The Bung's Bounce

"Here I am, Sukarno, President and Great Leader of the Revolution. I will not retreat one step or even one milli meter!" There he was indeed, full of bombast and braggadocio, munching cake and sipping orangeade -- and apparently back on top of the heap. After five months of submission to his anti-Communist generals, Indonesia's Pres ident last week demonstrated the rea sons behind his reputation as Southeast Asia's most durable politician.

Almost as if his own position had never been in jeopardy, Sukarno blithely fired Defense Minister Abdul Haris Nasution, leader of the anti-Red forces that put down last October's Commu nist coup. He also installed a new Cabinet, some of whose members -- though avowedly non-Communist -- were far to the left of the generals. Nasution took the demotion quietly, but it was an ominous silence. Still loyal to him are Army Chief Suharto and the crack Siliwangi Division, elements of which moved into Djakarta last week. "We are ready to move the second Nasution gives the signal," claimed the Siliwangi's commander.

Nasakom Is No More. Sukarno man aged his comeback subtly. Outwardly he appeared submissive, while secretly calling in junior officers for sessions ripe with flattery and promises. The seeds of rivalry were quick to sprout. At the same time, he wooed and won Moslem groups long neglected by the govern ment. All the while, the Bung was practicing the traditional Indonesian musjawarah, a catharsis by conversation that ultimately leads to consensus. Last week Sukarno felt it had been reached.

Whether or not Nasution's ouster sticks, it will be some time before Su karno again feels free to court the Chinese-backed Partai Kommunis Indonesia as ardently as he did before the October coup. In the first place, P.K.I. ranks have been severely depleted by anti-Communist slaughter, and surviving party members are lying low. Secondly, Sukarno knows that a return to the pro-Communist past would trigger an army coup, Nasution or no Nasution. Indonesia has accepted the decline of Communism to such an extent that even Sukarno's beloved acronym Nasakom (a combination of nationalism, religion and Communism, on which his policy is based) has been amended to Nasasos (for socialism).

Rage in Yellow Shirts. Even at that, Sukarno's balance is precarious. Last week mobs of angry anti-Red students stormed through Djakarta, blocking entrances to Merdeka Palace with stolen trucks and forcing Sukarno to send helicopters to pick up his Cabinet ministers for the swearing-in ceremony. Nervous guards fired into one group, killing three students. That brought on a second mob scene, with 100,000 students--led by yellow-shirted members of the Indonesian Student Action Command (KAMI)--lining the five-mile funeral route. Sukarno retaliated by outlawing KAMI, declaring a curfew, and forbidding groups of five or more to meet in Djakarta. With that, he retreated behind machine guns to Merdeka Palace to await developments.

With the army sullen and the students enraged, Sukarno's comeback might prove a short one.

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