Soekarno was born a hundred years ago, on 6 June 1901. More than anyone else, he came to embody the Indonesian struggle for independence. He proclaimed Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 and led his country as its first president until after a coup that misfired in 1965, when he was gradually stripped of his power by his successor, the army general Soeharto. Soekarno aroused intense emot…