Sukarno, Hatta Officially Named National Heroes

Jakarta Globe, November 07, 2012

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, right, led a ceremony on Wednesday
at the presidential palace in Jakarta during which Indonesia’s founding fathers, 
Sukarno  and Muhammad Hatta, were named national heroes. (Photo courtesy
of presidensby.info)

         

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Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia’s founding fathers, were officially recognized as national heroes during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Wednesday morning.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pinned medals on Sukarno’s eldest son, Guntur Sukarnoputra, and Hatta’s daughter, Meutia Hatta, who represented the two honorees during a ceremony that lasted for half an hour.

“Bung Karno and Bung Hatta were two sons of the nation whose ideas and thoughts have become foundations for the nation,” Yudhoyono said in a speech after he issued the medals.

Although both Sukarno and Hatta have always been recognized as the founding fathers of Indonesia, they were never conferred with the title of national heroes, mostly because past political elites deemed the two had historical baggage.

Sukarno was accused of leaning toward the far-left during his time in power and granting political advantages for the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and its leaders.

A 1967 decree of the Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly (MPRS) that stripped Sukarno of his presidential post claimed that “there have been indications that President Sukarno has adopted a policy that indirectly benefits the G-30-s/PKI movement and protects the key figures [of the movement].”

However, former Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie argued that the PKI scandals had clouded Sukarno and Hatta’s legacy as founders of the nation and proposed in July that the two should be named national heroes.

The Title and Honor Council finally accepted the proposal, although the chief, Djoko Suyanto, refused to explain why.

“The [award medals] will be handed over to the families of Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta,” Djoko, also the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, told kompas.com shortly before the ceremony.

The ceremony is part of the celebration of Indonesia’s Heroes Day, celebrated every Nov. 10.

Sukarno’s eldest daughter and fifth president of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was seen in attendance. She has hardly stepped foot in the presidential palace since Yudhoyono, a former coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs in her cabinet, assumed the presidency in 2004.

Antara, JG