Sukarno was born on 6 June 1901 in Blitar, eastern Java, to a Javanese schoolteacher and a Balinese mother. His name was Kusno Sosrodihardjo, but he was renamed, as per Javanese custom, after surviving a childhood illness. His name is frequently spelled Soekarno after the Dutch spelling. Graduating with a degree in engineering in 1926, Sukarno became an accomplished architect in Bandung, western Java. His peers considered him modern and highly intelligent reputedly endowed with a photographic memory and he was fluent in nine languages. On 4 July, 1927, Sukarno and some friends founded the Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI) with a view to fighting for Indonesian independence. Sentenced as a political prisoner in 1930, Sukarno's cause was widely reported in the Dutch East Indies and abroad, and, as a result, he was freed in 1931. Forever a thorn in the Dutch side, Sukarno continued to agitate. In 1942, the invading Japanese drove the Europeans from the islands, and turned to Sukarno and oth