Gramed friends, do you know this figure? His name is not as popular as other figures, such as Ir. Soekarno, Moh. Hatta, and Wage Rudolf Soepratman.
He is Achmad Soebardjo, one of the figures who played an important role in Indonesian history, especially before the proclamation of independence on 17 August 1945. Apart from that, he also served as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia after independence.
Achmad Soebardjo was considered an influential figure, so he was elected as a member of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Efforts for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI), which later changed to the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI).
To get to know this figure more clearly, let’s look together at the following brief explanation of Achmad Soebardjo’s life history.
Background of Achmad Soebardjo’s Life
Achmad Soebardjo’s family
Raden Achmad Soebardjo Djojoadisoerjo was born on March 23 1896 in Teluk Jambe, Karawang, West Java. Teluk Jambe Village is a small village on the banks of the Citarum River and is a rice producing area in West Java Province.
Achmad Soebardjo is the youngest of four children, namely the result of the marriage of Teuku Muhammad Yusuf and Wardinah. His father came from Acehnese noble descent from Pidie, while his mother was the daughter of the sub-district head in Telukagung, Cirebon, of Javanese-Bugis descent from Central Java.
Achmad Soebardjo’s grandfather on his father’s side was an ulèëbalang (head of government in the Sultanate of Aceh who led a district-level area) and a cleric in the Lueng Putu area, while Teuku Muhammad Yusuf was a government employee with the position of police orderly in the Teluk Jambe area, Karawang.
As the youngest of four brothers, Achmad Soebardjo was the favorite child of his parents. Soebardjo’s first sister was named Siti Chadijah, his second sister was named Siti Alimah, and his brother was named Abdul Rachman.
As a child, Achmad Soebardjo was given the name Teuku Abdul Manaf by his parents. However, a colleague of his father’s named Raden Mas Said suggested that he be given a Javanese name, namely Soebardjo.
His maternal grandfather then added the name Achmad in front of Soebardjo’s name, so that his name became Achmad Soebardjo. As for the name Djojoadisoerjo, he added it himself as an adult, when he was detained in Ponorogo prison because of the 3 July 1946 incident, namely an attempt to seize power carried out by the opposition (the United Struggle group) against the government of the Sjahrir II Cabinet in Indonesia.
Soebardjo’s father had a quiet nature, only speaking when there was something he deemed necessary to convey. In contrast to his father’s characteristics, his mother has the opposite characteristics of his father.
His mother was someone who was agile, quick to act, and full of useful thoughts. Her mother’s skills are batik making and cooking. Apart from that, his mother was also good at reciting the Koran and writing Javanese letters.
The advice his father always taught him was the Javanese expression “sepi ing pamrih, rame ing gawe” . The meaning of this expression is that someone can have ambition, but don’t chase fame, carry out obligations and duties, and don’t care what people say about the results of their work.
Achmad Soebardjo’s education
At the start of school, Achmad Soebardjo entered the European Primary School III (3 e Europeesche Lagere School – ELS) which is located in the Kramat area, then moved to the First European Primary School B (ELS-B) in Schoolweg near the Pasar Baru area.
When he entered European Elementary School III, he was already fluent in Dutch. Soebardjo was very diligent in reading books and magazines in Dutch. Apart from that, he also likes reading books by Karl Friedrich May, Jules Verne, and the Adventure Stories of Buffalo Bill.
When he moved to Primary School B (ELS-B), Soebardjo was led by a Dutch principal named Vleming. Vleming argued that native people were very stupid and could not be compared to Europeans or other nations.
Furthermore, Vleming added that the natives did not have the ability to receive higher education and they were more suited to doing menial and menial jobs. This made him feel hurt and vowed to study harder, to show that Vleming’s words about native people were wrong.
After successfully graduating from ELS-B, Soebardjo entered Prince Hendrik School. After struggling for two years, he finally resigned from Prince Hendrik School and moved to Raja Willem School (KW III) in Salemba.
Of all the subjects accepted at KW III (HBS), general history subjects were the most interesting for him. While studying at HBS, he spent his time studying and playing music.
Being busy playing music was not an obstacle for Soebardjo to complete his education. He successfully completed his education at the King Willem III School in 1917. Next, Soebardjo continued his education in the Netherlands in the field of international law in 1919.
In 1922, he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree and received a full bachelor’s degree in 1933, with a Meester in de Rechten (Bachelor of Laws) degree from Leiden University, the Netherlands.
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Achmad Soebardjo’s Struggle History
Member of BPUPKI
The defeat after defeat experienced by Japan in the Pacific war against the Allied forces, caused the Gunseikanbu (Japanese Military Government) to form the Indonesian Independence Preparatory Effort Investigation Agency (BPUPKI) or in Japanese called Dokuritsu Zyunbi Tyoosakai.
BPUPKI was formed as an effort by the Indonesian people to gain support for Japan which would help the process of Indonesian independence. This body has 60 members who are Indonesian nationalist leaders.
BPUPKI is chaired by Dr. Radjiman Wediodiningrat and RP Suroso, while the deputy is Ichibangase Yoshio. BPUPKI held two hearings. The first trial was held on 21 May – 1 June 1945, while the second trial was held on 10 – 17 July 1945.
Achmad Soebardjo in BPUPKI played a role in contributing various thoughts in preparing the state basis for an independent Indonesia. At the first BPUPKI session, he said the following.
In designing a constitution for Indonesia, it would be a big mistake if we simply imitated or re-wrote constitutions from other countries. What is good for other countries, is not necessarily better than a philosophy of life that is foreign to the mind and outlook on life and the world.
This proposal was then used as consideration for BPUPKI to develop the basis of the state by taking several theories from famous philosophers, such as Voltaire, JJ Rousseau, Montesquieu, John Lock, H. Spencer, and Thomas Paine for individualistic theory; Karl Marx, Engels, and Lenin for class theory; and Adam Miller and Hegel for the theory of the unitary state.
Thanks to this thought, Achmad Soebardjo was included in the Committee of Nine formed by Soekarno with the aim of formulating the Preamble to the Constitution. His role in the Committee of Nine was also very large, because the ideas he conveyed were finally included as paragraph I of the preamble to the 1945 Constitution which reads as follows.
That independence is the right of all nations, therefore colonialism in the world must be abolished because it is not in accordance with humanity and justice.
BPUPKI completed its duties on July 17 1945 and produced a draft constitution consisting of a preamble, a body containing 16 chapters and 37 articles, transitional regulations and additional regulations.
Member of the Independence Preparatory Committee (PPKI)
The pressure of Japan due to Allied attacks on the battlefield made the Southern Regional War Force Commander, Marshal Terauchi, announce the formation of the Indonesian Independence Preparatory Committee (PPKI) on August 7 1945 and summoned Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, and Radjiman Wedyodiningrat to come to Saigon.
They arrived in Saigon on August 11 1945 and were received by Terauchi who immediately appointed Sukarno and Hatta as chairman and deputy chairman of the PPKI. PPKI has 21 members who are representatives from various regions in Indonesia. These members consist of well-known national figures, so that the body is a representative body for all of Indonesia.
PPKI is supported by a drafting body consisting of advisors chaired by Mohammad Hatta. Meanwhile, Achmad Soebardjo was appointed as deputy chairman of the drafting body whose task was to deliver PPKI meeting invitation letters to each member.
PPKI is the body tasked with preparing for Indonesian independence and continuing the tasks of BPUPKI which have not been carried out well. PPKI must complete and ratify the Draft Constitution.
In carrying out its duties, the PPKI program apparently did not run well. This was because an incident occurred which was later called the Rengasdengklok Incident. This incident forced PPKI’s work to stop.
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Rengasdengklok incident
On August 15 1945 at 23.00 WIB, there was a great debate between the old and the young. They expressed their respective opinions regarding the implementation of the proclamation. Both the old and the young agree that Indonesian independence must be proclaimed immediately, but they disagree on how to express it and how to implement it.
The older group believes that the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence must be carried out without bloodshed and wants a PPKI meeting to be held first on August 16 1945. The younger group on the other hand does not agree with the old group’s reasons.
Young people think that PPKI is a body formed by Japan. They also did not agree with the birth of the proclamation of independence because of General Terauchi’s promise. On the contrary, they argued that the proclamation had to be made in its own power and independent of the Japanese government. They believed that Japan’s promise was just a ruse.
After going through a long debate, the older group still insisted that the proclamation of independence must be discussed first at the PPKI meeting which would be held the following day on August 16 1945. The younger group who felt disappointed then held a meeting at around 24.00 WIB at Jalan Cikini 71.
The young people at the meeting decided to remove Sukarno and Hatta from the city so that these two figures would be free from the influence of Japan and the older groups. In the early hours of August 16 1945 at around 04.00 WIB, the youth group assigned Sukarni and Singgih along with several youths to pick up Soekarno and Hatta at their respective residences to take them to Rengasdengklok.
Rengasdengklok was chosen because it felt safe and far from the reach of Japanese troops, and the place was within PETA’s surveillance area. It was there that they tried to urge Sukarno and Hatta to immediately proclaim Indonesia’s independence.
On the morning of August 16, Soebardjo was shocked by the news that Sukarno and Hatta had been kidnapped. He was confused because soon PPKI members would hold a meeting regarding the implementation of the proclamation of Indonesian independence at 10.00 WIB.
Without wasting too much time, he immediately tried to find out where Sukarno and Hatta were. He met Wikana and tried to urge him to tell him where Sukarno and Hatta were hidden.
Through long conversations, Soebardjo was finally able to convince Wikana that the proclamation of independence would be implemented soon. The proclamation could not be implemented if Soekarno and Hatta were not in Jakarta. After receiving the information from Wikana, he asked to be immediately taken to Rengasdengklok to pick the two of them back to Jakarta.
Upon arrival at Rengasdengklok, Soebardjo was then taken to meet Major Subeno who immediately held a short conversation, and also asked for guarantees that the proclamation of independence would be announced as soon as possible. Major Subeno asked for the proclamation of independence to be carried out right away. He rejected the request because it was unreasonable.
Soebardjo then assured Major Subeno that the proclamation of independence would be carried out as soon as possible and provided a guarantee that if he failed, he would be willing to be shot dead by Major Subeno himself.
This guarantee succeeded in convincing Major Subeno and he was finally allowed to bring Soekarno and Hatta back to Jakarta to proclaim Indonesia’s independence.
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Formulation of Proclamation Text
After Soebardjo’s group arrived in Jakarta, they immediately continued their journey to Admiral Maeda’s residence to hold a meeting related to matters of Indonesian independence.
The figures present in the room of the house were Soekarno, Hatta, Soebardjo, Maeda, Myoshi, while those slightly behind near the table were Sukarni, BM Diah, and Soediro.
Soebardjo and Hatta expressed their opinions verbally in formulating the text of the proclamation. Soekarno then Sukarno wrote it down on a piece of paper. Soebardjo contributed his main thoughts in the first paragraph of the proclamation text, “We the Indonesian People, hereby declare our independence.”
Hatta then stated his opinion, “This is not enough and is an abstract statement without content. We must bring our independence to real implementation and we cannot possibly do that without power being in our hands. We must add thought to the transfer of power from Japan into our own hands.”
Then several considerations arose regarding the appropriate formulation of the idea of handing over power. Hatta then stated, “Matters regarding the transfer of power and so on will be carried out in the most careful manner, and within the shortest possible time.”
The formulation of the text of the proclamation in the final form is then simplified with wisdom, namely “We, the Indonesian people, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters regarding the transfer of power, etc., are carried out carefully and within the shortest possible time.”
After it was completed and several words had to be replaced, the formulation of the text of the proclamation was then submitted to all participants present for approval. At Sukarni’s suggestion, the text of the statement only needed to be signed by Soekarno and Hatta, who represented the Indonesian nation.
The text of the proclamation was then given to Sayuti Melik to type. In the typing process, Sayuti made several changes. The changes are as follows:
- The word “tempoh” was changed to “tempo”;
- The words “representatives of the Indonesian nation” were changed to “on behalf of the Indonesian nation”;
- The formulation “Djakarta 17-8-’05” was changed to “Djakarta day 17 boelan 8 tahoen ’05”.
The typed manuscript was then handed over to Soekarno and Hatta to be signed. After everything was finished, Hatta asked BM Diah and the youth from the press to immediately reproduce and announce that the text of the proclamation of Indonesian independence had been successfully formulated, and would be read at 10.00 WIB at Soekarno’s residence on Jalan Pegangsaan Timur 56.
So, that’s a brief explanation of the life history of Achmad Soebardjo . Appreciate the services of national figures, such as Achmad Soebardjo, not only by remembering them in your heart and giving thanks, but also by imitating their attitudes and actions.
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