I hate imperialism. I detest colonialism. And I fear the consequences of their last bitter struggle for life. We are determined that our nation, and the world as a whole, shall not be the plaything of one small corner of the world. – Sukarno
We are not facing great economic difficulties. The Indonesian people are faring reasonably well – just compare us to India or some other countries. – Sukarno
Our socialism does not include extreme materialistic concepts, since Indonesia is primarily a God-fearing, God-loving nation. Our socialism is a mixture. We draw political equality from the American Declaration of Independence. We draw spiritual equality from Islam and Christianity. We draw scientific equality from Marx. – Sukarno
I always start from the stand that it is imperialism that needs us, not we who need the imperialists. – Sukarno
We feel free… Now we are really self-reliant. This is the great advantage of teaching ourselves to become a free people, no longer one that always asks, ‘Aid, aid, please.’ – Sukarno
I embrace the PKI because it is a revolutionary force. PKI go forward. PKI never retreat. PKI grow. PKI be strong. Onward. – Sukarno
If I am not mistaken, it was a British poet who said that ‘no one is properly dressed unless he wears a smile.’ – Sukarno
Am I not peaceful? We want to be free – completely free. Free to be free. We want to be left alone. – Sukarno
Peking welcomed me with tremendous parades and gun salutes. The people with me are proud of me, proud that our downtrodden country has taken its place among the great nations. And now, people of America, I ask you, why didn’t Eisenhower accord me the same respect? – Sukarno
I liked Kennedy. So far, he is the only American president who could talk with me and with whom I could talk. I know Johnson, but I have not yet a clear opinion of him. – Sukarno
If some nation says to us, ‘You can have aid, but you have to end confrontation,’ then I say, ‘Go to hell with your aid.’ – Sukarno
The principle of building an economy without foreign monopoly capital has become a principle which, for us, is no longer subject to amendment. – Sukarno
It has been the case for some time that I have made myself dizzy thinking about the fact that the implementation of the Three-fold Program of the government, above all in the area of food and clothing, has been experiencing difficulties. – Sukarno
I was weaned not on television or Wild West sagas but on stories of nationalism and patriotism. I would sit at my mother’s feet by the hour and drink in these exciting tales of the freedom fighters in our family. – Sukarno
We must all build national unity, build all revolutionary forces, into one powerful wave to sweep away our main enemy, political imperialism and economic imperialism. – Sukarno
I don’t want to be a dictator, because it is contrary to my own conscience. I am a democrat, but I don’t desire democratic liberalism. On the contrary, I want a guided democracy… I have a conception of my own, which I will put at the disposal of the party leaders if required. – Sukarno
Indonesia is rich in natural resources. Indonesia is rich in manpower with its 103 million inhabitants – not like Malaysia with its 10 million. – Sukarno
Even if you were a general in 1945, if you split the revolutionary national unity today, if you are an enemy of the main pillars of the revolution today, then you have become a force of reaction! – Sukarno
What America did in Vietnam and the Congo – we feel. And as a result come these demonstrations. I am not defending the act of burning USIS books. We deplore it. But we can understand the motives of the students. – Sukarno
We are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is corroded and made bitter by fear: fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the danger itself because it is fear, which drives men to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously. – Sukarno
