Soedarpo Sastrosatomo

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Soedarpo Sastrosatomo
Bank Niaga
Political partySocialist Party of Indonesia

Soedarpo Sastrosatomo (30 June 1920 – 22 October 2007) was an Indonesian businessman, diplomat and journalist. He was the founder of

Bank Niaga and the shipping firm Samudera Indonesia [id
].

Originating from a Javanese family, Soedarpo was active in the Indonesian nationalist movement during his education and later became a press officer for the government. After some time as a diplomat in the United States, he started his own business of distribution and shipping, later expanding to financial services and eventually becoming one of the most successful businessmen in Indonesia.

Early life and career

Soedarpo was born in Pangkalan Susu, in what is today

Algemene Middelbare School. By the 1930s, he and his older brother Soebadio moved to Batavia where they enrolled in medical studies. During their time in Batavia, both siblings were active in liberal and radical Indonesian nationalist organizations, and were influenced by Sutan Sjahrir.[3]

In 1943, the brothers and Soedjatmoko went directly to Sukarno to criticize his cooperation with the Japanese occupiers. Also in that year, he was expelled from the medical school after participating in protests against the requirement for students to attend daily Japanese flag raising ceremony and bowing towards Tokyo. After this, Soedarpo withdrew from politics for some time, though he remained in contact with Sjahrir.[3]

Post-independence

Following the

proclamation of Indonesian independence, Soedarpo began to work at the Indonesian Ministry of Information's Foreign Section, due to his relative proficiency in English.[5][6] He was noted as Indonesia's "first government PR officer".[7] Later, he and Soedjatmoko was sent as an envoy from Sjahrir to Sukarno in a successful attempt to find and persuade the latter to allow the formation of a government led by a prime minister.[3] In another occasion as an envoy, he convinced Sukarno to negotiate the 1946 Linggadjati Agreement.[8]

Soedarpo joined the

Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference.[3][5]

During his time in New York and later the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., aside from attempting to secure recognition of Indonesian sovereignty, Soedarpo was tasked with administering the Indonesian foreign exchange. He also became the Indonesian representative to the United Nations Security Council. He left diplomatic service in 1952.[3][5][10]

Business career

After returning from the United States, Soedarpo decided against working for the government and began working as a director in Zorro Corporation, a distributor company for Remington typewriters and RCA products owned by American Matthew Fox. While Zorro held monopoly rights for the distribution from the two companies, it failed to secure domestic distribution licenses, causing Soedarpo to leave the company and start the NVDP Soedarpo Corporation in 1952. After securing the import license, Soedarpo took over distribution rights from Zorro in a profit-sharing scheme. In 1958, he secured rights to distribute UNIVAC units.[11][12][13]

He also obtained contracts and import licenses for military vehicles. He borrowed money from

stevedoring firm Stroohoeden Veem in 1956.[4][14] In 1964, ISTA and the stevedoring companies under Soedarpo's control were merged into a single firm, Samudera Indonesia.[15][16]

Soedarpo also founded insurance company Asuransi Bintang and

Singapore Stock Exchange, Soedarpo was its chairman.[16] In 2006, Forbes placed him 37th in their list of 40 richest Indonesians, placing his net worth at US$100 million.[19]

In 1995, President Suharto awarded Soedarpo with the Bintang Mahaputera Pratama.[20]

Personal life and family

During his time at AMS, Soedarpo was a hurdling athlete, winning the Javanese hurdling championship of 1940.[21] Soedarpo was also a member of Rotary International, becoming one of its district governors.[20]

He was married to Minarsih "Mien" Wiranatakoesoemah and has had three daughters: Shanti Lasminingsih Poesposoetjipto, Ratna Djuwita Tunggul Hatma, and Chandraleika Mulia.[22] They gave him six grandchildren, and two grand-grandchildren at the time of his death.[23] Her wife, Mien, passed away in 2013.[24]

Death

Soedarpo died in Jakarta on 22 October 2007. He was buried in the Tanah Kusir Public Cemetery.[25]

References

Footnotes

  1. ISBN 9789794167663
    . Soedarpo was born on June 30, 1920, in Pangkalansusu
  2. ^ a b Wie 2003, pp. 143–144.
  3. ^
    JSTOR 40376449. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9789004253971
    .
  5. ^ a b c Wie 2003, pp. 146–147.
  6. ^ "Soedarpo Sastrosatomo". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  7. ISBN 9781137398154
    .
  8. ISBN 9789797094898
    .
  9. ISBN 9781108424578
    .
  10. ^ "Against The Currents: A Biography Of Soedarpo Sastrosatomo (book description)". selectbooks.com.sg. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  11. ISBN 9781501718915
    .
  12. ^ a b Love, Bruce (2 May 2008). "Soedarpo: from revolutionary to family business leader". Campden Family Business. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  13. ^ Setiyono, Budi (20 October 2011). "(Bukan) Lafayette Amerika Modern". Historia (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  14. ^ Wie 2003, p. 150.
  15. ^ Wie 2003, p. 168.
  16. ^ a b "Samudera founder dies". TradeWinds. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  17. ^ Wie 2003, p. 142.
  18. ISBN 9780333994962
    .
  19. ^ "#37 Soedarpo Sastrosatomo & family". Forbes. 9 July 2006. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  20. ^ a b The Rotarian. Rotary International. 1995. p. 56.
  21. ISBN 9789797094287
    .
  22. ^ "22 Oktober Memperingati Hari Santri Nasional". kumparan (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  23. ^ "Juwono: Soedarpo Sastrosatomo Patut Jadi Teladan". ANTARA News (in Indonesian). 22 October 2007. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  24. ^ gandhi, Grace (2013-01-16). "Mien Soedarpo Berpulang". Tempo. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  25. ^ "Kalla: Soedarpo Sastrosatomo Tak Tergantikan". detikFinance (in Indonesian). 22 October 2007. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

Bibliography

ISBN 9789812301789
.
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