BORN in Bakur village, Madiun, East Java, on August 16, 1882, Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto never used his honorific ‘Raden’ in front of his name. Despite a royal ‘priyayi’ family upbringing, he became a nationalist, a socialist and upheld Islamic values, all at the same time.

Later on, his students—Sukarno, Muso and Kartosoewirjo—split three ways with each taking on one of his different strands. Their mind battles eventually became histo