Independence Proclamation of August 17, 1945, and the sacrifices of lives and properties given by the Indonesian people for that purpose. “For that reason, we must carry on the struggle,” thus said Tan Malaka.
In conclusion, Tan Malaka gave the following advices [sic]:
(1) To annul all inventions as Linggardjati, Renville and Hatta’s aide memoire.
(2) To root out all puppet states created by the Dutch with the help of their henchmen.
(3) To recapture every patch of ground occupied by the enemy’s troops.
(4) To seize all foreign property.
(5) To restore self-confidence and annihilate all fifth columnists.
(6) To ignore all truce regulations.
(7) To reject any negotiations if not based on complete independence as proclaimed on August 17, 1945.
(8) To unify all parties and fighting organizations and maintain the people’s army.50
According to Moh. Padang, of Sabaruddin’s Battalion 38, who was apparently there at the time, Rustam Effendi proposed the declaration of a Socialist Republic of Indonesia with Tan Malaka as president, but Tan Malaka refused, holding to the political line of unity around basic perjuangan demands until independence was truly won.51
Even after this second Dutch attack, the diplomasi line still prevailed among official republican representatives, who hoped that international pressure and intervention of the United Nations would push back the Dutch. It seems, however, that the Dutch, the federalists, and the republican representatives outside Indonesia alike regarded the diplomasi position as vulnerable to the militant perjuangan line advanced by someone like Tan Malaka.
Sin Po reported that the internment of the republican leaders had resulted in a decline of support for the conservatives and in increased support for leftists who opposed negotiations.52 And the pro-federalist newspaper Warta Indonesia editorialized as follows:
recalling the fact that Tan Malaka has proclaimed himself leader of the Indonesian people, and that the communists are now paramount in the Republic, is this the right moment to call for a cease-fire? To obey this order would mean to give a new opportunity to the destructive elements who have always threatened all attempts to come to an understanding with the Netherlands. It means not only backing Tan Malaka and his communist following, but preparing most effectively for the undoing of Indonesia.53
And Soedjatmoko, deputy leader of the republican mission to the United Nations, was reported as saying on 14 January 1949 that “failure of a speedy settlement of the Indonesian problem would open possibilities for Trotzky to the Indonesian Tan Malaka ‘to exploit once again the fundamental longings of the Indonesian peoples for freedom.’”54
Through the early months of the Dutch occupation of the republic, regular military reports referred to continuing action by “terrorists” and “armed groups” in Central and especially East Java, specifying which areas and roads were still “unsafe.”
Besides these military reports of activity around Kediri, which could possibly have referred to Tan Malaka and his followers, there is little contemporary documentation of his activities after the Dutch attack. A reconstruction of his movements after leaving Yogyakarta on 12 November up until his death comes, of necessity, mainly from later recollection of the participants.
The Dutch occupied Kediri on Christmas Day, 1948.55 Tan Malaka and Sabaruddin, together with many other republican militias, retreated to the jungles and remote areas, from which they intended to stage assaults on Dutch positions. Sabaruddin’s headquarters were, evidently, maintained at Blimbing in the Kediri district, although parts of the battalion were frequently on the move in the area on operations.56
Though reports of guerrilla actions led by Tan Malaka continued to appear at least up to the end of 1949, during February such reports were counterbalanced by rumors that he had been killed. While some have it that he was the victim of Dutch bullets, and even that he was killed by remnants of the PKI seeking revenge for his position on Madiun, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that he was killed by republican troops.57
The precise date and place of his death and the exact identity of his killers vary in these reports, but their general thrust is fairly consistent. In the period after the Dutch advance into East Java, Tan Malaka and his followers antagonized authorities within the East Java Brawijaya Division of the army by their continued attacks on the policies pursued by all previous republican governments and by their attempts to gain support for these ideas within the ranks of the armed forces. Accordingly, an attack was mounted by official or semi-official troops on the headquarters of Sabaruddin’s Battalion 38.58 In the melee or at some later date, Tan Malaka and Sabaruddin managed to escape, but Tan Malaka was recaptured and executed.
Reports of this nature began to reach Djamaluddin Tamim in March 1949. Three members of the Barisan Banteng who had gone with Djamaluddin and Tan Malaka to Kediri in November 1948 met Djamaluddin in East Java at the end of March 1949 and reported on the attack on Sabaruddin’s headquarters and their subsequent escape.59 Further investigations in the area brought word from both Sjamsu Harya Udaya and from Sabaruddin himself that Tan Malaka had not been seen since the attack.60 In May 1949 the Partai Murba’s leadership council discussed the question and decided to send Sudijono Djojoprajitno to travel through the area and find out what he could concerning the attack and Tan Malaka’s fate.61
At the same time that the Partai Murba was starting to investigate the possibility of Tan Malaka’s death, reports started appearing in the press to the effect that he had been killed. On 14 May the Malang Post is reported to have said that he was killed some ten days previously in the area of Nganjuk (East Java).62 On 7 June the head of republican intelligence, Lieutenant General Z. Loebis, reporting on the overall situation in Java and Sumatra, included a summary of reports on Tan Malaka’s death. His report identifies Surachmad, commander of the Kediri Sub-Territorium Militer (STM), as the executioner.63
Also on 7 June 1949, the Indonesia Merdeka (Independent Indonesia) radio transmitter in North Sumatra is reported as having relayed news from the New Delhi Information Office of the Republic that General Sungkono (commander of the Brawijaya Division) had verified newspaper reports that Tan Malaka had been shot on his orders in the Blitar area of East Java on 16 April.64 Roeslan Abdulgani, secretary-general of the Information Ministry, on 24 June repeated the report that Tan Malaka had been shot on Sungkono’s orders.65
Through June and July other reports emerged substantiating this version of events, although the exact date and place vary, and Brigade Commander Jonosewojo and the Kediri Military Police Mobile Brigade are also said to have been the executioners.
According to Djamaluddin Tamim, an interview with General Sungkono was published on 9 September 1949 in the Yogyakarta newspaper Kedaulatan Rakyat.66 Sungkono is quoted as saying, “Yes, the leader Tan Malaka was shot, but I wasn’t the one who ordered his execution.” Djamaluddin tried to pursue the matter with Sungkono but, after being briefed by Sukarno, the general refused comment. Djamaluddin states that the journalist Samawi was asked by the regional governor to retract the article, but he stood by his story.
In 1972 I attempted to follow up these stories of Tan Malaka’s death. Paramita Abdurrachman recalled a discussion she had in 1949 with an intelligence officer from the Siliwangi (West Java) Division, who said that Tan Malaka was shot by Brigade 16 (led by Surachmad) of the Brawijaya Division on orders from above.67 Sungkono, now retired, denied knowing anything
