Then on 17 August, Indonesia’s Independence Day, Sukarno made a powerful and virulent speech in which he told the United States and Britain to get out of Southeast Asia and warned them that the axis of Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Beijing and Pyongyang would defeat imperialism in the region. Next, he ordered the seizure of all American capital in Indonesia. He was living dangerously – as he put it, “Viva perilissimo”. The Indonesian economy was unravelling by the day, with hyperinflation making the people’s lives impossible.
