History of Indonesia Before Independence Complete Discussion for Generations of the Nation
Before independence, the Indonesian state felt the bitterness of colonization by several foreign countries. Starting from the Portuguese who first arrived in Malacca in 1509. The Portuguese succeeded in controlling Malacca on August 10, 1511 led by Alfonso de Albuquerque. After controlling Malacca, the Portuguese began to move from Madura to Ternate. The Indonesian people put up various resistances against the Portuguese. One of the well-known resistances was the Fatahillah resistance which originated from Demak in Sunda Kelapa (now Jakarta). Fatahillah managed to beat back the Portuguese and take back Sunda Kelapa. After that the name Sunda Kelapa was changed by Fatahillah to Jayakarta.
The Portuguese colonial period ended in 1602 after the Dutch entered Indonesia. The Dutch entered Indonesia via Banten under the leadership of Cornelius de Houtman. The Dutch wanted to dominate the spice market in Indonesia by establishing the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Banten in 1602. Because the market in Banten received competition from Chinese and English traders, the VOC office moved to South Sulawesi. In South Sulawesi, the VOC encountered resistance from Sultan Hasanuddin. Various agreements were made. One of them is the Bongaya agreement. However, Sultan Hasanuddin disobeyed the agreement and fought against the Dutch. After moving from place to place, the VOC finally arrived in Yogyakarta. In Yogyakarta, the VOC signed the Giyanti agreement, the contents of which stated that the Dutch recognized Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwono 1. The Giyanti Agreement also split the Mataram kingdom into the Kasunanan Surakarta and the Kasultanan Yogyakarta. Then, finally the VOC was dissolved on January 1, 1800 after the Netherlands lost to France.
After the VOC was disbanded, Dutch colonialism did not stop. The Dutch appointed Daendels as governor general of the Dutch East Indies. During the Deandels era, the Indonesian people were forced to build a highway from Anyer to Panarukan. However, Daendels' reign did not last long and was replaced by Johannes van den Bosch. Van den Bosch implemented a system of forced cultivation (cultuur stelsel). In the system of forced cultivation, each village has to set aside a portion of its land to plant export commodities, especially coffee, sugarcane and indigo. These crops would be sold to the colonial government at a fixed price (20%) and the crops would be handed over to the colonial government.
After 350 years of Dutch domination of Indonesia, Dutch rule in Indonesia was replaced by the Japanese. The Netherlands surrendered unconditionally to Japan through the Kalijati agreement on March 8, 1942. The Japanese occupation period began in 1942 and ended on August 17, 1945. In Indonesia, Japan formed several organizations. The organizations created by Japan included PETA (Defenders of the Homeland), Heiho (Indonesian troops made in Japan), PUTERA, Jawa Hokokai (substitute for Putera).
Resistance to Japanese colonialism was mostly carried out in several areas in Indonesia. In the Aceh Cot Plieng area the resistance against the Japanese was led by Tengku Abdul Jalil (a Koran teacher in the area). The Japanese attempt to persuade the cleric was not successful, so the Japanese carried out a sudden attack in the early morning while the people were performing their Subuh prayers. With simple weapons, the people tried to withstand the attacks and succeeded in repelling the Japanese troops to return to Lhokseumawe. Likewise with the second attack, was foiled by the people. It was only in the last (third) attack that the Japanese succeeded in burning the mosque while the leader of the rebellion (Teuku Abdul Jalil) managed to escape from the enemy's encirclement, but was finally shot while praying. Another well-known resistance is PETA's resistance in the Blitar area, East Java. This resistance was led by Syodanco Supriyadi, Syodanco Muradi, and Dr. Ishmael. This resistance was caused by the problem of collecting rice, Romusha and Heiho which was carried out by force and beyond humanity. As sons of the people, the warriors cannot bear to see the suffering of the people. In addition, the attitude of the coaches
the Japanese military who were arrogant and looked down on Indonesian soldiers. PETA's resistance in Blitar is the biggest resistance in Java. But with the trick of the Japanese through Colonel Katagiri (Commander of the Japanese troops), the PETA troops were tricked by pretending to be invited to negotiate. Four PETA officers were executed and three others tortured to death. Meanwhile, Syodanco Supriyadi managed to escape.
Japanese rule in Indonesia ended after Japan lost to the allied forces in World War II. Two cities in Japan, namely Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the allied forces. After hearing about Japan's defeat, BPUPKI (Investigating Agency for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence) or Dokuritsu Junbi Cosakai was formed, chaired by Radjiman Widyodiningrat. The name BPUPKI was changed to PPKI (Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence) or Dokuritsu Junbi Inkai to further emphasize the desire and goals of the Indonesian nation for independence. Soekarno, Hatta as the leader of the PPKI and Radjiman Wedyodiningrat as the former chairman of the BPUPKI were flown to Dalat, Vietnam to meet Marshal Terauchi. They were reported that the Japanese troops were on the verge of defeat and would give independence to Indonesia. But on August 10, 1945, Sutan Syahrir had heard the news over the radio that Japan had surrendered to the Allies. The undergroundwarriors prepare to proclaim the independence of Indonesia, and reject the form of independence given as a Japanese prize. When Soekarno, Hatta and Radjiman returned to their homeland from Dalat, Sutan Syahrir urged Soekarno to immediately declare independence because he considered the results of the meeting in Dalat a Japanese trick, because Japan had to surrender to the Allies at any time and in order to avoid divisions within the nationalist camp, between anti and pro Japanese. Hatta told Syahrir about the results of the meeting in Dalat. Sukarno was not convinced that Japan had surrendered, and the proclamation of Indonesian independence at that time could cause great bloodshed. and can have very fatal consequences if the Indonesian fighters are not ready. Soekarno reminded Hatta that Syahrir had no right to declare independence because that was the right of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI). Meanwhile Syahrir considered PPKI to be a body made in Japan and the proclamation of independence by PPKI was only a 'gift' from Japan. After hearing that Japan had surrendered on August 14, 1945, the younger group urged the older group to immediately declare Indonesia's independence. The older ones didn't want to rush anything, however. They didn't want bloodshed during the Declaration of Independence. Soekarno and Hatta together with Soebardjo then went to Rear Admiral Maeda's house, on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara. Maeda welcome them with congratulations on their success in Dalat . He replied he had not received confirmation and are still waiting for instructions from Tokyo . After returning from Maeda, Soekarno and Hatta immediately prepared for a meeting of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI) at 10 am August 16 the next day at the Jalan Pejambon No. 2 office to discuss everything related to preparations for the Proclamation of Independence. A day later, the pressure fluctuations that required the takeover of power by Indonesia were mounting, launched by youths from several groups. The PPKI meeting on August 16 at 10 am was not held because Soekarno and Hatta did not appear. The meeting participants did not know that the Rengasdengklok incident had occurred. The Rengasdengklok incident was the kidnapping of Soekarno and Hatta by young people to speed up the implementation of the proclamation. After returning to Jakarta from Rengasdenglok, Soekarno and Hatta compiled the text of the proclamation at Admiral Maeda's house assisted by Achmad Soebardjo and witnessed by Soekarni, BM Diah, Sudiro (Mbah) and Sayuti Melik. After the concept was finished, Sayuti Melik copied and typed the manuscript. Initially the reading of the proclamation was to be carried out at Ikada Field, but due to security reasons it was moved to Soekarno's residence, Jalan Pegangsaan Timur 56.
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