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,
Sawahlunto on the island of
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
. He was educated at Dutch schools for natives, firstly at a
Hollandsch-Inlandsche School
Hollandsch-Inlandsche School (HIS) (Dutch school for natives) was a school during the Dutch colonial era in Indonesia. The school, was first established in 1914, following with the enactment of the Dutch Ethical Policy
The Dutch Ethical Polic ...
, then at a
Algemene Middelbare School in Yogyakarta. In 1932 he obtained a law degree in Jakarta.
In the early 1930s, Yamin was active in journalist circles, joining the editorial board of the newspaper ''Panorama'', together with
Liem Koen Hian
Liem Koen Hian (3 November 1897 – 4 November 1952) was an Indonesian journalist and politician. He was born in Banjarmasin, the son of a local peranakan Chinese business owner, Liem Ke An. He attended the Hollands-Chineesche School to class 6, ...
,
Sanusi Pane and
Amir Sjarifuddin
Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap (EVO: Amir Sjarifoeddin Harahap; 27 April 1907 – 19 December 1948) was an Indonesian politician and journalist who served as the second prime minister of Indonesia from 1947 until 1948. A major leader of the lef ...
.
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.
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.
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
:
Sumatera namanya tumpah darahku.
In the above poem, one imagines Yamin standing on the hills near the town of
Bukittinggi, the site of the prehistoric canyon now verdant with rain forest and paddy fields. Note that he refers to
Sumatera, specifically the part that is called the Alam Minangkabau which lies on the western part of the large island, as his land and water (tanah airku) as well as that to which he will defend with his blood (tumpah darahku), and not Indonesia as it became independent in 1945. This may reflect the early development of his concept of nationhood.
The credit for the first important modern prose in Malay belongs to his fellow Minangkabau,
Marah Roesli
Marah Roesli (; full name: Marah Rusli bin Abu Bakar) was an Indonesian writer.
Biography
Marah Roesli was born in Padang, West Sumatra on August 7, 1889, and died in Bandung, West Java on January 17, 1968. He was one of the most well-known Indo ...
, 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.
The date was historically important, because it was on that date that Yamin and his fellow nationalists recited an oath: One Country, One Nation, One Language, popularly known as the Youth's Oath (''Sumpah Pemuda''). The date is celebrated as a national holiday in Indonesia. His play, ''Ken Arok dan Ken Dedes'', which took its subjects from Java's history
Pararaton, appeared in one of the 1934 issues of ''
Poedjangga Baroe
''Poedjangga Baroe'' (pronounced ; Perfected spelling: ''Pujangga Baru'', also known by the intermediate spelling ''Pudjangga Baru'') was an Indonesian ''avant-garde'' literary magazine published from July 1933 to February 1942. It was founded ...
'', the only literary publication that featured the rebuke to the predominantly Dutch-speaking indigenous intellectuals. His compatriots included
Roestam Effendi
Roestam Effendi (Perfected Spelling: Rustam Effendi; 13 May 1903 – 24 May 1979) was an Indonesian writer and member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands. He is known for experimenting with the Malay language in the writing ...
,
Sanusi Pané
Sanusi Pane (14 November 1905 – 2 January 1968) was an Indonesian writer, journalist, and historian. He was highly active in literary media, sitting on the editorial boards of several publications. He has also been described as the most import ...
and
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, founders of ''
Poedjangga Baroe
''Poedjangga Baroe'' (pronounced ; Perfected spelling: ''Pujangga Baru'', also known by the intermediate spelling ''Pudjangga Baru'') was an Indonesian ''avant-garde'' literary magazine published from July 1933 to February 1942. It was founded ...
''.
In his poetry, Yamin made much use of the
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...
form, borrowed from Dutch literature. At that time among the major writers was the national activist
Abdul Muis (1898–1959), whose central theme was the interaction of Indonesian and European value system. In 1936 appeared Pandji Tisna's (1908–1978) ''
Sukreni: Gadis Bali'', possibly the most original work of pre-independence fiction, which dealt with the destructive effect of contemporary commercial ethics on Balinese society. Distinctly innovative poetry had appeared in the 1910s. The European sonnet form was especially popular, but the influence of traditional verse forms remained strong. Although Yamin experimented with Malay in his poetry, he upheld the classical norms of the language more than the younger generation of writers. Yamin also published plays, essays, historical novels and poems, and translated works from such authors as
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
(''
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
'') and
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
.
Political life
Yamin was leader of the ''Jong Sumatranen Bond'' (Association of Sumatran Youth) from 1926 to 1928, and also ''Indonesia Muda'' (Indonesian Youth) in 1928. . He then became an active member of the Association of Indonesian Students (PPPI) and the
Indonesia Party (Partindo). Upon the dissolution of Partindo, Yamin was one of the founders of
Indonesian People's Movement (Gerindo) in May 1937 along with
A. K. Gani
Adnan Kapau Gani (16 September 1905 – 23 December 1968), often abbreviated as A. K. Gani, was an Indonesian politician. Born in West Sumatra, he spent much of his youth in Java, where he studied medicine and became involved with the na ...
and
Amir Sjarifuddin
Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap (EVO: Amir Sjarifoeddin Harahap; 27 April 1907 – 19 December 1948) was an Indonesian politician and journalist who served as the second prime minister of Indonesia from 1947 until 1948. A major leader of the lef ...
. Gerindo's aim was to raise public consciousness of nationalist ideas by organizing the people. Gerindo's founding, however, also reflected a growing willingness on the part of many left-wing nationalists to cooperate with the Dutch. This willingness arose both from despair over the prospects for organizing effective nationalist resistance in the face of Dutch military and police power and from a conviction that collaboration against fascism (especially Japanese fascism) had the highest priority in world affairs. Gerindo hoped that through cooperation the Dutch would establish a separate legislature in the colonial territory. Yamin was expelled from the organization in 1939 for breaches of regulations, including campaigning against another Gerindo candidate in the Batavia municipal council elections. He then established the Party of Indonesian Unity (Parpindo). In 1939, Yamin became a member of the
Volksraad The Volksraad was a people's assembly or legislature in Dutch or Afrikaans speaking government.
Assembly South Africa
* Volksraad (South African Republic) (1840–1902)
* Volksraad (Natalia Republic), a similar assembly that existed in the Natalia ...
, an advisory body created in 1917 by the Dutch in the
Netherlands East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised Factory (trading post), trading posts o ...
.
Within the Vollksraad, Yamin divided the National Fraction grouping of Indonesian members led by
Mohammad Husni Thamrin
Mohammad Husni Thamrin (16 February 1894 – 11 January 1941) was a pre-independence Indonesian political thinker and nationalist who after his death was named a National Hero.
Early life and beginning of political career
Thamrin was born ...
, by enticing non-Javanese members away, damaging the unity of the nationalists. He then formed the National Indonesia Group (Goni), which was chaired by
Mangaradja Soeangkoepon, and also included
Abdul Rasjid and
Tadjuddin Noor. Yamin subsequently claimed that he and his new colleagues had been unhappy with Parindra members dominating the National Fraction. As a reprisal for its refusal to admit him as a member, Yamin then tried to undermine the united front of the
Indonesian Political Federation
The Indonesian Political Federation ( id, Gabungan Politik Indonesia) (GAPI) was an umbrella group created in 1939 in the Dutch East Indies to unite nationalists organizations to campaign for an elected parliament for Indonesian in exchange for c ...
(Gapi) by separately petitioning the Dutch authorities for an Indonesian parliament on behalf of his Parindo party.
Shortly before the
Japanese attack on
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
, Amir Sjarifuddin received funds from the Dutch authorities to organize underground resistance. This movement was quickly ended by the Japanese. Gerindo, as all other organizations, were banned. Gerindo's policy of cooperation with the Dutch prefigured the postwar strategy of the Socialist Party — including that of
Amir Sjarifuddin
Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap (EVO: Amir Sjarifoeddin Harahap; 27 April 1907 – 19 December 1948) was an Indonesian politician and journalist who served as the second prime minister of Indonesia from 1947 until 1948. A major leader of the lef ...
, 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).
Involvement in drafting the constitution
Yamin was also one of the sixty-two founding members of the Japanese-established
(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
Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...
,
Sabah
Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...
,
Malaya, and
Portuguese Timor
Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
The first Europeans to arrive in the ...
. 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.
Yamin's claim of authorship for Pancasila was questioned by Dr.
Mohammad Hatta
Mohammad Hatta (; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman and nationalist who served as the country's first vice president. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indone ...
, 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
Brigadier General Raden Panji Nugroho Notosusanto (15 July 1930 – 3 June 1985) was an Indonesian short story writer turned military historian who served as professor of history at the University of Indonesia. Born to a noble family in Cent ...
, the official historian, used Yamin's 1959 work as the basis of an official book to reinforce this claim.
![Tomb of Muhammad Yamin (4)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Tomb_of_Muhammad_Yamin_%284%29.JPG)
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. When the BPUPK met for its second session, from 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.
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
Mohammad Hatta (; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman and nationalist who served as the country's first vice president. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indone ...
,
Soepomo
Soepomo (EYD: Supomo; 22 January 1903 – 12 September 1958) was an Indonesian politician and lawyer who served as the country's first Minister of Justice from August until November 1945 and again from December 1949 until 6 September 1950. K ...
,
Subardjo,
Otto Iskandardinata, Yamin and
Wongsonegoro to produce a final version of the Constitution.
Yamin served in the cabinet of successive, post-colonial administrations, notably as Minister of Education and Culture (1953–1955) in the
First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet
The First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet was an Indonesian cabinet named after the Prime Minister, and also known as 'Kabinet IV', that served from 1 August 1953 until 24 July 1955.
Composition Cabinet Leadership
*Prime Minister: Ali Sastroamidjoj ...
, Minister without portfolio (1957–1959) in the
Djuanda Cabinet, Minister for Social Affairs and Culture (1959–1960) in the
First Working Cabinet
The First Working Cabinet, ( id, Kabinet Kerja I), was an Indonesian
cabinet that served from 9 July 1959 until 18 February 1960, when President Sukarno reshuffled
it.
Composition
Cabinet Leadership
*Prime Minister: Sukarno
* Deputy Prime Min ...
, Minister and deputy director of the National Planning Board (BAPPENAS)(1960–1962) in the
Second Working Cabinet and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Information and Director of BAPPENAS (1962 until his death) in the
Third Working Cabinet
The Third Working Cabinet, ( id, Kabinet Kerja III), was an Indonesian
cabinet that resulted from a 6 March 1962 reshuffle of the previous cabinet by President Sukarno. It consisted of a prime minister, two first deputy ministers, eight deputy p ...
.
Personality
Although Yamin was intelligent, he had a reputation for overstating his own 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
The First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet was an Indonesian cabinet named after the Prime Minister, and also known as 'Kabinet IV', that served from 1 August 1953 until 24 July 1955.
Composition Cabinet Leadership
*Prime Minister: Ali Sastroamidjoj ...
from 1953 to 1955, Yamin claimed to have led the restoration of the
Borobudur temple
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesi ...
. 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
Mohammad Hatta (; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman and nationalist who served as the country's first vice president. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indone ...
called Yamin 'crafty' (''licik'').
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.
In 1973, he was proclaimed a
National Hero of Indonesia
National Hero of Indonesia ( id, Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia) is the highest-level title awarded in Indonesia. It is posthumously given by the Government of Indonesia for actions which are deemed to be heroic, defined as "actual deeds which can b ...
.
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
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
), 1951
* Tatanegara Majapahit (7 volumes), an exposition of the administration of the
Majapahit Empire
Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia) ...
(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
References
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* Cheng Han Tan et al., ''Legal Education in Southeast Asia'', ''Asian Journal of Comparative Law'' v1(2006), No 1, Article 9. Free copy available a
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamin, Mohammad
1903 births
1962 deaths
20th-century dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Indonesian poets
20th-century male writers
Education ministers of Indonesia
Government ministers of Indonesia
Indonesian collaborators with Imperial Japan
Indonesian dramatists and playwrights
Indonesian male poets
Indonesian writers
Members of the Central Advisory Council
Minangkabau people
Ministers of law and human rights of Indonesia
National Heroes of Indonesia
People from Sawahlunto
Rechtshogeschool te Batavia alumni
Social affairs ministers of Indonesia
University of Indonesia alumni