Indonesia, 1952 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 17 October 1952 the leaders of the Indonesian Army high command, Chief of Staff Colonel Abdul Haris Nasution and Armed Forces Chief Tahi Bonar Simatupang, mobilized troops and marshaled civilian demonstrators to pressure President Sukarno in what became known as the October 17 affair. The confrontation grew out of a dispute over the army's plan to demobilize tens of thousands of soldiers and professionalize the force, which parliament, siding with traditionalist officers, resisted as excessive civilian meddling in military affairs. The officers surrounded the Merdeka Palace, pointed tank turrets at it, and demanded that Sukarno dissolve the provisional parliament and hold immediate elections.
Sukarno refused, came out and addressed the crowd, and defused the standoff; the army's gambit failed. Nasution and Simatupang were removed from their posts in December 1952, though Nasution was reappointed army chief in 1955 after reconciling with Sukarno.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
85010171952
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Sukarno refused the demands and remained in power; the army leaders were removed but Nasution returned in 1955.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Wikipedia
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →