Besar Mertokusumo (also spelled Besar Martokusumo; 8 July 1894 – 1980) was an Indonesian advocate, said by Daniel S. Lev to be the first.
Early life and education
Mertokusumo was born in
Brebes
Brebes (, jv, ꦧꦽꦧꦼꦱ꧀, ) is a regency ( id, kabupaten) in the northwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,769.2km2, and it had a population of 1,733,869 at the 2010 Census and 1,978,759 at the 2 ...
,
Central Java
Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...
,
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
on 8 July 1894 to a prosecutor and his wife; he was the first of two children.
He attended elementary school at a Europeesche Lagere School in
Pekalongan
Pekalongan ( jv, ꦦꦼꦏꦭꦺꦴꦔꦤ꧀) is a city of Central Java, Indonesia. It was formerly the seat of Pekalongan Regency on the northern coast of the province, but is now an independent municipality within the province. The city is Cen ...
, graduating in 1909. He then attended the Rechtschool in
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
, which he graduated in 1915; there, he lived with numerous other Indonesian students under the supervision of a Dutchwoman, studying criminal law. After several years as the Official Seconded ( nl, Ambtenaar Ter Beschikking) at the ''Landraad'' (state court) in Pekalongan, he received a grant to go to
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, Netherlands, to study at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
together with eleven others. He graduated in 1922.
Legal and political career
After being refused equal legal status with the Dutch, Mertokusumo decided to become an advocate. He later established a law firm in
Tegal
Tegal is a city in the northwest part of Central Java of Indonesia. It is situated on the north coast (or ''pesisir'') of Central Java, about from Semarang, the capital of the province. It had a population of 239,599 at the 2010 Census and 276 ...
, not far from his family in Brebes; at the time, there were few Dutch lawyers there. Despite a lack of support from his family, after a few years he was able to open a second branch in
Semarang
Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...
, attracting young lawyers to his firm with wages up to 600 gulden a month.
During the
Japanese occupation of Indonesia
The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. It was one of the most crucial and important periods in modern Indonesian history.
In May ...
, Mertokusumo served as the mayor of Tegal in April 1942; he was the first
Native Indonesian
Native Indonesians, also known as ''Pribumi'' (), are Indonesians whose ancestral roots lie mainly in the archipelago, distinguished from Indonesians of known (partial) foreign descent, like Chinese Indonesians (Tionghoa), Arab Indonesians, India ...
mayor. In 1944 he became the regent of
Tegal Regency
Tegal Regency is one of the regencies in the northwest part of Central Java province of Indonesia, with an area of . The administrative center used to be in Tegal City, in the northwest corner of the regency, but then Tegal City was administrat ...
. Towards the end of the Japanese occupation, he joined the
Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence
The Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence ( id, Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan, BPUPK; ja, 独立準備調査会, Hepburn: , Nihon-shiki / Kunrei-shiki: ), sometimes referred to as the Investigating Co ...
and became the Assistant Resident of Pekalongan.
After independence, Mertokusumo served as secretary general of the Department of Justice.
Mertokusumo died at age 86 on 23 February 1980. He is buried in Giritama Cemetery,
Bogor
Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Daniel S. Lev has called Mertokusumo Indonesia's first advocate, noting that he often represented poor Indonesian defendants in the ''Landraad'', where they would be forced to sit on the floor. Lev writes that Mertokusumo "broke the ice" for Indonesian advocates.
On 17 August 1992, Mertokusumo received the Bintang Mahaputra posthumously for his legal work.
Personal life
Mertokusumo was married to Raden Ayu Majatoen, with whom he had four children.