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HISTORY
INDEPENDENCE
On August 17, 1945,
three days after Japan’s unconditional surrendered to the Allies, the
Indonesians proclaimed their independence and established the Unitary State
of the Republic of Indonesia covering the territory of the former
Netherlands East Indies. Having suffered from the bitter experience of the
Dutch “divide et impera” policy, the national
leaders held the view that the form of government through which a just and
prosperous society could be reached was a unitary state.
Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta
became the President and Vice-President of the new state which was based on
the sate philosophy of Pancasila comprising the
following five principles: Belief in One and Only God, Just and Civilized
Humanity. The Unity of Indonesia, Democracy Guided by the Inner Wisdom of
Deliberations amongst Representatives, and Social Justice for the Whole of
the People of Indonesia.
On August 18, 1945,
the state constitution, often referred to as the Constitution of the
Proclamation, was adopted together with the formation of the House of
Representatives, Supreme Advisory Council, Supreme Audit Board, and people’s
Consultative Assembly as the embodiment of the people’s sovereignty.
The Red-and-White was
officially accepted as the national flag, and Bahasa
Indonesia as the national language. Again, Indonesians had to face the
Dutch, who wishing to reinstate their colonial rule in Indonesia had
smuggled military troops into the allied forces who came to Indonesia in
September 1945 to disarm the Japanese and repatriate Allied Prisoners of War
and Internees (APWI).
Consequently, bloody
battles broke out in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya
and other major cities. During five years of physical struggle, “Dutch
sponsored puppet states” were establish, such as the State of East
Indonesia, South Sumatra, Bangka,
Madura, etc. and agreements concluded for a
peaceful settlement with the Dutch.
The
Linggarjati Agreement signed on March25, 1947,
under the good offices of Britain’s Lord Killearn
resulted in the “de facto” recognition of the Republic of Java,
Madura and Sumatra.
The
Renville Agreement was signed on board of the
USS Renville on January 17, 1948, to end the
Dutch all-out attack upon the Republic, or what they called a “police
action” launched on July 21, 1947. Following the
occoupation of Yogyakarta and the arrest
of President Soekarno, Vice President Mohammad
Hatta, Syahrir and
other republican leaders during the second Dutch military attack in December
1948, Indonesian freedom fighters commenced waging a guerrilla warfare under
General Soedirman, while an emergency government
of the Republic of Indonesia was set up in Bukittinggi,
West Sumatra, under Syarifuddin
Prawiranegara, as the interim 2nd
president.
On January 28, 1949,
the Security Council adopted a resolution for discontinuation of
hostilities, the release of the Republican leaders, who had been brought to
Bangka Island off the east coast of Sumatra, and
their return to Yogyakarta.
The “Roem-Van
Rooyen” Agreement provided for the return of
Yogyakarta to the Republic and the gradual
withdrawal of Dutch troops, before the holding of a round Table conference
on the basis of transfer on sovereignty to the United States of Indonesia,
on December 27, 1949. Its consisting of 16 states which were associated with
the Netherlands in a symbolic confederation under the Queen of the
Netherlands, with a federal constitution and a government system based on
parliamentary democracy.
On August 17, 1950,
Indonesia abandoned its federal character and regained its original status
of a Unitary State.
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