TIME 100: AUGUST 23-30, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 7/8

A Century of Insurgents They fought their own governments for causes ranging from communism to freedom By MICHAEL FATHERS For the Emperor The term is gekokujo, or righteous rebellion, and 1930s Japan had a lot of it. In the early hours of Feb. 26, 1936, soldiers started an assassination spree and took control of much of central Tokyo in an attempt to make Japan less corrupt and more assertive on the world stage. The rebellion failed, but by 1937 Japan had a general as prime minister--and war was inevitable. Retired Rebel m o r e Ho Chi Minh: Uncle Insurgent After years in the dark, he brought forth a proud country After World War II, the Hukbalahap, or People's Anti-Japanese Army, turned from fighting the occupiers to mounting a communist revolution against the Philippine government. President Ramon Magsaysay broke the group. Its leader, Luis Taruc, surrendered in 1954, found religion in prison and was later pardoned. But the Huks rose again as the New People's Army in the 1970s and '80s. Man of Mystery He headed the Communist Party of Malaya for eight crucial years, but Loi Tek was, and still is, a cipher. Fellow communists rarely saw him. His 1947 ouster from the party has never been fully explained. (Was he a double agent for the British? Did he steal party funds?) Even today, it isn't known if Loi Tek is dead--he might have been killed back in the '40s--or living incognito in Southeast Asia. Superpower Bane The Soviets found their Vietnam in Afghanistan thanks to the mujahedin, freedom fighters with unruly beards, awesome courage and American cash and Stinger missiles. Triumph took 13 years, after which the mujahedin's fortunes reversed: factions fought and were routed by a group of Johnny-come-latelys known as the Taliban, who took control of the country in 1996. The Top Tiger Velupillai Prabakharan wants an independent country for Sri Lanka's Tamils, and he has fought a big war: 16 years long, with over 50,000 casualties. His Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are disciplined and tough, having managed to fight off the mighty Indian army in the late 1980s. A Tiger suicide bomber killed Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Premier in 1991.

The Most Influential Asians of the Century Asians of the Century A cavalcade of towering individuals and a newly awakened populace Why Adam Smith Would Love Asia Asia has been the proving ground for global capitalism Ending Silence Asian women are celebrating hard-won triumphs Viewpoint Embrace the wisdom of democracy and capitalism t h e  l i s t Hirohito Ho Chi Minh Pol Pot Issey Miyake Daisuke Inoue Rabindranath Tagore Sun Yat-sen Mohandas Gandhi Sukarno Mao Zedong Lee Kuan Yew Deng Xiaoping Corazon Aquino Park Chung Hee Eiji Toyoda King Rama Swaminathan Akira Kurosawa Dalai Lama Akio Morita