uncovered in the United States and British archives revealed the extent of intelligence cooperation among the various colonial powers. Continual exchange of information regarding the presumed activities of Tan Malaka and other “dangerous elements” took place throughout the 1920s and 1930s. From these sources I established a solid basis of Dutch intelligence and government material connected with Tan Malaka. This was complemented by the thorough documentation provided in Harry Poeze’s work. I have been fortunate enough to consult many of the documents obtained by Poeze and other scholars when consulting the Dutch archives for research on periods and events that incidentally touch on Tan Malaka. The principal collections of such material are those of the Algemeene Secretaris and the Ministerie van Koloniën, held in the Algemeene Rijksarchief (ARA).
Large amounts of information came from the Mailrapporten (mail reports from the Netherlands Indies), which contain intelligence reports, letters, and transcripts of interrogations of political prisoners. These sources have provided the principal documentation on the Partai Republik Indonesia (PARI). In 1976 I was also able to consult the collections (in particular serial collections) of the Library of Congress and the British Museum, and to do some follow-up research at Cornell University—both in the library and in the private collection of Professor Benedict Anderson. A short visit to Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia in late 1976 also enabled me to follow up a number of leads uncovered over the previous few years.
Between 1977 and 1980 I finished the translation, with reference to the comparison texts and to experts in Indonesian and the other languages in the text. I then undertook a detailed analysis of textual errors and problems. I spent considerable time in basic research on the Philippine national revolution and the Chinese revolution of the 1920s in order to be able to annotate Tan Malaka’s substantial pieces on those historical periods. These were not in my own field of study and I sent these chapters, with preliminary annotation, to experts in these fields for comment and guidance as to further sources for study. Also during this period, I prepared a first draft of my introduction.
In 1980 during a visit to Manila I consulted with Philippine scholars of the labor and communist movement of the 1920s and did some research into contemporary material held in the National Library. I was particularly fortunate in finding a book of 1927 newspaper clippings on Tan Malaka collected by the Filipino nationalist historian Carlos Ronquillo.
A holiday visit to Indonesia also in 1980 enabled me to renew old contacts and to make an unexpectedly rewarding journey to Bayah, on the south coast of West Java, where Tan Malaka stayed during most of the Japanese occupation. I happened to be in Jakarta at the same time as Harry Poeze, who was undertaking research for his continuing work on Tan Malaka, and so we decided to travel together to Bayah. It was our intention merely to look at the place in order to provide a context for Tan Malaka’s description of it. To our surprise, our host, on hearing of our interest in Tan Malaka, informed us that there were still a number of people in the town who remembered him. Our host made immediate arrangements for us to meet these people and to hear their reminiscences, and they took us around the town pointing out landmarks referred to in the autobiography. It was on this visit to Indonesia that I managed to discover the area of Jakarta where Tan Malaka lived at the beginning of the Japanese occupation and to meet some people who remembered him there.
My principal sources both for the annotation and my introduction were my interviews and Tan Malaka’s own writings, as well as newspaper reports and archival documents. I used secondary sources principally in the documentation of events referred to in the text, but they are not central to an understanding of Tan Malaka himself. Several exceptions to this are the handful of secondary sources used as principal documents for different parts of my study. These sources are Ruth T. McVey, The Rise of Indonesian Communism; Benedict R. O’G. Anderson, Java in a Time of Revolution: Occupation and Resistance, 1944-1946; George McTurnan Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia; and Harry A. Poeze, Tan Malaka, strijder voor Indonesie’s vrijheid: levensloop van 1897 tot 1945. I used other secondary sources principally as points from which to diverge in reaching an analysis of Tan Malaka.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted, above all, to those in Indonesia who had known Tan Malaka and who gave freely of their time to discuss the man, his ideas, and his deeds. Most of these people agreed to my taping interviews: his family in Pandam Gadang (including the present holder of the title “Datuk Tan Malaka”); his publisher in Bukit Tinggi, Anwar Sutan Saidi, and Arief Fadillah, both of whom spent a whole weekend recalling old times; Djamaluddin Tamim, who founded PARI together with Tan Malaka and returned from his exile in Digul to rejoin Tan Malaka; Tje’ Mamat, who relived many battles in the space of a single afternoon in Serang, brandishing his samurai sword and singing the Internationale; Djalil and Mai Muna, two gentle people who had much to recall; Adam Malik, who made countless interruptions to his busy schedule, first as president of the United Nations General Assembly, then as foreign minister, and lastly as vice president of Indonesia. So many others, whom I list in my bibliography, gave both their time and their opinions. The one whom I remember most clearly is Djaos, imprisoned with Tan Malaka in Hong Kong in 1932 and later sent to Digul. One rainy afternoon in December 1972 I received an urgent message: “Come quickly. A visitor is waiting for you at Jalan Diponegoro.” A frail man of seventy, almost blind, had trekked several kilometers along muddy paths and had forded a river to reach the landrover near Tanggerang, so anxious was he to tell his story to someone interested in Tan Malaka.
To the others who have contributed to the scholarship on Tan Malaka—especially Harry Poeze, Yuji Suzuki, Rudolf Mrázek, Giok Po Oey, Ruth McVey, and Ben Anderson—I owe a great deal for information and ideas that I have taken up or taken on. I must thank all the people whom I consulted in their capacity as experts outside my field, whose role I have referred to above, particularly C. P. Fitzgerald, Adrian Chan, Al McCoy, Milagros Guerrero, B. Joseph, Li Chuan Siu, Marcus Susanto, Mitsuo Nakamura, Randolph Albury, George Novack, and Rey Ileto.
The Association for Asian Studies Indonesian Translation Project Group supported me through the actual translation for publication in their series. The Ford Foundation awarded me a travel grant for my 1972 research in Indonesia. The Department of Indonesian and Malayan Studies of the University of Sydney has, since my enrollment as a postgraduate student in 1976, extended all facilities to me, including the possibility (in the course of other business for the department) to visit London, Amsterdam, Washington, and Jakarta collecting data relating to this study.
Within the department, first Peter Worsley and then Michael van Langenberg read the manuscript and made numerous suggestions. From outside, David Reeve applied his scalpel to the first draft of my introduction, while Molly Bondan’s critique reflected her years of involvement with the Indonesian revolution. Lenore Manderson gave me the spirit to carry on to the finish.
As to the manuscript itself, editorial comment was given in considerable detail by Muriel Frederick and Allen Myers, both of whom must have thought I had lost command of the English language at times, while Anneke van Mosseveld bore the greatest typing load.
I would like to thank Christine Freeman and Antoinette Azar Luce for their assiduous copy-editing which penetrated many of the inconsistencies of the typescript. The responsibility for any which remain is mine. Hope Hendricks deserves accolades for her computer skills and for her pains in the enormous project of preparing the final manuscript. Finally, my appreciation goes to James L. Cobban, general editor of the Monographs in International Studies at Ohio University, for his detailed and time-consuming work over several years in bringing the publication of this translation of From Jail to Jail to fruition.
During the long years that this study has taken to complete, every encouragement and support has been given by my family. My mother, Olwen Tudor Jones, and sister, Tory Angelli, typed and proofread various sections. Without my companion, Allen Myers, I know I could not have seen it through. My daughter, Mina, for her first eleven years, has had to live with Tan Malaka as an ever-present fourth member
