Politician. Sukarno firmly believed that Islam and communism were not incompatible. In 1927 he became the chairman of Nationalist Study Club in Bandung. He was put into prison for four years for his anti-colonist utterances by the government of the Dutch Indies. It was on the occasion of his trial that he delivered his famous Indonesia Menggugat (Indonesia accuses) speech. He was exiled in 1934. When the Japanese occupied Indonesia in 1942, he was free man again. In 1945 Sukarno proclaimed his country's independence in Jakarta and became the first president of the New Republic of Indonesia, a position he retained for almost twenty-one years. In 1949 his country attained freedom, a nation of 13,466 islands, 360 ethnic groups and 719 languages. Sukarno flirted with communism, famously told the American 'to hell with your aid', attempted to fight the British in Borneo and declared 1965 'the year of living dangerously.' However there was a revolt by the army in 1965 and Sukarno was forced to transfer his presidential power to Gen. Suharto. Sukarno Achmad was born in east Java.