Indonesian People's Revolutionary Front ( id, Barisan Pemberontakan Rakyat Indonesia), abbreviated as BPRI, is an Indonesian

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

founded by Sutomo with its headquarters in

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

on 12 October, 1945.

History

The Indonesian People's Rebellion was aimed at realizing and defending the

Proclamation of Indonesian Independence The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of th ...

. The term "revolutionary front" ( id, barisan pemberontakan), and not "warrior front" ( id, barisan pejuang), was chosen because since the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

held power over the local population, who were ordinary people, and wanted to emphasise the fact their militia was led first and foremost by the common man. BPRI rallied the people's resistance against the Dutch who wanted to reign Indonesia after the

Surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The most prominent role of BPRI was its involvement in the

Battle of Surabaya The Battle of Surabaya was fought between regular infantry and militia of the Indonesian nationalist movement and British and British Indian troops as a part of the Indonesian National Revolution against the re-imposition of Dutch colonial r ...

. At that time, Sutomo delivered a speech through a radio broadcast that rallied the people in Surabaya against the army of Allied forces.

Branches

BPRI had branches in

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

, among others: * BPRI expedition IX

Banjarmasin ) , translit_lang1 = Other , translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi , translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...

under the leadership of Mohd. Asnawie and H. Arsyad; * BPRI VIII Brig. "S" Div. VI (NAROTAMA) Samarinda under the leadership of RP Joewono.

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= {{cite book , date = 2015 , title = Bung Tomo: Soerabaja di Tahun 45 , publisher = Tim Buku TEMPO , language = id , series = Tokoh Militer {{cite book , last = Sarip , first = Muhammad , date = 2015 , title = Samarinda Bahari, Sejarah 7 Zaman Daerah Samarinda. Samarinda: Komunitas Samarinda Bahari , language = id , isbn = 978-602-736-170-6 {{cite book , last = Sanusi , first = Djunaid , date = 1984 , title = Secercah Perjuangan BPRI Bn. VIII Brig. "S" Div. VI (NAROTAMA) di Samarinda , publisher = Samarinda: Pemda Kalimantan Timur , language = id {{Verify source, date=July 2018 History of Indonesia