DUTCH AGGRESSION TO TEMANGGUNG, JAVA, 1947.
From 1944 to 1947 I lived at Pandean Street 63 in Temanggung, Central Java. The weather is cool and windy. The most popular crops grown in the area are lengkeng and tobacco plants. Lengkeng is a kind of leeche. Kedu Tobacco is specific of its coarse cutting. There is an original-special variety of chicken with black feather named Kedu Hen.
In the large backyard were grown many trees and
vegetables. The vegetables were planted
by my mother. A big guava tree with its mature fruit made my friends
visited this backyard almost every day. My friends often pick the fallen guava
fruits, rubbed it on their shirts or trousers to make it clean and ate it. Many
of the fallen fruits had traces of bat bites, but many of my friends didn’t
care.
Picture 1: The house of Pandean 63, Temanggung
My father built a shack above a pool where my
friends and I were often playing there, bathing, eating and story-telling for a
long time from afternoon after school till evening. My friends were very often
called by their mothers to go home when days were getting dark.
Those were the years when Indonesia was facing
Dutch aggressions to colonialize the
newly proclaimed Republic once more, after the country proclaimed its independence in
1945. As a child of seven I was not so aware and not serious to think about it.
My father who was born in 1917 was a civil
supervisor (opzichter) of the Government Office
of Public Work Service of Temanggung. My father’s office inventories were two Desoto
pick-ups, a BSA motorcycle, and two oxen carts with four big Bengala oxens to
pull the carts.
At the end of 1945 Allied Forces landed in
Semarang, C. Java to solve the capitulation of the defeated Japanese Forces.
Dutch troops were among those Allied
Forces. The real purpose of the Dutch was to continue colonialize
Indonesia once more. The Dutch didn’t recognize August 17, 1945 Indonesian Proclamation of Independent. The
Dutch pretext was to maintain civil order and security.
Picture 2: The pool where I played.
The under-equipped Indonesian army and thousands
of volunteers under Col. Sudirman united and
supported by Indonesian people fought against the incoming Dutch army. The Dutch
army was led by Brig. Gen. Bethell.
The people of Temanggung and their government
officials prepare the food and temporary shelters to rest for thousands of
advancing Indonesian army and volunteers in their way to Ambarawa. My father and I often pick my mother
up who sometime went home at rather late
of night after cooking the food in the Regency’s Building (gedung Kabupaten).
The armed volunteers were passing Temanggung in their advancement to Ambarawa,
a small town south of Semarang. My mother and many other women who worked
preparing the accommodations for the army were members of a women association
named Perwari.
For the fight of Ambarawa my father office was requested
by local commandant of the Indonesian Army (TNI) to prepare the transportations. The
office sent two pick-ups with two drivers. No administration process was needed
for this request. This was national emergency situation. Several days later one
of the drivers came back to the office and reported that the small trucks had
been destroyed in an air raid in the fightings.
In the fighting which lasted from October to December
1945, the Allied and the Dutch army were compelled to retreat to Semarang.
Genetically Indonesians are small, and
experiencing 3,5 years under a grim
Japanese occupation made Indonesians seriously under nourished and underweighted. Ninety percent of the
populations were illiterate, there were only a few youths who knew how to use light armaments and fewer
Indonesian leaders and politicians. These situations were very inviting for
other nations or former invader to rule and occupy the resources-rich country. But however the
physical conditions were, the Indonesians spirit to free themselves from
colonialism were no less.
Meanwhile Dutch reconnaissance planes often flew low
over Temanggung to observe movement of Indonesian volunteers and army. People called
it capung or dragonfly because it had
four wing blades and flew slowly like a dragonfly.
The Indonesian guerrillas had very limited
armaments, had no aircraft nor anti aircraft guns so they didn’t shoot the
plane. The Dutch observing plane could fly safely to wherever they like to fly
without any worry.
Picture 3: A Dutch scouting plane
over Temanggung
One day uncle Maliki, his wife Dumilah and their
daughter Nani who fled unsafe Kendal, a small town west of Semarang, arrived in
our house. They were given one room to stay. Uncle Maliki is the elder brother
of my father.
Several days later came Uncle Umar Khasan, his
wife Khotijah, and their two sons Marjanto and baby Margiono in our house. They
were given another room. Khotijah is my mother’s younger sister.
Another weeks later my father found his father in
law, my grandfather Wiryodiprojo, and his two daughters Suwarti and Supiah who
had traveled on foot from Tegal, about 200 km north west of Temanggung through
difficult and dangerous terrains. They too were given shelter in our
house. Our house becomes very crowded
with refugees. My grandfather Wiryo was still sad after several months before founding
his son Adi, my mother’s younger brother, shot by the Dutch soldiers. Some witnesses said that he was ordered to take a birdcage. Then he was shot from the back. He was a
teacher. His wife was pregnant. Later a baby girl was borned.
Picture 4: My Uncle Adi Wirjodiprodjo was executed by Dutch soldiers, 1947 .
One day I saw many people crawled on hand and
knees in the street carrying pointed bamboo pools and
wooden rifles making a drill as if they were
ambushing enemies. The volunteers were hoping that someday their wooden
rifles would be discarded and they would carry real gun from seizing the gun
from the dead enemies during fightings. Those were their dreams. Several days
later hundreds of people went to Parakan to obtain safety prayer from an
Islamic influential person so that they’ll be saved in the fightings.
One evening my father told my mother that he was
called by the army and had to go with them to attach and assemble bombs on the
bridges, buildings, factories and other premises to prevent those buildings be
used by the Dutch army. The pulled-by-wire bombs should be placed in the
effective locations so that it will cause the biggest damages when it exploded.
The army considered my father, as a technical supervisor, had knowledge on the weakness of bridge and building constructions.
Some of the owner of these premises didn’t like
their properties damaged for the struggle of the Republic and they then
collaborated with the Dutch army to get even with these members of the
demolition teams.
Maybe on the first quarter of 1947 uncle Maliki
and his family and Uncle Umar Khasan and his family departed Temanggung to the
places they had planned to move to.
Around May 1947 my father was appointed by the
Ministry of Public Work to carry on studying at the Gadjah Mada, a newly
established University in Yogyakarta. We moved by train, but our furnitures
were carried by the oxen carts own by the office which traveled for three days
from Temanggung to Yogyakarta.
On July 1947 the Dutch operated a Military Aggression
(I) named Operatie Product. Dutch
Army of 100,000 from Korps Speciale Troepen led by Westerling and 1e Para Compagnie led by C. Sisselaar
occupied many areas including Temanggung. This Aggression was a breach of
Linggarjati Agreement conducted on March 1947.
In this invasion Riboet, one of the worker of my
father’s office who belong to the
demolition team together with the army was
caught by the Dutch army and was shot dead.
Picture 5: Dutch soldiers excecuted Riboet
a pro-Republic demolition team.
The Dutch army intelligence (IVG) also searching for
my father, but we were lucky that we had
moved to Yogyakarta. The Dutch army considered that whoever not cooperating
with them were their enemies and must be eliminated. They never thought that
they were the invader who breached others’ national right.
In 1941 to 1945 the Dutch people fought German
Nazi invader in Holland, ironically not long after their patriotic struggles, they
invaded Indonesia. They were doing the same attitudes they had fought against
before.
In
Yogyakarta my family lived in a tenement at Bugisan 5 street where Abdulsalam
and Soerono families lived. They are painters. Our extensive family consisted
of our core family members plus my grandfather, my two aunts and two maids.
In
the middle of the house there was a wide room which was used as a workshop
where the painters work. They were Soedibjo,
Ramli, Oesman Effendi, and Tino Sidin besides Abdulsalam and Soerono. The
imminent S. Soedjojono painter had sometimes visited this office. Those
painters were under the Ministry of Youth and Developments Ministered by Soepeno.
There
was no sign nor nameboard whatsoever showing that the house belonged to a
government office.
...if any one slew* a person it would be as if he slew the whole people...(Koran 5:32)
*unlawful murder or unconstitutional murder.
Does man think that he will be left uncontrolled without a purpose? (without responsibility?) (Koran 75:36)
(Next episode: The Dutch Army Arrested My Father, My Uncle and Others, 1948 at https://angudi002.blogspot.com).
Sardjono Angudi
16/09/2011 revised 25/02/2023
