The Indonesian Army from Revolusi to Reformasi Volume 1: The Struggle for Independence and the Sukarno Era

From the Indonesian Republic’s onset, there has been some form of military participation in political life – the more significant and interesting aspect of the Indonesian Army’s distinctive history. Volume 1 in this three-volume set covers the Army’s revolutionary roots, its fighting doctrine, and provides accounts of major operations – the independence struggle, consolidation of the Republic, military campaigns against CIA-backed regional separatists in Sumatra and Sulawesi during the late-1950s, the “liberation’ of West Irian and the “Confrontation” with Malaysia. The story starts during the late-colonial period and spans the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, the struggle for independence, the chaotic parliamentary democracy period during the 1950s, Sukarno’s autocratic Guided Democracy and the Army’s increasingly bitter contest for power with the Indonesian Communist Party – setting the stage for the final bloody confrontation and General Soeharto’s New Order – the subject of Volume 2. Written in a journalistic style, these three volumes provide readers fresh insights into Indonesian culture and help them understand why soldiers of the Indonesian Army have behaved the way they do – often in ways, from a western perspective, that must be considered less-than-honorable.