VISITOR FROM INDONESIA

In the U.S. on the first lap of an exploration that will take him to Canada, Switzerland, Italy, West Germany and later on to Russia and Red China: Sukarno* (no first name), first President of the new Republic of Indonesia.

Early Years. Born June 6, 1901 in Surabaya, East Java, to a Balinese mother, Javanese father, who taught school for a living. Although few natives learned to read under the Dutch, received a rare civil engineer degree at Bandung Technical Institute, entitling him to precede his name by Ir. (Dutch contraction for engineer). But Ir. Sukarno built little, instead bent himself to destroying Dutch rule. The Dutch jailed him in 1929 and kept him jailed or exiled for twelve of the next 13 years. In 1942 the Japanese army smashed over 300 years of Dutch rule in eight days, freeing Sukarno and other nationalists.

Political Career. Collaborated with the Japanese during the war, worked with the U.S. and the U.N. afterward, always striving to keep the Dutch out. In December 1949 the Dutch were finally out, and Sukarno was in as first President. Today his country is near bankruptcy and revolt-racked, but adoring masses hail "Bung Karno" (Brother Karno), worship him as liberator of the land. A neutralist in the cold war, he plays hot and cold with the Communists. In 1948 he drowned a Red revolt in blood, in 1956 tried his hardest to bring Reds into the Cabinet. Played host to the Bandung Conference, at which Red China's Chou En-lai made much headway. Says "Nationalism, Marxism and Islam can be united" and obviously thinks he can handle the Reds, now Indonesia's fourth most powerful party.

The Man. Slender, handsome, kind-hearted and a spectacular orator, he is the most popular man in Indonesia. No Indonesian can outtalk him; he has survived innumerable revolts, more than a dozen Cabinet changes, a restive army. He has skimmed John Dewey, Marx, Lenin, Jefferson, Lincoln, John Reed, Otto Bauer, and is still tingling over the discoveries. Dotes on American history, but at times comes up with such historical whoppers as: "There was lack of law and order in America for 60 years following the Revolution." Enjoys painting, good conversation, the company of pretty women. Divorced his first wife in 1942 for childlessness and married pretty, 18-year-old Fatmawati, who bore him two boys, three girls. In 1954 he took to wife lissome, 32-year-old Divorcee Heriati, and Indonesian women who had adored Sukarno turned away in outrage. Though Mohammedans are permitted four wives, emancipation-bound Indonesian women call Sukarno a "bigamist," sniff at Heriati as "That Woman," idolize patient Wife No. 2 (who is suing for divorce).

Country & People. More than 81 million, speaking 200 languages, live on 3,000 islands scattered over 3,000,000 sq. miles between Asia and Australia. The sixth most populous nation in the world and potentially one of the richest, it ranks among the first ten in oil production, among the first six in bauxite ores, second in production of copra, rubber, tin. The largest Mohammedan state, it reported the most Communist votes ever cast anywhere in the world in a free election--more than 6,000,000 a few months ago. The government is still plagued by rebels, e.g., a fanatic movement called Darul Islam controls most of the island of Java, where two-thirds of the Indonesians live. Despite $241 million in U.S. aid and credit, the Indonesian economy, which declined seriously in the first years of independence, still is in difficulty.

*Spelled Soekarno, the old-fashioned Dutch style, by the President himself and his government. But in the West, Soekarno wants it spelled Sukarno, the new, non-Dutch style.

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