“HE once promised a reward to anyone who could bring him my head, yet I still respected him deeply.” That was how Sumitro Djojohadikusumo described President Sukarno in Pelaku Berkisah: Ekonomi Indonesia 1950-an sampai 1990-an (Actors Speak: Indonesian Economy from the 1950s to the 1990s). Beneath their opposing political positions lay Sumitro’s enduring admiration for the man Indonesians called Bung Besar.

That admiration