The Soetardjo Petition of 1936 was a
motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...
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 Re ...
(a nascent legislative body) of the
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 ...
, instigated by the legislator
Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo
Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo (22 October 1890 – 20 December 1976) was an Indonesian politician who served as the first Governor of West Java in 1945. A former member of the Volksraad, he was also renowned for the 1936 Soetardjo Petition.
Early l ...
, which was submitted as a petition to
Queen Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...
and the
Estates General of the Netherlands. The document asked for a conference to be organized with representatives from the Indies and the Netherlands to discuss the desire of Indonesians, within a period of ten years, to be autonomous under Article 1 of the
Dutch Constitution
The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the ...
as part of a Dutch commonwealth under the
Dutch Crown
The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom ( nl, Ministerraad van het Koninkrijk or ''Rijksministerraad'') is the executive council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is a state consisting of four constituent countries: Aruba, Curaçao, the Ne ...
.
The petition had six signatories:
* Soetardjo (
Javanese, president of Native Civil Servants Association (PPBB))
*
Sam Ratulangi
Dr. Gerungan Saul Samuel Jacob Ratulangi (also written as ''Ratu Langie''; 5 November 1890 – 30 June 1949) was a Minahasan teacher, journalist, politician, and National Hero of Indonesia, national hero from North Sulawesi, Indonesia. He was part ...
(
Minahasa
The Minahasans (alternative spelling: Minahassa) are an ethnic group native to the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, formerly known as North Celebes. The Minahasa people sometimes refer to themselves as Manado people. Although the Minahasan p ...
n)
* Sayyid Ismail Alatas (representative of the ethnic Arab community)
*
I. J. Kasimo (Javanese, president of a Catholic association)
*
Ko Kwat Tiong Sia (representative of the ethnic Chinese community)
* Datoek Toemoenggoeng (
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, PPBB member)
In mid-1936, the petition was approved by the Volksraad by 26 votes to 20, with 15 abstentions. Six Indonesians voted against it (and eight abstained), but because eight Europeans supported it, the petition was approved.
On November 16, 1938, the petition was rejected by the government in the Netherlands because it was considered that the Indonesians were not yet ready for independence, even within the Dutch commonwealth. This rejection encouraged the nationalist movement in Indonesia to be more radical.
Further reading
* Soerjono and Ben Anderson (1980) On Musso's Return ''Indonesia'', Vol. 29, (April 1980), pp. 59–90
*Kartohadikusumo, Setiadi, 1990 Soetardjo : pembuat "petisi Soetardjo" dan perjuangannya Setiadi Kartohadikusumo Pustaka Sinar Harapan, Jakarta
Notes
References
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Dutch East Indies
Indonesian National Awakening
1936 in the Dutch East Indies
1936 documents
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