Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – He was autocratic, plunged Indonesia into a period of economic disaster and widespread poverty and flirted with communism. Yet, Indonesians today can't get enough of Sukarno – Indonesia's founding president.
Thousands are expected to flock to Blitar, his burial site in East Java, for today's celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Every newspaper is issuing Sukarno specials – discussing his controversial, anti-Western foreign policy to his infamous womanising, while the newly-renamed Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta will be the site of a day of celebrations.
As ethnic, separatist and religious conflicts, along with economic woes, threaten to tear the country apart, Indonesians are increasingly nostalgic for a nationalist, Sukarno-like leader, claim analysts.
"He had imagination, a vision for the future and knew how to come out of a crisis," says Mr Mochtar Buchori, a political analyst and member of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) party. Ms Megawati is Mr Sukarno's eldest daughter.
The inability of the current crop of political leaders to solve Indonesia's current economic and social crisis has led people to review Mr Sukarno in a romantic light, seeing in him all the qualities that today's leaders lack, says Mr Mochtar.
"He's the strongest leader of Indonesia, so he is like a model for an ideal President," says Ms Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, Mr Sukarno's youngest daughter.
Mr Permadi, a PDI-P legislator, likens the charismatic founder-president to India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.
He says that his concepts about how to unify Indonesia's diverse political and religious groups and his ability to try and accommodate seemingly conflicting beliefs such as nationalism, Islam and communism made him a heroic figure. Mr Sukarno was a rebel leader who fought against the Dutch after World War II.
He was named President in 1945 and was ousted by General Suharto in 1966 after he was accused of involvement in a failed communist-backed coup. He was effectively held under house arrest in Bogor till his death in 1970.
While the PDI-P capitalises on the Sukarno legend, Ms Megawati herself has few of his political skills or vision, says Mr Permadi. "She is the biological daughter of Sukarno but Rachma is the ideological daughter," he said, referring to the nationalistic third daughter, Ms Rachmawati.
Ms Rachmawati recently criticised the Vice-President's attempts to impeach President Abdurrahman Wahid. She is also the chair at the Bung Karno University, which she helped set up.
Political analyst Kusnanto Anggoro says that apart from her commitment to national unity, Ms Megawati is not as brave or politically innovative as her celebrated father was. He added that while there was much controversy surrounding Mr Sukarno's policies, including his support of the communist party and his poor economic policies, his admirers now remember him mainly for his tough anti-West stance. Mr Sukarno withdrew Indonesia from the United Nations in 1965 and, in a fiery nationalistic speech, rejected American aid.
And since the economic crisis, which many Indonesians blame the IMF's interventionist policies on, they are looking for a leader who will free Indonesia of Western intervention.