Jakarta – Indonesia's charismatic founding president Sukarno is enjoying a surge in popularity 31 years after his death, as his country sinks deeper into political and communal squabbling, analysts said.
Despite firm efforts by his successor, Suharto, to erase from popular memory the man who proclaimed the country's independence in 1945 but who died in official disgrace on June 21, 1970, Sukarno continues to be venerated by millions of Indonesians as a true father of the nation.
His 100th birthday which falls on Wednesday will be celebrated in a big bash to include exhibitions and seminars in several Indonesian cities as well as a planned massive commemoration rally in the capital.
Embassies overseas too are laying on receptions. The nation's leading print and electronic media have been churning out long commemorative features on the dapper president who mesmerized listeners with his fiery oratory and captivated his opponents with his self-assurance and charm.
"This is a sign of a longing for Bung Karno [his popular nickname], a longing for his values of national cohesion and unity, values that are now sadly lacking," said Maswadi Rauf, a political observer from the state University of Indonesia.
At a time when the country is beset by separatism, communal unrest and endless political bickering, Sukarno's emphasis on unity appeals to all generations, Rauf said. "He may have had many faults and weaknesses, but Sukarno is primarily now remembered for his strong passion for national unity and cohesion," Rauf said.
Since the fall of the authoritarian leader Suharto in May 1998, Indonesia has seen one president resign and is likely to see another one impeached soon. BJ Habibie, hand-picked by Suharto to replace him in 1998, resigned in 1999 when a special session of the national assembly rejected an account of his year in office.
Current President Abdurrahman Wahid is battling growing efforts by the parliament – with whom he has been at loggerheads since early in his term – to impeach him for alleged involvement in two financial scandals and incompetent rule. A special session of the national assembly will convene on August 1 to hear him account for his turbulent months in office.
Suharto's fall after a 32-year iron-fisted rule was rapidly followed by rising separatism in the arcipelago's two extremities, Aceh and Irian Jaya, as well as bloody communal unrest in Borneo, Sulawesi and the Maluku islands.
Muchtar Buchori, an MP from the party led by Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri who stands to first in line replace Wahid, said Sukarno's popularity stemmed from a longing for an leader with authority.
"People are just fed up with the leaderships that came after Bung Karno," Buchori said. But he warned the current phenomenon resulted from "a romanticization" of Sukarno's leadership, that gilded his memory into a charismatic intellectual leader who spoke several languages, had a thorough knowledge of world history, and could solve every problem. "Don't dream, be realistic," Buchori said.
For years, the anniversary of Sukarno's death was marked by thousands of admirers who flocked to his tomb, built by Suharto in Sukarno's hometown of Blitar in East Java in the second half of the 1980s.
Suharto, who, not for want of trying, was unable to stamp out Sukarno's memory, finally in 1980 rehabilitated his name as one of the country's proclaimers of independence, and later declared him a national hero in 1986.
But a 1967 decree accusing Sukarno of being implicated in the 1965 communist-backed coup attempt which stripped him of the presidency, remains firmly in place.