Ali Sastroamidjojo

Raden Dr. Ali Sastroamidjojo, (EYD: Ali Sastroamijoyo; 21 May 1903 – 13 March 1975) was the eighth and tenth Prime Minister of Indonesia and also the Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) (1957–1960) and the first Indonesian Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador to Canada and the Ambassador to Mexico (1950–1955). In addition, he was also appointed chairman of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 1955 and also was chairman of the Indonesian National Party (PNI) (1960–1966).

Ali Sastroamidjojo
8th and 10th Prime Minister of Indonesia
In office
1 August 1953 – 11 August 1955
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byWilopo
Succeeded byBurhanuddin Harahap
In office
26 March 1956 – 14 March 1957
Preceded byBurhanuddin Harahap
Succeeded byDjuanda Kartawidjaja
Personal details
Born(1903-05-21)21 May 1903
Grabag, Central Java, Dutch East Indies
Died13 March 1975(1975-03-13) (aged 71)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Political partyPNI
Alma materLeiden University
ProfessionPolitician

Early life

Raden Ali Sastroamidjojo was born in Grabag, Central Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), to an aristocratic family of the Magelang Regency belonging to the Indonesian elite, and died in Jakarta, 13 March 1975.[1][2]

Ali Sastroamidjojo is greeted by Zhou Enlai upon his arrival in Beijing, 26 May 1955.

He spent his childhood years in the local town, playing with his friends from peasant families. In hoping to find a proper environment for the development of their children, the Sastroamidjojo family moved to the city where Sastroamidjojo was sent to receive a European education, although he also regularly studied the Javanese language. The Sastroamidjojo family was devoted to advocating the importance of Western education.[1][3]

Pre-independence career

Like most other young men of nobility in Indonesia, Sastroamidjojo attended a Dutch school, the Queen Wilhelmina School, and went on to study law at Leiden University in the Netherlands where he received a doctorate in law in 1927. He then went into private practice. He was a member of a number of pre-independence political parties, including the original Indonesian National Party (PNI) and Partindo. During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, he worked for the occupation government.[4][5]

Political career in the Sukarno era

Sastroamidjojo, by now a member of the post-independence PNI, served as deputy minister of education in the first Indonesian cabinet, which lasted from September to November 1945.[6] He was minister of education in three successive cabinets between July 1947 and August 1949.[7] From 1950 to 1953, Sastroamidjojo was Indonesian ambassador to the United States. On 1 August 1953 he became Prime Minister of Indonesia, leading the First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet until it fell in July 1955.[8] He became prime minister for a second time on 26 March 1956, although the cabinet he headed lasted less than a year.[9] He was a key figure in the negotiations of the Sino-Indonesian Dual Nationality Treaty. In July 1960, at the ninth annual congress of the PNI, Sastroamidjojo was elected party chairman.[10]

Ali Sastroamidjojo has been called 'the greatest statesman' of Indonesia and it was said of him that 'the current statesmen of Indonesia will never be as great as Sastroamidjojo in his role as prime minister who also had great literary talent'.[1]

In 1967, following the fall of Sukarno, Sastroamidjojo was arrested, but later released without having been tried.[2]

Legacy

The current Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, D.C., was purchased by Ali Sastroamidjojo on 19 December 1951 for $335,000.[11]

In addition to being a political figure, he was also a noted author having published several books and publications in the field of international relations and foreign policy, including Introduction to International Law (1971), Indonesian Foreign Policy (1972), an autobiographical book of his journey and milestones (1974), and Four Indonesian students in the Netherlands (1975).[12]

Notes
  1. Setiawan 2012.
  2. New York Times 1975, p. 30.
  3. Vickers 2005, p. 227.
  4. Otterspeer 1997.
  5. Rocamora 1970, p. 152.
  6. Simanjuntak 2003, pp. 16-17.
  7. Simanjuntak 2003, pp. 52-73.
  8. Simanjuntak 2003, pp. 133-148.
  9. Simanjuntak 2003, pp. 160-180.
  10. Rocamora 1970, p. 151.
  11. Abdullah Balbed 2017.
  12. Ricklefs 2001, pp. 300,305.

References
  • Abdullah Balbed (2017). "The Historic Embassy Building". Embassy of Indonesia Washington DC. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  • "Dr. Ali Sastroamidjojo Is Dead; Indonesian Independence Leader". The New York Times. The New York Times. 15 March 1975. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  • Otterspeer, W. (1997). Leiden Oriental Connections: 1850 - 1940. Leiden University Press. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  • Rocamora, , J. Eliseo (October 1970). "The Partai Nasional Indonesia, 1963 - 1965" (PDF). Indonesia. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. 10 (10).
  • Ricklefs, Merle Calvin (2001). A History of Modern Indonesia Since C. 1200 (3rd ed.). Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4480-5.
  • Setiawan, Hawé (15 February 2012). "A Statesman's Journey". Sundanese Corner. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  • Simanjuntak, P. N. H. (2003), Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi [Cabinets of the Republic of Indonesia: From the Dawn of Independence to the Reform Era] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Djambatan, ISBN 979-428-499-8.
  • Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83493-7.
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