Sutan Sjahrir

Sutan Sjahrir was an influential Indonesian nationalist and prime minister who favoured the adoption of Western constitutional democracy for Indonesia. He was born on 5 March 1909 in Padangpandjang, Sumatra, the son of a public prosecutor. He received a Dutch education in Sumatra and Java and attended the Law Faculty at the University of Leiden. He became involved in socialist politics and the Indonesian independence movement, becoming a close associate of Mohammad Hatta, the future vice president of Indonesia. He was exiled by the Dutch authorities in 1934 and remained isolated from Indonesian politics until the arrival of Japanese occupation forces in 1942. He opposed the Japanese but chose to withdraw from public life rather than actively resist. He pressed for the country to declare independence before the Japanese surrender. His pamphlet "Our Struggle" (1945) won him the support of militant nationalists in the capital, as well as the office of prime minister in the postwar government. 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, which recognized Indonesia's sovereignty over Java, Sumatra, and Madura. He founded the Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) in 1948 to politically oppose the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He resigned as prime minister in 1947 after a disagreement with Sukarno over the Renville Agreement, which ceded more territory to the Dutch. He was arrested and imprisoned several times by both the Dutch and the Indonesian authorities for his political views. He was released in 1965 to seek medical treatment and was allowed to go to Zürich, Switzerland. There, he died on 9 April 1966 from tuberculosis. He was buried in Zürich, Switzerland. He was posthumously declared a national hero of Indonesia in 1966.