Comparative Nationalism: Sukarno And Sun Yatsen

Vivian Okafor

Asian Politics

23rd February, 2018.

Dr. Stephen B. Herschler.

Comparative Nationalism- Sukarno and Sun Yatsen

Due to the political and colonial situation of the 1800s, there was a wave of nationalism making its way through Asian countries. To further go into this, I will be looking into two countries and their prominent nationalistic leaders. Sukarno and Sun Yatsen and their nationalistic revolution in Indonesia and China respectively.

Sun Yatsen was born on November 12, 1866, into a peasant household in Choy hung in Kwangtung near the Portuguese colony of Macao. His father was a farmer, which had been his family's traditional occupation for many generations. His early education, like his birthplace, established him as a

In this party, Sukarno was elected the first leader. The goals of this party was to gain independence for Indonesia, and they listed some grievances opposing imperialism and capitalism because it opined that both systems worsened the life of Indonesian people. Knowing that Indonesia is a unit of islands, the party also advocated secularism and unity amongst the many different ethnicities in the Dutch East Indies, to establish a united Indonesia. Sukarno also hoped that Japan would commence a war against the western powers and that Java could then gain its independence with Japan's aid. Coming soon after the disintegration of Sarekat Islam in the early 1920s and the crushing of Partai Komunis Indonesia after their failed rebellion of 1926, PNI began to attract a large number of followers, particularly among the new university-educated youths eager for larger freedoms and opportunities denied to them in the racist and constrictive political system of Dutch

He encountered a series of violence and repression from opposing forces but soon, a compromise was reached. As part of a compromise with the Dutch, Indonesia adopted a new federal constitution that made the country a federal state called the Republic Indonesia Serikat (Republic of United States of Indonesia), consisting of the Republic of Indonesia whose borders were determined by the "Van Mook Line", along with the six states and nine autonomous territories created by the Dutch. During the first half of 1950, these states gradually dissolved themselves as the Dutch military that previously propped them up was withdrawn. In August 1950, with the last state – the State of East Indonesia – dissolving itself, Sukarno declared a Unitary Republic of Indonesia based on the newly formulated provisional constitution of 1950. Both the Federal Constitution of 1949 and the Provisional Constitution of 1950 were parliamentary in nature, where executive authority laid with the prime minister, and which—on paper—limited presidential power. However, even with his formally reduced role, he commanded a good deal of moral authority as Father of the