Portal:Indonesia/Biography schedule/September, 2006

Selected biographies archive and schedule for September 2006
Last updated: 13:25, 1 September 2006 (UTC) (UTC)

August 28 - September 10

Sukarno (June 6, 1901 – June 21, 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands and was President from 1945 to 1967, presiding with mixed success over the country's turbulent transition to independence. Sukarno was forced from power by one of his generals, Suharto, who formally became President in March 1967.

Sukarno's name is sometimes spelled Soekarno (pre-1947 spelling), and Indonesians also remember him as Bung Karno (Bung is an affectionate title used to address colleagues, popular in early 1900s). Like many Javanese people, he had just one name.

Sukarno became a leader of a pro-independence party, Partai Nasional Indonesia when it was founded in 1927. He opposed imperialism and capitalism because he thought both systems worsened the life of Indonesian people. (read more...)
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September 11 - September 24

General (ret.) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born September 9, 1949 in Pacitan, East Java, Indonesia), is an Indonesian retired military general and statesman as well as the sixth President of Indonesia, and the first to be elected directly by voters. Yudhoyono won the presidency in September 2004 in the second round of the Indonesian presidential election, in which he defeated incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He was sworn into office on 20 October 2004, together with Jusuf Kalla as Vice President.

(Javanese do not have surnames in the Western sense. While Susilo Bambang uses Yudhoyono in naming his children, it is not a descended family surname. In Indonesia, he is referred to in some media as Susilo and is widely known in Indonesia as SBY. Abroad, he is referred to as Yudhoyono, a name that he chose for his military nametag, while in formal meetings and functions he is addressed as Dr Yudhoyono. Susilo is apparently derived from Sushil, which in Sanskrit means one with good character. (read more...)
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September 25 - 'October 8

Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri (born January 23, 1947), was President of Indonesia from July 2001 to October 20, 2004. She was the country's first female President.

On September 20 she lost her campaign for re-election in the 2004 Indonesian presidential election.

Note that Sukarnoputri means "daughter of Sukarno" (Sanskrit) and it is not the President's surname: Javanese do not have surnames. She is simply referred to as Megawati or Mega.

Her name is derived from Sanskrit meghavatī = "she who has a cloud", i.e. a raincloud, as rain is needed to make food crops grow, and it was raining when she was born.

Under Megawati, the process of democratic reform begun under Habibie and Wahid continued, albeit slowly and erratically. Megawati appeared to see her role mainly as a symbol of national unity, and she rarely actively intervened in government business. The military, disgraced at the time of Suharto's fall, regained much of its influence. Corruption continued to be pervasive, though Megawati herself was seldom blamed for this. (read more...)
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