''Pembela Tanah Air'' (abbreviated PETA; ) or was an Indonesian volunteer army established on 3 October 1943 in

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 Guine ...

by the occupying Japanese. The Japanese intended PETA to assist their forces in opposing a possible invasion by the Allies. By the end of the war, there were a total of 69 battalions (''daidan'') in

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 List ...

(around 37,000 men) and

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 ...

(approximately 20,000 men). On 17 August 1945, the day after the

Indonesian Declaration of 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 t ...

, the Japanese ordered the PETA ''daidan'' to surrender and hand over their weapons, which most of them did. The Indonesian Republic's newly declared President, Sukarno, supported the dissolution rather than turn the organisation into a national army as he feared allegations of collaboration had he allowed a Japanese-created militia to continue to exist.Ricklefs (1981), p. 194Sunhaussen (1982), pp. 2–4Bachtiar(1988), p. 12 During the

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...

, former PETA officers and troops, such as

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

and

Sudirman General of the Army Raden Sudirman ( Old Spelling: Soedirman; 24 January 1916 – 29 January 1950) was a high-ranking Indonesian military officer during the Indonesian National Revolution. The first commander of the Indonesian National Ar ...

, formed the core of the fledgling Indonesia armed forces.

Structure of PETA

Notable members of PETA

* Supriyadi *

Gatot Soebroto Gatot Soebroto ( Enhanced Spelling: Gatot Subroto, 10 October 1907 – 11 June 1962) was an Indonesian general who began his military career with the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) and rose to be deputy Army chief-of-staff. Early life So ...

Ibrahim Yaacob Ibrahim bin Yaacob (1911 – 8 March 1979) was a Malayan politician. An opponent of the British colonial government, he was president and founder of the ''Kesatuan Melayu Muda'' (KMM). During World War II, he supported the Japanese during their ...

References

* Bachtiar, Harsja W. (1988), ''Siapa Dia?: Perwira Tinggi Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (Who is S/He?: Senior Officers of the Indonesian Army)'', Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, * Sunhaussen, Ulf (1982) ''The Road to Power: Indonesian Military Politics 1945-1967'' Oxford University Press, * Ricklefs, M.C. (1981) ''A History of Modern Indonesia, c. 1300 to the present.'' MacMillan,

Notes

Indonesian collaborators with Imperial Japan Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies Pembela Tanah Air {{Indonesia-stub

Structure of PETA

Notable members of PETA

See also

References

Notes