Sukarno

Sukarno (1901–1970) proclaimed Indonesian independence from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945 alongside Mohammad Hatta and served as the country's first president until he was sidelined in 1966–1967. Trained as an engineer in Bandung, he co-founded the Indonesian National Party (PNI) in 1927 and was repeatedly imprisoned or exiled by Dutch colonial authorities during the 1930s.

His political thought centered on Pancasila, the five-principle state philosophy he articulated in a June 1945 speech (belief in one God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy, social justice), which remains Indonesia's official ideology. Domestically, after a period of parliamentary government, he introduced Guided Democracy in 1959, dissolving the constituent assembly and concentrating executive power while balancing the army, religious parties, and the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) under a doctrine he called NASAKOM (nationalism, religion, communism).

Internationally, Sukarno was a defining figure of post-colonial diplomacy. He hosted the Bandung Conference in April 1955, which brought together 29 Asian and African states and produced the Dasasila Bandung (Ten Principles), laying groundwork for the Non-Aligned Movement formalized at Belgrade in 1961. He pursued the Konfrontasi campaign against the new Federation of Malaysia (1963–1966) and withdrew Indonesia from the United Nations in January 1965 after Malaysia took a Security Council seat — the only state ever to leave the UN voluntarily. Indonesia rejoined in September 1966.

His rule ended after the events of 30 September 1965, when the killing of six army generals triggered army-led anti-communist purges in which an estimated 500,000 to over 1 million people were killed. General Suharto progressively assumed power, formalized by the Supersemar order of 11 March 1966, and replaced Sukarno as acting president in 1967. Sukarno died under house arrest in Jakarta in June 1970.