User:The man from Gianyar/Sutan Sjahrir

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Sutan Sjahrir
Portrait
Portrait, date unknown
1st Prime Minister
of Indonesia
In office
14 November 1945 – 3 July 1947
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byAmir Sjarifuddin Harahap
2nd Minister of Home Affairs
of Indonesia
In office
14 November 1945 – 12 March 1946
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byWiranatakusumah V
Succeeded bySudarsono
2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Indonesia
In office
14 November 1945 – 3 July 1947
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byAchmad Soebardjo
Succeeded byAgus Salim
Personal details
Born(1909-03-05)5 March 1909
Padang Pandjang, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies
Died9 April 1966(1966-04-09) (aged 57)
Zürich, Switzerland
Cause of deathIntracerebral hemorrhage
Resting placeKalibata Heroes Cemetery
NationalityIndonesian
Political partySocialist Party of Indonesia (PSI)
Spouse(s)Maria Duchateau
Siti Wahyunah
Profession
Signature

Sutan Sjahrir[a] (5 March 1909 – 9 April 1966), was an Indonesian politician, and revolutionary independence leader, who served as the first Prime Minister of Indonesia, from 1945 until 1947. Previously, he was a key Indonesian nationalist organizer in the 1930s and 1940s. Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not support the Japanese during the Japanese occupation and fought in the resistance against them. He was considered to be an idealist and an intellectual.[1]

Born to a Minangkabau family, he studied at the University of Amsterdam, and later became a law student at the Leiden University. He became involved in Socialist politics, and Indonesia's struggle for independence, becoming a close associate of the older independence activist Mohammad Hatta, who would later become the first Vice President of Indonesia. During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Sjahrir fought in the resistance. Towards independence on 17 August 1945, he was involved in the Rengasdengklok Incident and the Proclamation of Independence. Following the release of his 1945 pamphlet “Our Struggle” (“Perjuangan Kita”), he was appointed Prime Minister of Indonesia by President Sukarno. As Prime Minister, he was one of the few Republican leaders acceptable to the Dutch government, due to his non-cooperative stance during the Japanese occupation. He also played a crucial role in negotiating the Linggadjati Agreement.

Sjahrir founded the Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) in 1948 to politically oppose the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Although small, his party was very influential in the early post-independence years. However, Sjahrir's socialist party ultimately failed to win support and was later banned in 1960, after the party was suspected of being involved in the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia rebellion. Sjahrir himself would eventually be arrested and imprisoned without trial in 1962. In 1965, he was released to seek medical treatment and was allowed to go to Zürich, Switzerland. There, he died on 9 April 1966. On the same day, through Presidential Decree No. 76/1966, Sjahrir was inaugurated as a National Hero of Indonesia.[1]

Early life[edit]

Youth and family[edit]

Sutan Sjahrir was born on 5 March 1909, in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra. He came from an ethnic-Minangkabau family, from what is today Koto Gadang, Agam Regency.[2] His father, Muhammad Rasyad Maharajo Sutan, served as the Hoofd or Chief public prosecutor at the Landraad in Medan. While his mother, Siti Rabiah, came from Natal, in what is today South Tapanuli Regency.[3][4]

Sjahrir's father had six different wives, with Sjahrir's mother being the fifth wife his father married.[5] From his father's marriages, Sjahrir had 6 siblings. Two biological brothers, and four half-siblings. His two biological brothers were Soetan Sjahsam, who become an experienced businessman, and Soetan Noeralamsjah, who would become prosecutor and politician from the Great Indonesia Party (Parindra). He was also the half-brother of Rohana Kudus, an advocate for women's education and a journalist with the first feminist newspaper of Sumatra.[6][4]

Early education[edit]

The Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO) in Medan, c. 1920's

Although from Padang Pandjang, Sjahrir's family lived in Medan, but he was often brought by his father to his grandmother's house in Koto Gadang, which has now become abandoned.[7] Sjahrir attended the Europeesche Lagere School (ELS), before continuing to the Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO), in Medan. During his time at MULO, he was first introduced to works by authors such as Karl May. In 1926, he continued his education at the Algemene Middelbare School (AMS), in Bandung, West Java.[3][8]

There, he joined the Indonesian Student Theater Association (Batovis) as a director, writer and actor.[3] His earnings from there were used to fund the 'People's University' (Cahaya), which was a university co-founded by Sjahrir, to battle illiteracy and raise funds for the performance of patriotic plays in the Priangan countryside.[9][8] Sjahrir completed his studies at the AMS in 1929, and continued his educatiton to the Netherlands, after receiving a scholarship.[10]

Independence Struggle[edit]

Time in the Netherlands[edit]

Sjahrir arrived in the Netherlands in 1929, and stayed in Southern Amsterdam, in what was then a prosperous middle-class neighborhood. He first enrolled at the University of Amsterdam, before later becoming a law student at Leiden University, where he gained an appreciation for socialist principles.[11]

Struggle in the homeland[edit]

Japanese Occupation[edit]

Further information: Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies

Indonesian National Revolution[edit]

Further information: Indonesian National Revolution

Prime Minister[edit]

Appointment[edit]

Kidnapping[edit]

Further information: 3 July affair

Diplomacy[edit]

Downfall[edit]

Post-independence career[edit]

Political career[edit]

Arrest and final years[edit]

Death and funeral[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Also written in a number of other variations, including Sutan Syahrir, and Soetan Sjahrir.

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b Dotulong 2010.
  2. ^ Etek, Mursjid & Arfan 2007, p. 131.
  3. ^ a b c Prasetyo 2021.
  4. ^ a b Legge 1988, p. 25.
  5. ^ Tempo 2009, p. 8.
  6. ^ Widijanto 2010.
  7. ^ Tempo 2009, p. 9.
  8. ^ a b Yohana 2010, p. 22.
  9. ^ Legge 1988, p. 26.
  10. ^ Yohana 2010, p. 26.
  11. ^ Tas 1969, p. 135.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Algadri, Hamid (1994). Prime Minister Sjahrir, as Statesman and Diplomat: How the Allies became friends of Indonesia and opponents of the Dutch. Jakarta: Pustaka LP3ES. ISBN 979-8391-41-1.
  • Etek, Azizah; Mursjid; Arfan (2007). Koto Gadang masa kolonial [Gadang City [Bukitinggi] in Colonial Times] (in Indonesian). Yogjakarta: Lkis Pelangi Aksara. ISBN 978-9791283298.
  • Cribb, Robert; Kahin, Audrey (2004). Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810849358.
  • Mrázek, Rudolf (1994). Sjahrir: Politics and Exile in Indonesia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program. ISBN 978-0-87727-713-2.


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