Additionally, the military was torn by hostilities between officers originating from the colonial-era KNIL, who wished for a small and elite professional military, and the overwhelming majority of soldiers who started their careers in the Japanese-formed PETA, who were afraid of being discharged and were more known for nationalist-zeal over professionalism.


title: Sukarno

text: On 17 October 1952, the leaders of the former-KNIL faction, Army Chief Colonel Abdul Haris Nasution and Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Tahi Bonar Simatupang mobilised their troops in a show of force. Protesting against attempts by the DPR to interfere in military business on behalf of the former PETA faction of the military, Nasution and Simatupang had their troops surround the Merdeka Palace and point their tank turrets at the building. Their demand for Sukarno was that the current DPR be dismissed. For this cause, Nasution and Simatupang also mobilised civilian protesters. Sukarno came out of the palace and convinced both the soldiers and the civilians to go home. Nasution and Simatupang were later dismissed. Nasution, however, would be re-appointed as Army Chief after reconciling with Sukarno in 1955.


title: Sukarno

text: The 1955 elections produced a new parliament and a constitutional assembly. The election results showed equal support for the antagonistic powers of the PNI, Masyumi, Nahdlatul Ulama, and PKI parties. With no faction controlling a clear majority, domestic political instability continued unabated. Talks in the Constitutional Assembly to write a new constitution met with deadlock over the issue of whether to include Islamic law.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno came to resent his figurehead position and the increasing disorder of the country's political life. Claiming that Western-style parliamentary democracy was unsuitable for Indonesia, he called for a system of "guided democracy," which he claimed was based on indigenous principles of governance. Sukarno argued that at the village level, important questions were decided by lengthy deliberation designed to achieve a consensus, under the guidance of village elders. He believed it should be the model for the entire nation, with the president taking the role assumed by village elders. He proposed a government based not only on political parties but on "functional groups" composed of the nation's essential elements, which would together form a National Council, through which a national consensus could express itself under presidential guidance.


title: Sukarno

text: Vice President Mohammad Hatta was strongly opposed to Sukarno's guided democracy concept. Citing this and other irreconcilable differences, Hatta resigned from his position in December 1956. His retirement sent a shockwave across Indonesia, particularly among the non-Javanese, who viewed Hatta as their representative in a Javanese-dominated government.


title: Sukarno

text: From December 1956 to January 1957, regional military commanders in the provinces of North, Central, and South Sumatra provinces took over local government control. They declared a series of military councils which were to run their respective areas and refused to accept orders from Jakarta. A similar regional military movement took control of North Sulawesi in March 1957. They demanded the elimination of communist influence in government, equal share in government revenues, and reinstatement of the former Sukarno-Hatta duumvirate.


title: Sukarno

text: Faced with this serious challenge to the unity of the republic, Sukarno declared martial law ("Staat van Oorlog en Beleg") on 14 March 1957. He appointed a non-partisan prime minister Djuanda Kartawidjaja, while the military was in the hands of his loyal General Nasution. Nasution increasingly shared Sukarno's views on the negative impact of western democracy on Indonesia, and he saw a more significant role for the military in political life.


title: Sukarno

text: As a reconciliatory move, Sukarno invited the leaders of the regional councils to Jakarta on 10–14 September 1957, to attend a National Conference ("Musjawarah Nasional"), which failed to bring a solution to the crisis. On 30 November 1957, an assassination attempt was made on Sukarno by way of a grenade attack while he was visiting a school function in Cikini, Central Jakarta. Six children were killed, but Sukarno did not suffer any serious wounds. The perpetrators were members of the Darul Islam group, under the order of its leader Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo.


title: Sukarno

text: By December 1957, Sukarno began to take serious steps to enforce his authority over the country. On that month, he nationalised 246 Dutch companies which had been dominating the Indonesian economy, most notably the Netherlands Trading Society, Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary "Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij", Escomptobank, and the "big five" Dutch trading corporations ("NV Borneo Sumatra Maatschappij / Borsumij", "NV Internationale Crediet- en Handelsvereeneging "Rotterdam" / Internatio", "NV Jacobson van den Berg & Co", "NV Lindeteves-Stokvis", and "NV Geo Wehry & Co"), and expelled 40,000 Dutch citizens remaining in Indonesia while confiscating their properties, purportedly due to the failure by the Dutch government to continue negotiations on the fate of Netherlands New Guinea as was promised in the 1949 Round Table Conference. Sukarno's policy of economic nationalism was strengthened by the issuance Presidential Directive No. 10 of 1959, which banned commercial activities by foreign nationals in rural areas. This rule targeted ethnic Chinese, who dominated both the rural and urban retail economy, although at this time few of them had Indonesian citizenship. This policy resulted in massive relocation of the rural ethnic-Chinese population to urban areas, and approximately 100,000 chose to return to China.


title: Sukarno

text: To face the dissident regional commanders, Sukarno and Army Chief Nasution decided to take drastic steps following the failure of "Musjawarah Nasional". By utilizing regional officers that remained loyal to Jakarta, Nasution organised a series of "regional coups" which ousted the dissident commanders in North Sumatra (Colonel Maludin Simbolon) and South Sumatra (Colonel Barlian) by December 1957. This returned government control over key cities of Medan and Palembang.


title: Sukarno

text: In February 1958, the remaining dissident commanders in Central Sumatra (Colonel Ahmad Hussein) and North Sulawesi (Colonel Ventje Sumual) declared the PRRI-Permesta Movement aimed at overthrowing the Jakarta government. They were joined by many civilian politicians from the Masyumi Party, such as Sjafruddin Prawiranegara who were opposed to the growing influence of communists. Due to their anti-communist rhetoric, the rebels received money, weapons, and manpower from the CIA in a campaign known as Archipelago. This support ended when Allen Lawrence Pope, an American pilot, was shot down after a bombing raid on government-held Ambon in April 1958. In April 1958, the central government responded by launching airborne and seaborne military invasions on Padang and Manado, the rebel capitals. By the end of 1958, the rebels had been militarily defeated, and the last remaining rebel guerrilla bands surrendered in August 1961.


title: Sukarno

text: The impressive military victories over the PRRI-Permesta rebels and the popular nationalisation of Dutch companies left Sukarno in a firm position. On 5 July 1959, Sukarno reinstated the 1945 constitution by presidential decree. It established a presidential system which he believed would make it easier to implement the principles of guided democracy. He called the system "Manifesto Politik" or Manipol—but it was actually government by decree. Sukarno envisioned an Indonesian-style socialist society, adherent to the principle of USDEK:


title: Sukarno

text: In March 1960, Sukarno disbanded parliament and replaced it with a new parliament where half the members were appointed by the president ("Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat – Gotong Rojong" / DPR-GR). In September 1960, he established a Provisional People's Consultative Assembly ("Madjelis Permusjawaratan Rakjat Sementara"/MPRS) as the highest legislative authority according to the 1945 constitution. MPRS members consisted of members of DPR-GR and members of "functional groups" appointed by the president.


title: Sukarno

text: With the backing of the military, Sukarno disbanded the Islamic party Masyumi and Sutan Sjahrir's party PSI, accusing them of involvement with PRRI-Permesta affair. The military arrested and imprisoned many of Sukarno's political opponents, from socialist Sjahrir to Islamic politicians Mohammad Natsir and Hamka. Using martial law powers, the government closed-down newspapers who were critical of Sukarno's policies.


title: Sukarno

text: During this period, there were several assassination attempts on Sukarno's life. On 9 March 1960, Daniel Maukar, an Indonesian airforce lieutenant who sympathised with the Permesta rebellion, strafed the Merdeka Palace and Bogor Palace with his MiG-17 fighter jet, attempting to kill the president; he was not injured. In May 1962, Darul Islam agents shot at the president during Eid al-Adha prayers on the grounds of the palace. Sukarno again escaped injury.


title: Sukarno

text: On the security front, the military started a series of effective campaigns which ended the long-festering Darul Islam rebellion in West Java (1962), Aceh (1962), and South Sulawesi (1965). Kartosuwirjo, the leader of Darul Islam, was captured and executed in September 1962.


title: Sukarno

text: To counterbalance the power of the military, Sukarno started to rely on the support of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). In 1960, he declared his government to be based on Nasakom, a union of the three ideological strands present in Indonesian society: "nasionalisme" (nationalism), "agama" (religions), and "komunisme" (communism). Accordingly, Sukarno started admitting more communists into his government, while developing a strong relationship with the PKI chairman Dipa Nusantara Aidit.


title: Sukarno

text: In order to increase Indonesia's prestige, Sukarno supported and won the bid for the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta. Many sporting facilities such as the Senayan sports complex (including the 100,000-seat Bung Karno Stadium) were built to accommodate the games. There was political tension when the Indonesians refused the entry of delegations from Israel and Taiwan. After the International Olympic Committee imposed sanctions on Indonesia due to this exclusion policy, Sukarno retaliated by organising a "non-imperialist" competitor event to the Olympic Games, called the "Games of New Emerging Forces" (GANEFO). GANEFO was successfully held in Jakarta in November 1963 and was attended by 2,700 athletes from 51 countries.


title: Sukarno

text: As part of his prestige-building program, Sukarno ordered the construction of large monumental buildings such as National Monument ("Monumen Nasional"), Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, CONEFO Building (now the Parliament Building), Hotel Indonesia, and the Sarinah shopping centre to transform Jakarta from a former colonial backwater to a modern city. The modern Jakarta boulevards of Jalan Thamrin, Jalan Sudirman, and Jalan Gatot Subroto were planned and constructed under Sukarno.


title: Sukarno

text: On the international front, Sukarno organised the Bandung Conference in 1955, with the goal of uniting the developing Asian and African countries into the Non-Aligned Movement to counter both the United States and the Soviet Union.


title: Sukarno

text: As Sukarno's domestic authority was secured, he began to pay more attention to the world stage. He embarked on a series of aggressive and assertive policies based on anti-imperialism to increase Indonesia's international prestige. These anti-imperialist and anti-Western policies, often employing brinkmanship with other nations, were also designed to unite the diverse and fractious Indonesian people. In this, he was aided by his Foreign Minister Subandrio.


title: Sukarno

text: After his first visit to Beijing in 1956, Sukarno began to strengthen his ties to the People's Republic of China and the communist bloc in general. He also began to accept increasing amounts of Soviet-bloc military aid. By the early 1960s, the Soviet bloc provided more aid to Indonesia than to any other non-communist country, while Soviet military aid to Indonesia was equalled only by its aid to Cuba. This substantial influx of communist aid prompted an increase in military aid from the Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy Administrations, which worried about a leftward drift should Sukarno rely too much on Soviet-bloc aid.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was feted during his visit to the United States in 1956, where he addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. To date, it is the only time any Indonesian President has addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Soon after his first visit to America, Sukarno visited the Soviet Union, where he received a more lavish welcome. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev paid a return visit to Jakarta and Bali in 1960, where he awarded Sukarno with the Lenin Peace Prize. To make amends for CIA involvement in the PRRI-Permesta rebellion, U.S. President Kennedy invited Sukarno to Washington, D.C. and provided Indonesia with billions of dollars in civilian and military aid.


title: Sukarno

text: To follow up on the successful 1955 Bandung Conference, Sukarno attempted to forge a new alliance called the "New Emerging Forces" (NEFO), as a counter to the Western superpowers dubbed the "Old Established Forces" (OLDEFO), whom he accused of spreading "Neo-Colonialism and Imperialism" (NEKOLIM). In 1961, Sukarno established another political alliance, called the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM, in Indonesia known as Gerakan Non-Blok, GNB) with Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser, India's Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito, and Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah, in an action called The Initiative of Five (Sukarno, Nkrumah, Nasser, Tito, and Nehru). NAM was intended to provide political unity and influence for nations who wished to maintain independence from the American and Soviet superpower blocs, which were engaged in Cold War competition. Sukarno is still fondly remembered for his role in promoting the influence of newly independent countries. His name is used as a street name in Cairo, Egypt and Rabat, Morocco, and as a major square in Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1956, the University of Belgrade awarded him an honorary doctorate.


title: Sukarno

text: In 1960 Sukarno began an aggressive foreign policy to secure Indonesian territorial claims. In August of that year, Sukarno broke off diplomatic relations with the Netherlands over the continuing failure to commence talks on the future of Netherlands New Guinea, as was agreed at the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference of 1949. In April 1961, the Dutch announced the formation of a "Nieuw Guinea Raad", intending to create an independent Papuan state. Sukarno declared a state of military confrontation in his "Tri Komando Rakjat" (TRIKORA) speech in Yogyakarta, on 19 December 1961. He then directed military incursions into the half-island, which he referred to as West Irian. By the end of 1962, 3,000 Indonesian soldiers were present throughout West Irian/West Papua.


title: Sukarno

text: A naval battle erupted in January 1962 when four Indonesian torpedo boats were intercepted by Dutch ships and planes off the coast of Vlakke Hoek. One Indonesian boat was sunk, killing the Naval Deputy Chief-of-Staff Commodore Jos Sudarso. Meanwhile, the Kennedy Administration worried of a continuing Indonesian shift towards communism should the Dutch hold on to West Irian/West Papua. In February 1962 U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy travelled to the Netherlands and informed the government that the United States would not support the Netherlands in an armed conflict with Indonesia. With Soviet armaments and advisors, Sukarno planned a large-scale air- and seaborne invasion of the Dutch military headquarters of Biak for August 1962, called "Operasi Djajawidjaja". It was to be led by Major-General Suharto, the future President of Indonesia. Before these plans could be realised, Indonesia and the Netherlands signed the New York Agreement in August 1962. The two countries agreed to implement the Bunker Plan (formulated by American diplomat Ellsworth Bunker), whereby the Dutch agreed to hand over West Irian/West Papua to UNTEA on 1 October 1962. UNTEA transferred the territory to Indonesian authority in May 1963.


title: Sukarno

text: After securing control over West Irian/West Papua, Sukarno then opposed the British-supported establishment of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, claiming that it was a neo-colonial plot by the British to undermine Indonesia. Despite Sukarno's political overtures, which found some support when leftist political elements in British Borneo territories Sarawak and Brunei opposed the Federation plan and aligned themselves with Sukarno, Malaysia was established in September 1963. This was followed by the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation ("Konfrontasi"), proclaimed by Sukarno in his "Dwi Komando Rakjat" (DWIKORA) speech in Jakarta on 3 May 1964. Sukarno's proclaimed objective was not, as some alleged, to annex Sabah and Sarawak into Indonesia, but to establish a "State of North Kalimantan" under the control of North Kalimantan Communist Party. From 1964 until early 1966, a limited number of Indonesian soldiers, civilians, and Malaysian communist guerrillas were sent into North Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. These forces fought against British and Commonwealth soldiers deployed to protect the nascent state of Malaysia. Indonesian agents also exploded several bombs in Singapore. Domestically, Sukarno fomented anti-British sentiment, and the British Embassy was burned down. In 1964, all British companies operating in the country, including Indonesian operations of the Chartered Bank and Unilever, were nationalised. The confrontation came to a climax during August 1964, when Sukarno authorised landings of Indonesian troops at Pontian and Labis on the Malaysian mainland, and all-out war seemed inevitable as tensions escalated. However, the situation calmed by mid-September at the culmination of the Sunda Straits Crisis, and after the disastrous Battle of Plaman Mapu in April 1965, Indonesian raids into Sarawak became fewer and weaker.


title: Sukarno

text: In 1964, Sukarno commenced an anti-American campaign, which was motivated by his shift towards the communist bloc and less friendly relations with the Lyndon Johnson administration. American interests and businesses in Indonesia were denounced by government officials and attacked by PKI-led mobs. American movies were banned, American books and Beatles albums were burned, and the Indonesian band Koes Plus was jailed for playing American-style rock and roll music. As a result, U.S. aid to Indonesia was halted, to which Sukarno made his famous remark, ""Go to hell with your aid"". Sukarno withdrew Indonesia from the United Nations on 7 January 1965 when, with U.S. backing, Malaysia took a seat on UN Security Council.


title: Sukarno

text: As the NAM countries were becoming split into different factions, and as fewer countries were willing to support his anti-Western foreign policies, Sukarno began to abandon his non-alignment rhetoric. Sukarno formed a new alliance with China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cambodia which he called the "Beijing-Pyongyang-Hanoi-Phnom Penh-Jakarta Axis". After withdrawing Indonesia from the "imperialist-dominated" United Nations in January 1965, Sukarno sought to establish a competitor organisation to the UN called the Conference of New Emerging Forces (CONEFO) with support from the People's Republic of China, which at that time was not yet a member of United Nations. With the government heavily indebted to the Soviet Union, Indonesia became increasingly dependent on China for support. Sukarno spoke increasingly of a Beijing-Jakarta axis, which would be the core of a new anti-imperialist world organisation, the CONEFO.


title: Sukarno

text: Domestically, Sukarno continued to consolidate his control. He was made president for life by the MPRS in 1963. His ideological writings on Manipol-USDEK and NASAKOM became mandatory subjects in Indonesian schools and universities, while his speeches were to be memorised and discussed by all students. All newspapers, the only radio station (RRI, government-run), and the only television station (TVRI, also government-run) were made into "tools of the revolution" and functioned to spread Sukarno's messages. Sukarno developed a personality cult, with the capital of newly acquired West Irian renamed to Sukarnapura and the highest peak in the country was renamed from Carstensz Pyramid to Puntjak Sukarno (Sukarno Peak).


title: Sukarno

text: Despite these appearances of unchallenged control, Sukarno's guided democracy stood on fragile grounds due to the inherent conflict between its two underlying support pillars, the military and the communists. The military, nationalists, and the Islamic groups were shocked by the rapid growth of the communist party under Sukarno's protection. They feared an imminent establishment of a communist state in Indonesia. By 1965, the PKI had three million members and were particularly strong in Central Java and Bali. The PKI had become the strongest party in Indonesia.


title: Sukarno

text: The military and nationalists were growing wary of Sukarno's close alliance with communist China, which they thought compromised Indonesia's sovereignty. Elements of the military disagreed with Sukarno's policy of confrontation with Malaysia, which in their view only benefited communists, and sent several officers (including future Armed Forces Chief Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani) to spread secret peace-feelers to the Malaysian government. The Islamic clerics, who were mostly landowners, felt threatened by PKI's land confiscation actions ("aksi sepihak") in the countryside and by the communist campaign against the "seven village devils", a term used for landlords or better-off farmers (similar to the anti-kulak campaign in Stalinist era). Both groups harboured deep disdain for PKI in particular due to memories of the bloody 1948 communist rebellion.


title: Sukarno

text: As the mediator of the three groups under the NASAKOM system, Sukarno displayed greater sympathies to the communists. The PKI had been very careful to support all of Sukarno's policies. Meanwhile, Sukarno saw the PKI as the best-organised and ideologically solid party in Indonesia, and a useful conduit to gain more military and financial aid from Communist Bloc countries. Sukarno also sympathised with the communists' revolutionary ideals, which were similar to his own.


title: Sukarno

text: To weaken the influence of the military, Sukarno rescinded martial law (which gave wide-ranging powers to the military) in 1963. In September 1962, he "promoted" the powerful General Nasution to the less-influential position of Armed Forces Chief, while the influential position of Army Chief was given to Sukarno's loyalist Ahmad Yani. Meanwhile, the position of Air Force Chief was given to Omar Dhani, who was an open communist sympathiser. In May 1964, Sukarno banned activities of "Manifesto Kebudajaan" (Manikebu), an association of artists and writers which included prominent Indonesian writers such as Hans Bague Jassin and Wiratmo Soekito, who were also dismissed from their jobs. Manikebu was considered a rival by the communist writer's association "Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat" (Lekra), led by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. In December 1964, Sukarno disbanded the "Badan Pendukung Soekarnoisme" (BPS), the "Association for Promoting Sukarnoism", an organisation that seeks to oppose communism by invoking Sukarno's own Pancasila formulation. In January 1965, Sukarno, under pressure from PKI, banned the Murba Party. Murba was a pro-Soviet Union party whose ideology was antagonistic to PKI's pro-Chinese People's Republic view of Marxism.


title: Sukarno

text: Tensions between the military and communists increased in April 1965, when PKI chairman Aidit called for the formation of a "fifth armed force" consisting of armed peasants and labour. Sukarno approved this idea and publicly called for the immediate formation of such a force on 17 May 1965. However, Army Chief Ahmad Yani and Defence Minister Nasution procrastinated in implementing this idea, as this was tantamount to allowing the PKI to establish its own armed forces. Soon afterwards, on 29 May, the "Gilchrist Letter" appeared. The letter was supposedly written by the British ambassador Andrew Gilchrist to the Foreign Office in London, mentioning a joint American and British attempt on subversion in Indonesia with the help of "local army friends". This letter, produced by Subandrio, aroused Sukarno's fear of a military plot to overthrow him, a fear which he repeatedly mentioned during the next few months. The Czechoslovakian agent Ladislav Bittman who defected in 1968 claimed that his agency (StB) forged the letter on request from PKI via the Soviet Union, to smear anti-communist generals. On his independence day speech of 17 August 1965, Sukarno declared his intention to commit Indonesia to an anti-imperialist alliance with China and other communist regimes and warned the Army not to interfere. He also stated his support for the establishment of a "fifth force" of armed peasants and labour.


title: Sukarno

text: While Sukarno devoted his energy to domestic and international politics, the economy of Indonesia was neglected and deteriorated rapidly. The government printed money to finance its military expenditures, resulting in hyperinflation exceeding 600% per annum in 1964–1965. Smuggling and the collapse of export plantation sectors deprived the government of much-needed foreign exchange income. Consequently, the government was unable to service massive foreign debts it had accumulated from both Western and Communist bloc countries. Most of the government budget was spent on the military, resulting in deterioration of infrastructures such as roads, railways, ports, and other public facilities. Deteriorating transportation infrastructure and poor harvests caused food shortages in many places. The small industrial sector languished and only produced at 20% capacity due to lack of investment.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno himself was contemptuous of macroeconomics and was unable and unwilling to provide practical solutions to the poor economic condition of the country. Instead, he produced more ideological conceptions such as "Trisakti": political sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural independence. He advocated Indonesians "standing on their own feet" ("Berdikari") and achieving economic self-sufficiency, free from foreign influence.


title: Sukarno

text: Towards the end of his rule, Sukarno's lack of interest in economics created a distance between himself and the Indonesian people, who were suffering economically. His face had become bloated by disease, and his flamboyance and sexual conquests – which had once endeared him to the people – caused public criticism and turned support towards the army.


title: Sukarno

text: On the dawn of 1 October 1965, six of Indonesia's most senior army generals were kidnapped and murdered by a movement calling themselves the "30 September Movement" (G30S). Among those killed was Ahmad Yani, while Nasution narrowly escaped, but the movement kidnapped First Lieutenant Pierre Tendean, his adjutant, presumably mistaking him for General Nasution in the darkness. The G30S consisted of members of the Presidential Guards, Brawidjaja Division, and Diponegoro Division, under the command of a Lieutenant-Colonel Untung bin Sjamsuri. The movement took control of the RRI radio station and Merdeka Square. They broadcast a statement declaring the kidnappings were meant to protect Sukarno from a coup attempt by CIA-influenced generals. Later, it broadcast news of the disbandment of Sukarno's cabinet, to be replaced by a "Revolutionary Council". In Central Java, soldiers associated with the G30S also seized control of Yogyakarta and Solo on 1–2 October, killing two colonels in the process.


title: Sukarno

text: Major General Suharto, commander of the military's strategic reserve command, took control of the army the following morning. Suharto ordered troops to take over the RRI radio station 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 East Java 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. On 3 October, the corpses of the kidnapped generals were discovered near the Halim Air Force Base, and on 5 October they were buried in a public ceremony led by Suharto.


title: Sukarno

text: 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. 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 in November 1965. The purge spread across the country with the worst massacres in Java and Bali. 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.


title: Sukarno

text: 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 "een 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.


title: Sukarno

text: 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 spiralling inflation. In 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.


title: Sukarno

text: 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 [of Sukarno]". The authorship of the document, and whether Sukarno was forced to sign, perhaps even at gunpoint, is a point of historical 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 sympathisers, further reducing Sukarno's political power and influence.


title: Sukarno

text: On 22 June 1966, Sukarno made his "Nawaksara" speech in front of the MPRS, now purged of communist and pro-Sukarno elements, in an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to defend himself and his guided democracy system. In 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 president-for-life title by MPRS on 12 March 1967, in a session chaired by his former ally, Nasution. On the same day, the MPR named Suharto acting president. Sukarno 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 the age of 69. He was buried in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was of Javanese and Balinese descent. He married Siti Oetari in 1921, and divorced her in 1923 to marry Inggit Garnasih, whom he divorced c. 1943 to marry Fatmawati. In 1954, Sukarno married Hartini, a 30-year-old widow from Salatiga, whom he met during a reception. Fatmawati was outraged by this fourth marriage and left Sukarno and their children, although they never officially divorced. In 1959, he was introduced to the then 19-year-old Japanese hostess Naoko Nemoto, whom he married in 1962 and renamed Ratna Dewi Sukarno. Sukarno also had four other spouses: Haryati (1963–66); Kartini Manoppo (1959–68); Yurike Sanger (1964–68); Heldy Djafar (1966–69).


title: Sukarno

text: Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Sukarnoputra (born 1953) has inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and is a choreographer and songwriter, who made a movie "Untukmu, Indonesiaku" (For You, My Indonesia) about Indonesian culture. He is also a member of the Indonesian People's Representative Council for Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle. His siblings Guntur Sukarnoputra, Rachmawati Sukarnoputri and Sukmawati Sukarnoputri have all been active in politics. Sukarno had a daughter named Kartika by Dewi Sukarno. In 2006 Kartika Sukarno married Frits Seegers, the Netherlands-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank. Other children include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, and a son named Totok Suryawan Sukarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo.


title: Sukarno

text: Sukarno was awarded twenty-six honorary doctorates from various international universities including Columbia University, the University of Michigan, the University of Berlin, the Al-Azhar University, the University of Belgrade, the Lomonosov University and many more, and also from domestic universities including Gadjah Mada University, the University of Indonesia, the Bandung Institute of Technology, Hasanuddin University, and Padjadjaran University. He was often referred to by the Indonesian government at the time as 'Dr. Ir. Sukarno', combined with his degree in civil engineering (Ir.) from Bandung Institute of Technology.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Christophe Guy Denis "Christopher" Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957) is a French-American actor, producer, and novelist. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous for portraying Tarzan in "" (1984). For his performance in the film "Subway" (1985), he received the César Award for Best Actor. His most famous role is Connor MacLeod in the adventure-fantasy film "Highlander" (1986) and the subsequent franchise of the same name.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Lambert's other notable film roles include "I Love You" (1986), "The Sicilian" (1987), "Knight Moves" (1992), "Fortress" (1992) and its sequel "" (2000), "Mortal Kombat" (1995), "Druids" (2001), "Absolon" (2003), "White Material" (2009), "" (2011), and "" (2018). He also produced the films "Don't Forget You're Going to Die" (1995), "Neuf mois" (1994), and its English-language remake "Nine Months" (1995).


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Christophe Guy Denis Lambert was born in Great Neck, New York, on March 29, 1957, the son of Yolande Agnès Henriette (née de Caritat de Peruzzis; born 1928) and Georges Lambert-Lamond (1910–2003). a French diplomat at the United Nations. His father was Jewish. Due to his father's work, Lambert moved with his parents to Switzerland at the age of two and was raised in Geneva until his teenage years, when the family moved to France and settled in Paris.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Lambert started his career playing supporting parts in several French films such as "Ciao, les mecs" (1979), "Le bar du téléphone" (1980), "Asphalte" (1981), "Une sale affaire" (1981), "Putain d'histoire d'amour" (1981), "Douchka" (1981), "Légitime violence" (1982), and one episode of "Cinéma 16" (1982).


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Around that time, director Hugh Hudson had just finished his Academy Award-winning film "Chariots of Fire" (1981), and Warner Brothers was desperate to hire him to direct another film. After looking at all their available scripts he chose to do a film adaptation of novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs' iconic character Tarzan, a man who was raised by an unknown species of great apes in the jungle. Wanting an unknown actor to play the part, Hudson tested many young actors. Lambert got the role partly due to his myopia, because when he took off his glasses it seemed he was always looking into the distance.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Released in 1984, "" was met with great critical acclaim for both Lambert and its director. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won a BAFTA Award, as well as a César Award amongst other nominations.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That same year, he also played a lead role in a French film called "Paroles et musique", opposite Catherine Deneuve, Richard Anconina and Jacques Perrin.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1985, Lambert played the lead in Luc Besson's stylistic film "Subway", about a man being hunted in the underground subways of Paris. The film was a success at the French box office as well as critically acclaimed. Lambert was awarded a César Award for Best Actor the next year.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: On 7 March 1986, Russell Mulcahy's "Highlander" premiered. In the film, Lambert starred as Connor MacLeod from the Scottish Highlands, known as the Highlander, one of a number of immortal warriors who can only be killed by decapitation. After initial training by another highly skilled immortal swordsman, Ramirez (played by Sean Connery), MacLeod lives on for several centuries, eventually settling in New York City, running an antiques shop. MacLeod falls in love with a police forensic scientist named Brenda. He also finds out that he must face his greatest enemy, the Kurgan, played by Clancy Brown, who wishes to kill MacLeod and to obtain "the Prize" – which gives special abilities to the last living immortal warrior. The film became a cult hit and was an international box-office success, as well as his most famous role. The rock group Queen composed and performed the soundtrack, and Lambert also appeared as MacLeod in the music video for Queen's "Princes of the Universe". Also that year, Lambert took the leading role in Marco Ferreri's "I Love You". The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for the Silver Ribbon at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Lambert played the leading role in the troubled production of "The Sicilian", directed by Michael Cimino, based on the Mario Puzo book by the same name and started its American theatrical run on 23 October 1987. He stars as Salvatore Giuliano, an egocentric bandit who fights the Catholic Church, the Mafia, and the landed gentry while leading a populist movement for Sicilian independence. The studios trimmed down the director's cut of the film. It was released in 1987 and was less successful than his previous pictures, receiving a lukewarm reception by critics and being only marginally profitable. However the director's cut received better reviews upon its release in France.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1988, he starred in Agnieszka Holland's "To Kill a Priest", in which he played a character based on Jerzy Popiełuszko and his murder under the Polish communist regime. It was well received by critics.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That year, he also played the lead in the romantic film "Priceless Beauty" with actress Diane Lane. They got married that year, their union lasting until 1994.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1990, he did the comedy "Why Me?", co-starring Christopher Lloyd. They play burglars who get into trouble after stealing a sacred ruby from Turkey.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: On November 1, 1991, the "Highlander" sequel, "" premiered. In it Lambert reunited with director Russell Mulcahy and fellow actor Sean Connery. Mulcahy did not like the screenplay and the production team was lured to shoot it in Argentina to reduce production costs; the country however was going through a financial crisis. Much of the script was not filmed and the final result is a patchwork. Its poor performance was possibly a result of the bonding company's interference with the director; Mulcahy reportedly hated the final product so much he walked out of the film's world premiere after viewing its first 15 minutes. For similar reasons, Lambert threatened to walk out of the project when it was nearing fruition. However, due to contractual obligations, he did not.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That year he got his first producer credit in the French film "Génial, mes parents divorcent" by Patrick Braoudé.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1992, he appeared in three projects. He appeared in the first episode of the television show "", passing on the lead role to actor Adrian Paul. He also appeared in the French crime thriller "Max et Jérémie", co-starring Philippe Noiret and Jean-Pierre Marielle.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: On 22 January 1993, Carl Schenkel's suspense thriller "Knight Moves" premiered, in which Lambert was both an executive producer and the lead. Lambert plays a chess grandmaster suspected of murder. On 3 September, the science fiction Stuart Gordon's "Fortress" premiered, where Lambert was the lead. The story takes place in a dystopian future where a man and his wife are sent to a maximum-security prison because they are expecting a second child, which is against the strict one-child policy. The film was a success at the box-office. That year, he also made an uncredited cameo in the comedy "Loaded Weapon 1".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: 1994 saw the release of two collaborations with actor Mario Van Peebles. They played the side by side leads in the action film "Gunmen", and Van Peebles was the main villain in "". In this third installment of the franchise, Connor MacLeod is forced to face a new, dangerous enemy, a powerful sorcerer known as Kane who wants to gain world domination. Lambert also starred in the action film "Roadflower". In France, he produced his second Patrick Braoudé film called "Neuf mois", which was nominated for two Césars. In the US, he produced the film "Dead Beat" starring Bruce Ramsay.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1995, he played the role of the thunder god Raiden in the Paul W. S. Anderson's movie adaptation of the popular video game series "Mortal Kombat". The plot of the film follows the warrior monk Liu Kang, the actor Johnny Cage, and the soldier Sonya Blade, all three guided by the god Raiden, on their journey to combat the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung and his forces in a tournament to save Earth. "Mortal Kombat" spent three weeks as the number-one film at the U.S. box office, earning over $122 million worldwide. Lambert later reprised the role in the MK Movie Skin Pack in the 2020 game "Mortal Kombat 11". In 1995, he also starred in the American-Japanese martial arts action film "The Hunted", directed by J. F. Lawton and he was cast along side John Lone, Joan Chen, Yoshio Harada, and Yoko Shimada. For the role he utilized his martial arts and sword training of his past films.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Also in 1995, he produced Xavier Beauvois's "Don't Forget You're Going to Die", which won the Special Jury Award at the Gijón International Film Festival, won the Prix Jean Vigo, won the Jury Prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He was also an executive producer on Chris Columbus' "Nine Months", an English-language remake of "Neuf mois" that went on to gross $138 million.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1996, he was an executive producer and the lead in Nils Gaup's western film "North Star", co-starring James Caan. He played the lead in the action film "". Finally he was one of the leads in the French film "Hercule et Sherlock". That year he also produced "When Saturday Comes", a football sport drama starring Sean Bean.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1997, he starred in Gabriele Salvatores' cyberpunk science fiction film "Nirvana". The film tells the story of a virtual reality game designer, played by Lambert, who discovers that the main character of his game has achieved sentience due to an attack by a computer virus. The film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It went on to win one and was nominated for eight David di Donatello Awards, nominated for best film at Fantasporto, won best director at Flaiano International Prizes, won three and was nominated for two Golden Ciak Awards, nominated for one Italian Golden Globe, and nominated for five awards of the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That year, he also co-lead with Ice-T in the action film "Mean Guns". He starred in the French film "Arlette" by Claude Zidi. He produced the French film "J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici."


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1998, he produced and starred in two films. "Operation Splitsville" was a remake of "Génial, mes parents divorcent", which he produced several years earlier. The second was called "Gideon", where he plays a man with a mental disability who moves into a nursing home known as Lakeview, with many elderly inhabitants.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 1999, he produced and starred in Russell Mulcahy's "Resurrection", where he plays a detective who is assigned to investigate the savage murder of a man who has bled to death from a severed arm. He also starred in "Beowulf", a science fantasy-action film loosely based on the Old English epic poem "Beowulf".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2000, he played in the fourth installment of the "Highlander" franchise, "". The film reunited Adrian Paul, the actor of the series, with him. This would be last sequel Lambert appeared in. That year he also starred in "", where his character from the first film is still on the run from authorities.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2001, he played the lead role of Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix in the France-Canada production "Druids". He also starred in John Glen's "The Point Men", about a team of Israeli agents being killed off one-by-one after a botched anti-terrorist operation. He also provided his voice for the English dub of the animated series "Mazinkaiser".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2002, he was an executive producer and a co-lead in the thriller "The Piano Player", with Dennis Hopper. He also provided his voice for the English dub of the animated series "".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2003, he played in "Absolon", a post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller film. He also played a supporting role in the French film "Janis and John". He also acted in the short film "Qui veut la peau de Roberto Santini?".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2004, he acted opposite Nastassja Kinski in the French film "À ton image". He also played in one episode of "Cirque du Soleil: Solstrom". He was an executive producer on the film "The Confessor" starring Christian Slater, Molly Parker, and Stephen Rea. The film follows a straying Catholic priest's, played by Slater, investigation of a troubled teen's mysterious death. It was nominated for two awards at the Directors Guild of Canada.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2006, he was an executive producer and star on the film "Day of Wrath". He starred in the French film "Le Lièvre de Vatanen". He also played a supporting role in Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2007, he starred in the vampire film "Metamorphosis". He starred in the French film "Trivial", directed by Sophie Marceau. It is about a police inspector struggling with depression following his wife's death who investigates a suspicious missing person's case at the request of a mysterious woman. During that time, he started a relationship with Marceau.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2008, he played in the French crime thriller "Limousine". In 2009, Lambert was a lead in Claire Denis' "White Material"; both the film and Lambert's performance received critical acclaim. The film stars Isabelle Huppert as a struggling French coffee producer in an unnamed French speaking African country, who decides to stay at her coffee plantation in spite of an erupting civil war. The film has appeared on a number of critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2010. It was nominated at the Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Foreign Language Film, for a Golden Lion, a Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film, at the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, etc.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That year, he also acted in "Cartagena", with Sophie Marceau starring as a beautiful, free-spirited woman who becomes bedridden following a terrible accident. Against her better judgement, she hires a drunk middle-aged former boxer (Lambert) to cook and care for her. Although unqualified for the position, he is desperate for work, and slowly he wins the trust of the woman, who teaches him how to read. The film also won several awards in France.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2010, he played in Philipp Kadelbach's "Das Geheimnis der Wale". The film is about the widow of a whale researcher who joins forces with an environmentalist played by Lambert to fight an oil company. That year he also played the lead in "The Gardener of God", a biopic about Gregor Mendel.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2011, Lambert starred as the villainous head monk Methodius in the "Ghost Rider" sequel "", starring Nicolas Cage, in 2011. He underwent sword training for three months and shaved his head. The film made $132.6 million worldwide.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2012, he played a role in the Bulgarian film "The Foreigner", and the Italian film "L'una e l'altra". In France, he also played a lead role in the film called "Ma bonne étoile" opposite Claude Brasseur, and Fleur Lise Heuet, and one episode of the TV show "Very Bad Blagues".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Shortly afterwards, he got the role of Marcel Janvier (alias "The Chameleon"), a recurring villain in award-winning hit police crime TV drama "". His character was in six episodes from 2012 to 2013 – the two highest-rated seasons of the show.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2013, he was one of the cast members in the horror film "Blood Shot". He also acted in the French TV series "La source".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2014, he played in the biographical crime drama film "Electric Slide", about the Los Angeles-based bank robber Eddie Dodson.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2015, he co-starred in Claude Lelouch's "Un plus une", a French romantic comedy film. He also co-starred in the biographical film "10 Days in a Madhouse", about the experiences of undercover journalist Nellie Bly.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2016 he co-starred in "Hail, Caesar!", a comedy film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is a fictional story that follows the real-life "fixer" Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) working in the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s, trying to discover what happened to a cast member who vanished during the filming of a biblical epic.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: That year, he cameoed as a French Army Captain in "La folle histoire de Max et Léon", a French World War II comedy film. He also had a recurring role in the Russian-Portuguese biographical television show "Mata Hari".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: In 2017 he re-collaborated with Claude Lelouch in the star studded comedy "Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction". He also acted in the thriller "The Broken Key" with Rutger Hauer, Michael Madsen, Geraldine Chaplin, Franco Nero and William Baldwin. He also played himself in one episode of the French TV show "Call My Agent!".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Lambert plays the role of SS officer Karl Frenzel in the Russian film "Sobibor" by director Konstantin Khabensky, which was released in 2018. The film is a World War II drama about the only successful uprising in a Nazi death camp. It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Lambert received high praise for "an outstanding and nuanced performance; he is unrecognisable as Frenzel, a demonic, fractured character.


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Lambert was part of the ensemble cast of "Bel Canto" from director Paul Weitz, an adaptation of the 2002 novel of the same name, by Ann Patchett. Lambert played the role of a French ambassador who was part of the Japanese embassy hostage crisis (also called the Lima Crisis) of 1996–1997 in Lima, Peru. Lambert received praise, along with the rest of the cast, for "performances [that] are uniformly excellent".


title: Christopher Lambert

text: Along with owning a mineral water business and food processing plant, Lambert produces Côtes du Rhône wines with his business partner Eric Beaumard at a vineyard in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes. The label, "Les Garrigues de Beaumard-Lambert", tops out at 4,000 cases and is sold mostly in Europe. Beaumard has primary creative control of the winery, but Lambert conducts barrel tests and monitors the various stages of the wine's evolution.