Mohammad Yamin
Mohammad Yamin | |
---|---|
Minister of Law | |
In office 27 April 1951 – 3 April 1952 | |
President | Sukarno |
Preceded by | Wongsonegoro |
Succeeded by | Lukman Wiriadinata |
Personal details | |
Born | Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies | 24 August 1903
Died | 17 October 1962 Jakarta, Indonesia | (aged 59)
Nationality | Indonesian |
Mohammad Yamin (24 August 1903 – 17 October 1962) was an Indonesian poet, politician, and national hero who played a key role in the writing of the draft preamble to the 1945 constitution.
Early life and education
Yamin was born on 28 August 1903 in Talawi,
In the early 1930s, Yamin was active in journalist circles, joining the editorial board of the newspaper Panorama, together with Liem Koen Hian, Sanusi Pane, and Amir Sjarifuddin.[3][4] In mid-1936, together with his colleagues Liem, Pane, and Sjarifuddin, Yamin started another newspaper, Kebangoenan (1936–1941), which—as with Panorama—was published by Phoa Liong Gie's Siang Po Printing Press.[3]
Literary legacy
Yamin began his literary career as a writer in the 1920s when Indonesian poetry was marked by an intense and largely reflective romanticism. He was a pioneer in that art form.[5]
Yamin started to write in Malay in the Dutch-language journal Jong Sumatra, the literary publication of the Jong Sumatranen Bond, a semi-political organization of Sumatran youth. Yamin's early works were tied to the clichés used in classical Malay. He debuted as a poet with "Tanah Air" ('motherland') in 1922. It was the first collection of modern Malay verse to be published. Quoted below is the first stanza of "Tanah Air", his ode to the natural beauty of the highlands in present West Sumatra:
- Di atas batasan Bukit Barisan
- Memandang beta ke bawah memandang
- Tampaklah hutan rimba dan ngarai
- lagi pun sawah, telaga nan permai :
- Serta gerangan lihatlah pula
- Langit yang hijau bertukar warna
- Oleh pucuk daun kelapa :
- Itulah tanah airku
- Sumateranamanya tumpah darahku.
In the above poem, one imagines Yamin standing on the hills near the town of
The credit for the first important modern prose in Malay belongs to his fellow Minangkabau, Marah Roesli, author of the novel Sitti Nurbaya which also appeared in 1922. Rusli's work enjoyed years of great popularity.
Yamin's second collection, Tumpah Darahku, appeared on 28 October 1928.
In his poetry, Yamin made much use of the
Political life
Yamin was the leader of the Jong Sumatranen Bond (Association of Sumatran Youth) from 1926 to 1928, and also Indonesia Muda (Indonesian Youth) in 1928. .
Within the Vollksraad, Yamin divided the National Fraction grouping of Indonesian members led by
Shortly before the Japanese attack on Java, Amir Sjarifuddin received funds from the Dutch authorities to organize underground resistance. This movement was quickly ended by the Japanese. Gerindo, like all other organizations, was banned. Gerindo's policy of cooperation with the Dutch prefigured the postwar strategy of the Socialist Party — including that of Amir Sjarifuddin, defense minister and later prime minister of the Indonesian Republic — in making far-reaching concessions to the Dutch to obtain international recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty.
During the Japanese occupation (1942–1945), Yamin was appointed to the advisory board of the Center for People's Power (Pusat Tenaga Rakyat - PUTERA), a Japanese-sponsored confederation of nationalist organizations. Putera was established on 9 March 1943, with Sukarno as chairman. Concurrent with his role in Putera's advisory board, Yamin was appointed a senior official at the Sendenbu (the Japanese Propaganda Office).[13]
Involvement in drafting the constitution
Yamin was also one of the sixty-two founding members of the Japanese-established Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK). He suggested to the body that the new nation should include all the Malay-speaking world: not only the territories of the Netherlands Indies, but also Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, and Portuguese Timor.[14] Yamin later claimed that on 29 May 1945, he delivered a speech on certain philosophical and political foundations for the proposed new nation and enumerated five principles for the nation, which came to be known as Pancasila and were later incorporated in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution. This would have been two days before Sukarno's speech outlining Pancasila on 1 June.[15][16]
Yamin's claim of authorship for Pancasila was questioned by Dr. Mohammad Hatta, Mr. Subarjo, Mr. A. Maramis, Prof. A.G. Pringgodigdo, Prof. Sunario, and all of the surviving members of BPUPK who were subsequently interviewed. However, the fact that Yamin was seemingly the only person to possess complete records of the BPUPK sessions, which he used for his 1959 book Naskah persiapan Undang-undang Dasar 1945 (Documents for the preparation of the 1945 Constitution) was particularly useful for the New Order regime, which took power in Indonesia following the coup attempt of September 1965. As part of the de-Sukanoization process to discredit the former regime, it was in the interests of the government to claim that Yamin had come up with the Pancasila concept and that Sukarno was simply the first person to use the term 'Pancasila'. To this end, Nugroho Notosusanto, the official historian, used Yamin's 1959 work as the basis of an official book to reinforce this claim.[17]
Yamin was a member of the Committee of Nine (Panintia Sembilan) tasked with beginning to draft a constitution. This committee produced the preamble, which incorporated the essence of Sukarno's 1 June speech. Yamin, who did much of the work in producing this draft, called it the Jakarta Charter.[18] When the BPUPK met for its second session, on 10 July, a committee of 19 members, with Soepomo playing the major role, produced the draft constitution over three days. Yamin was disappointed at not being appointed to this committee and refused to accept his appointment to a different committee that discussed financial matters. When the draft constitution was put to a vote on 16 July, Yamin criticised it and was the only BPUPK member who did not immediately accept it. Yamin subsequently claimed that he had produced a draft constitution that was very similar to Soepomo's version, but there is no evidence for this, and Hatta specifically denied that Yamin had presented such a document to the BPUPK.[19][20]
On 17 August 1945, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence and the next day, the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI) met and tasked a commission of seven: Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Soepomo, Subardjo, Otto Iskandardinata, Yamin and Wongsonegoro to produce a final version of the Constitution.[21]
Yamin served in the cabinet of successive, post-colonial administrations, notably as Minister of Education and Culture (1953–1955) in the
Personality
Although Yamin was intelligent, he had a reputation for overstating his accomplishments, and for being argumentative. Thamrin referred to him as "the eternal splitter" because of his confrontational attitude in the Volksraad. As well as his false claim to have come up with the concept of Pancasila in a speech at the BPUPK on 29 May 1945, when he was minister of culture in the First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet from 1953 to 1955, Yamin claimed to have led the restoration of the Borobudur temple. A plaque that he ordered installed on the temple claiming he played a key role was removed once Yamin was no longer culture minister. Indonesia's first vice-president, Mohammad Hatta called Yamin 'crafty' (licik).[1][9][23]
Death and posthumous developments
Yamin died in Jakarta on 17 October 1962. The originator of significant ideas, Yamin dominated modern Indonesian political and cultural history. His ideas contributed to the political awakening and the surge in national pride in Indonesia.[24] In 1973, he was proclaimed a National Hero of Indonesia.[2]
Selected works
- Tanah Air, 1922
- Indonesia, Tumpah Darahku, 1928
- Ken Arok dan Ken Dedes, 1934
- Sedjarah Perdjoeangan Dipanegara (History of the Dipanegara Wars), 1945
- Gadjah Mada (history of the Majapahit prime minister), 1948
- Revolusi Amerika (American Revolution), 1951
- Tatanegara Majapahit (7 volumes), an exposition of the administration of the Majapahit Empire(5th to 14th century AD).
- Naskah-naskah Persiapan Undang-undang Dasar, 1959 - a compendium and commentary on the proceedings of the deliberations leading to the promulgation of the 1945 Constitution
- Proklamasi dan Konstitusi Republik Indonesia (The Proclamation of Independence and the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia), 1951
- Kebudayaan Asia Afrika (The Asian and African Cultures), 1955
Notes
- ^ a b c d Anderson 1972, p. 457.
- ^ a b Winda 2009, p. 83.
- ^ ]
- ISBN 978-9004191211.
- ^ Foulcher 1977, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Engelfriet, Aad. "History of Indonesia Mirror Site Aad 'Arcengel' Engelfriet". home.iae.nl. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- ^ "Indonesia - Pararaton Manuscript: UNESCO-CI". portal.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 7 April 2005.
- ^ Cribb & Kahin 2004, p. 157.
- ^ a b Kusuma & Elson 2011, pp. 204–205.
- ^ Gonggong, Anhar (1985). Muhammad Husni Thamrin (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan. pp. 71–2.
- ^ "Nieuwe fractie wenscht tot een onafhankelijk Indonesia mede te werken". De Sumatra post (in Dutch). Medan. 13 July 1939. p. 3.
- ^ Abeyasekere 1976, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Post et al. 2010, p. 620.
- ^ Inomata 1997, p. 107.
- ^ Kusuma & Elson 2011, pp. 196, 199–205.
- ^ Elson 2009, p. 111.
- ^ Kusuma & Elson 2011, pp. 196, 199–206.
- ^ Elson 2009, pp. 112–113.
- ^ Elson 2009, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Kusuma & Elson 2011, pp. 205–206.
- ^ Kahin 1952, pp. 136–138.
- ^ Finch & Lev 1965, pp. 30, 38–43, 46–49.
- ^ Kusuma 2004, p. 11.
- ^ ""Mengenang Yamin" - 23/08/2003, 4:13 WIB - KOMPAS Cyber Media - Kolom". Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
References
- Abeyasekere, Susan (1976). One Hand Clapping : Indonesian Nationalists and the Dutch 1939-1942. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University. ISBN 0909835381.
- ISBN 0-8014-0687-0.
- Cheng Han Tan et al., Legal Education in Southeast Asia, Asian Journal of Comparative Law v1(2006), No 1, Article 9. Free copy available at [1]
- Cribb, R.B; Kahin, Audrey (2004). Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Scarecrow Press. p. 157. ISBN 9780810849358.
- Elson, R. E. (October 2009). "Another Look at the Jakarta Charter Controversy of 1945" (PDF). Indonesia. 88 (88): 105–130. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- Finch, Susan; Lev, Daniel S. (1965). Republic of Indonesia Cabinets, 1945-1965. Cornell University. Modern Indonesia Project. Interim reports series. Ithaca, N.Y.: Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University.
- Foulcher, Keith (1977). "Perceptions of Modernity and the Sense of the Past: Indonesian Poetry in the 1920s" (PDF). Indonesia. 23 (23): 39–58. JSTOR 3350884.
- Inomata, Aiko Kurasawa (1997). "Indonesia Merdeka Selekas-lekasnya: Preparations for Independence in the Last Days of Japanese Occupation". In Abdullah, Taufik (ed.). The Heartbeat of Indonesian Revolution. PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama. pp. 97–113. ISBN 978-979-605-723-8.
- Kahin, George McTurnan (1952). Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
- Kusuma, A.B (2004). Lahirnya Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 : memuat salinan dokumen otentik badan oentoek menyelidiki oesaha2 persiapan kemerdekaan [The Birth of the 1945 Constitution: including copies of the authentic documents of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence] (in Indonesian). Depok, Indonesia: Badan Penerbit Fakultas Hukum Universitas Indonesia. ISBN 979-8972-28-7.
- Kusuma, A.B.; Elson, R.E. (2011), "A note on the sources for the 1945 constitutional debates in Indonesia" (PDF), Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 167 (2–3): 196–209, ISSN 0006-2294
- Post, Peter; Frederick, William H.; Heidebrink, Iris; Sato, Shigeru, eds. (2010). The Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16866 4.
- Winda, D.A., ed. (2009). Profil 143 Pahlawan Indonesia [Profiles of 143 Indonesian Heroes] (in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Timur. ISBN 978-979-3837-31-4.