Trikora's speech was Sukarno's initial campaign to control West Irian.
tirto.id - On Sunday morning 19 December 1948, the Republic of Indonesia was attacked by Dutch forces led by Simon Hendrik Spoor. The attack was named Operation Gagak and targeted Yogyakarta, the capital of the Republic. In Indonesian history, this event was recorded as an unforgettable military aggression.
But a year later the situation turned around. Thanks to diplomacy and international pressure, the Netherlands was forced to leave according to the Round Table Conference agreement (KMB) at the end of 1949. The Dutch had to recognize Indonesian sovereignty on December 27, 1949.
Based on the KMB, the territory of Indonesia covers the former territory of the Netherlands East Indies, except Papua - which in the agreement will be submitted a year later. However, after more than a year, Papua, which was rich in mining products, was never handed over. Indonesia is of course angry. Moreover, KMB was very detrimental to Indonesia because it had to pay the Indies debt of 4.3 billion guilders.
KMB is then canceled. Not only that, Dutch companies operating in Indonesia were nationalized. state wealth certainly increases from here. In addition, the expulsion of the Dutch people was carried out. One of the expelled was a keroncong singer Wieteke van Dort who was famous for the song "Geef Mij Maar Nasi Goreng" (1979).
The Netherlands still wants to rule
The Dutch kissed bad signs and tried to strengthen Papua. The Netherlands then behaved sweetly to indigenous Papuans. In February 1961 there were new parliamentary elections and the Papuan National Committee was formed on 19 October 1961.
Papua's defense is also strengthened. Apart from the existing Dutch military power, empowering Papuans was carried out.
"On April 4, 1960 the Dutch sent their mother ships, Karel Doorman" to West Irian, on the grounds of holding a "Flag Exhibition" (Vlagvertoon) which was joined by several other warships, "wrote the book Irian Barat in our area (1962: 30) released by the Indonesian Ministry of Information.
The same month, as written by P.J. Drooglever in free choice action!: Papuans and self-determination (2010), the first units of Papoea Vrijwilligers Corps aka Korps Papua Volunteers began to be educated. The corps had been planned since 1950 and was carried out very slowly by the Dutch. But in 1960 they couldn't help but speed it up (p. 409).
Sukarno and his assistants certainly knew the Dutch would not make it easier for their opponents to attack Papua. At least, on March 6, 1961, a large number of battering forces with the name of the 1st Army Corps (Korra-1) were formed. Brigadier General Soeharto became his Commander. Korra then turned into the Army General Reserve (Tjaduad) and later became the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad).
At the level of the government elite, the National Council (Depertan) was formed on December 11, 1961. Three days later, as noted in one of the books on the history of the Army, History of the Army, 1945-1973: The role of the Army in defending the unitary state of the Republic Indonesia (1979), in the Depertan session on December 14, 1961 the Supreme Operations Command (Koti) was formed. In the organization Sukarno acted as number one, followed by A.H. Nasution and commander-in-chief of forces (p. 79).
Sukarno Burns Mass
The Indonesian people, who at that time certainly did not know much about the contents of the KMB and the importance of Papua, were targeted by Sukarno's campaign. "President Sukarno chose a place and time that was symbolic," wrote Harsya Bachtiar in an article entitled "History of Irian Jaya" in a book edited by Koentjaraningrat, Irian Jaya: Building a Comprehensive Society (1994: 87).
Sukarno chose December 19, 1961, exactly today 57 years ago, as the starting point of the campaign. The place is North Square, Yogyakarta.
He took that date on the grounds that: thirteen years earlier, on December 19, 1948, Yogyakarta had been trampled by Dutch troops under the command of General Simon Hendrik Spoor. Near the square, inside the State Palace of Gedung Agung, which is located at the southern end of Jalan Malioboro, Sukarno and other officials are held captive.
The Indonesian side recalled this event as Dutch Military Aggression II. The bleak past seemed to be piled up with new memories of the war against the Dutch, in seizing West Irian.
According to Rosihan Anwar in Sukarno, Army, PKI: Triangle of Power Before Political Tempest, 1961-1965 (2006: 85), it is said that Muhamad Yamin was the proponent of his election on December 19 at the Depertan session on December 11, 1961. For Rosihan, this speech became anticlimactic (p. 85).
"Crowds of people gathered on the square square in front of the Yogyakarta Palace. "Radio transmitters contact the ceremony with residents throughout Indonesia," Harsya Bachtiar wrote.
In Mangil Martowidjojo's notes contained in the book Testimony About Bung Karno 1945-1967 (1999), "this giant meeting was visited by hundreds of thousands of people from the Yogyakarta area and outside the Yogyakarta area, so that the North Square in Yogyakarta became a sea of people" (p. 322 )
Videos from the Indonesian National Archives show how the cars carrying Sukarno's entourage with his bodyguards were welcomed by the people around Tugu Yogyakarta and then crossed Jalan Pangeran Mangkubumi, then continued to the south.
Lieutenant General Soegito will not forget that historic day. 1961 was the last year of Soegito at the National Military Academy (AMN) and a giant meeting to liberate West Irian along with the inauguration of the 1961 AMN cadet.
Soegito was only one of the generals, other friends who later became important people were Zain Ashar Maulani (former Head of BIN) and Feisal Tanjung (Former Commander of the Armed Forces). Benny Adrian in Soegito's biography, Lt. Gen. (Pur) Soegito, Bakti A Soldier of Stoottroepen (2015), noted that not only cadets would be appointed to attend, but also cadets who were more junior.
So at exactly 9:00 on Tuesday, December 19, 1961, Sukarno made a speech burning the enthusiasm of the people.
