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Indonesian People's Movement

*Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia*
Indonesian People's Movement Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia
Abbreviation	Gerindo
Founded	24 May 1937
Dissolved	20 March 1942
Preceded by	Partindo
Ideology	Leftism; Nationalism; Anti-fascism;
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	Indonesian Political Federation (GAPI)

The Indonesian People's Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia), better known as Gerindo, was a left-wing and nationalist political party in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) which existed from 1937 to 1942. It had modest goals and was largely cooperative to the colonial administration. More strongly anti-fascist than anti-colonialist, the party sought to support the colonial government in opposing fascism, especially Japanese fascism.

Founded as the successor to Partindo, the party's leaders were mainly left-wing nationalists who aspired to socialist ideals. Though more radical than its conservative counterpart, the Great Indonesia Party, Gerindo was tolerated by the colonial administration, becoming the only legal organization for radical nationalism. In 1939, Gerindo joined several other parties in forming the Indonesian Political Federation (GAPI), an umbrella organization of various different nationalist groups which called for Indonesian self-determination and an elected parliament. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, the party's activities were severely curtailed and it, alongside GAPI, was dissolved in the wake of the invasion of the colony by the Empire of Japan in 1942.

History[edit]

Background[edit]

Although the beginning of the Indonesian nationalist movement is conventionally dated 1908, the year when the political society Budi Utomo was established, the concept of an Indonesian nation only emerged very gradually in the various political parties which came into being after Budi Utomo.^[2] Among them was the Indonesian National Party (PNI), led by Sukarno, which strived for Indonesian independence through non-cooperative methods and mass organization. However, following Sukarno's arrest in 1929, the PNI suspended its activities and was later dissolved in April 1931.^[3]^[4] Most of its former membership subsequently joined the Indonesia Party (Partindo), led by Sartono. Like the PNI, Partindo sought to achieve independence through non-cooperation. However, the party was considerably more moderate in its methods than the PNI had been.^[5]^[6]

In December 1931, the Indonesian National Education Club (PNI-Baru) was established as a rival to Partindo by those who had opposed the PNI's dissolution. Under the leadership of Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, PNI-Baru sought to train a cadre of leaders who could maintain leadership of the nationalist movement should its leaders be arrested.^[5]^[7] Around the same time, Sukarno was released from prison and immediately attempted to reunify the nationalist movement. He failed and subsequently joined Partindo, which "seemed to share his style and instinct for mass action."^[8] Sukarno was subsequently elected party chairman by acclamation. Under his leadership, Partindo adopted a "firmer nationalist line" and grew rapidly. By mid-1933, the party had 50 branches and 20,000 registered members, as compared to the 1,000 of PNI-Baru.^[9]

However, both Partindo and PNI-Baru was left largely leaderless following the arrest of their leaders by Bonifacius Cornelis de Jonge, the new governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, in 1933 and 1934.^[10]^[a] The colonial government had previously perceived a dangerous potential for united action among the Indonesian movements following opposition to its Wild School Ordinance [id], which required permission from the authorities before any private school without a government subsidy could be established,^[b] and a brief mutiny of Dutch and Indonesian sailors aboard the HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën.^[12]^[13] After 1934, radical anti-colonialism on a non-cooperative basis was effectively dead, replaced in favor of more cooperative methods.^[12] This culminated in the introduction of the Soetardjo Petition to the Volksraad, the semi-legislative body of the colony. The petition, which called for the organization of a conference to discuss autonomy for the Dutch East Indies within a Dutch-Indonesian union over a period of ten years,^[14]^[15] was passed in the Volksraad by a vote of 26–20^[16] and was then forwarded to the Dutch government for approval.^[17] However, the moderate proposal was received negatively by the Dutch, later being rejected by royal decree in 1938.^[15]

Founding[edit]

Together, Adnan Kapau Gani (left), Amir Sjarifuddin (center), and Mohammad Yamin (right), founded Gerindo in 1937. However, Yamin left the party in 1939 following a quarrel with his colleagues. He later formed his own Minangkabau-oriented party.^[18]

The dissolution of Partindo in 1936,^[15] the colonial government's negative reaction to the Soetardjo petition,^[19] and the rising threat of fascism (especially Japanese fascism),^[20] led to the establishment of Gerindo on 24 May 1937.^[21]^[22]^[c] As the successor to Partindo,^[24] Gerindo's membership largely consisted of former Partindo members as well as those who had grown disillusioned with the more conservative parties. Under the leadership of Amir Sjarifuddin, Adnan Kapau Gani, and Mohammad Yamin, Gerindo grew rapidly and it became the "powerful left-wing of the nationalist movement."^[19]^[18]

Activities[edit]

^[22]

Dissolution[edit]

Aftermath[edit]

Ideology[edit]

"As a left-wing party, the Gerindo was internationally oriented. It believed that the liberation of Indonesia would largely depend on the international situation, and it allowed the members to cooperate with the colonial authorities on the grounds that the threat of Fascism was greater than that of colonialism."

— Leo Suryadinata, 1971^[25]

Footnotes[edit]

^ Both organizations survived and managed to maintain some semblance of a central organization but their activities became severely limited. Thereafter, Partindo "lost the thrust of its struggle for independence" and later dissolved itself in 1936. Meanwhile, PNI-Baru became limited to a handful of members maintaining informal contact with each other.^[10]^[11]
^ A government subsidy meant that a school was put under government supervision.^[12]
^ Other sources differ on the exact date of Gerindo's founding. According to historians George McTurnan Kahin and Nyak Wali Alfa Tirta, Gerindo was formed in April 1937.^[19]^[23] While according to a history book published by the Department of Education and Culture in 1965, Gerindo was founded on 24 February 1937.^[20]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

^ Ricklefs 2001, p. 235.
^ Suryadinata 1971, p. 83.
^ Ricklefs 2001, pp. 230–232.
^ Cribb & Kahin 2004, p. 324.
^ ^a ^b Kahin 1952, pp. 92–93.
^ Ingleson 1979, pp. 142–143.
^ Ricklefs 2001, p. 236.
^ Ricklefs 2001, p. 237.
^ Kahin 1952, p. 94.
^ ^a ^b Legge 1988, pp. 38–39.
^ Cribb & Kahin 2004, p. 319.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ricklefs 2001, pp. 238–239.
^ Ingleson 1979, p. 208.
^ Abeyasekere 1973, p. 82.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ricklefs 2001, p. 240.
^ Abeyasekere 1973, p. 92.
^ Abeyasekere 1973, p. 94.
^ ^a ^b Anderson 1972, p. 457.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kahin 1952, pp. 95–96.
^ ^a ^b Department of Education and Culture 1965, p. 64.
^ Purba 2013, p. 11.
^ ^a ^b Bank Indonesia (2022). Dinamika Perekonomian Hulu-Hilir Sungai, Bank Indonesia Dalam Lintasan Sejarah Kalimantan Selatan [Economic Dynamics Upstream-Downstream of the Rivers, Bank Indonesia in the History of South Kalimantan] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Bank Indonesia. pp. 226–227.
^ Tirta 1985, p. 101.
^ Cribb & Kahin 2004, p. 157.
^ Suryadinata 1971, p. 92.

Sources[edit]

Abeyasekere, Susan (April 1973). "The Soetardjo Petition". Indonesia. 15 (15): 81–107. doi:10.2307/3350793. hdl:1813/53559. ISSN 0019-7289. JSTOR 3350793.
Anderson, Benedict Richard O'Gorman (1972). Java in a Time of Revolution: Occupation and Resistance, 1944–1946. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801406874.
Cribb, Robert; Kahin, Audrey (2004). Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810849358.
Department of Education and Culture (1965). Sedjarah Perdjuangan Pemuda Indonesia [History of the Struggle of the Indonesian Youth] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.
Frederick, William H. (October 1982). "Rhoma Irama and the Dangdut Style: Aspects of Contemporary Indonesian Popular Culture". Indonesia. 34 (34): 103–130. doi:10.2307/3350952. hdl:1813/53747. ISSN 0019-7289. JSTOR 3350952.
Ingleson, John (1979). Road to Exile: The Indonesian Nationalist Movement, 1927–1934. Singapore: Heineman Educational Books. ISBN 9780708103104.
Ingleson, John (2014). Workers, Unions and Politics: Indonesia in the 1920s and 1930s. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004264762.
Kahin, George McTurnan (1952). Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801491085.
Kratoska, Paul H. (2005). Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire: Unknown Histories. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765633354.
Legge, J. D. (1988). Intellectuals and Nationalism in Indonesia: A Study of the Following Recruited by Sutan Sjahrir in Occupation Jakarta. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0877630348.
Purba, Yema Siska (2013). Michellia, Dewi Kharisma (ed.). Amir Sjarifoeddin: Nasionalis yang Tersisih [Amir Sjarifoeddin: The Outcasted Nationalist] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: PolGov.
Ricklefs, M. C. (2001). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1200. Basingstoke: Palgrave. ISBN 9780804744805.
Scherer, Savitri (October 1977). "Soetomo and Trade Unionism". Indonesia. 24 (24): 27–38. doi:10.2307/3350917. hdl:1813/53648. ISSN 0019-7289. JSTOR 3350917.
Suryadinata, Leo (April 1971). "Pre-War Indonesian Nationalism and the Peranakan Chinese". Indonesia. 11 (11): 83–94. doi:10.2307/3350745. hdl:1813/53513. ISSN 0019-7289. JSTOR 3350745.
Tirta, Nyak Wali Alfa (1985). Surjomihardjo, Abdurachman; Leirissa, R. Z.; Kartadarmadja, M. Soenjata (eds.). Mr. Sartono: Karya dan Pengabdiannya [Mr. Sartono: His Work and Dedication] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Department of Education and Culture – via Wikimedia Commons.
Yamamoto, Nobuto (2011). Print Power And Censorship In Colonial Indonesia, 1914–1942 (PhD). Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. hdl:1813/33591.