Quick questions on Indonesian National Revolution 1945-1949: HSC Modern History National Study

British forces, charged with disarming Japanese troops, landed at Surabaya on 25 October 1945. British Brigadier A.W.S. Mallaby was killed on 30 October 1945 in murky circumstances. The British 5th Indian Division responded with an ultimatum on 9 November 1945; on 10 November 1945 a full-scale British assault on the city began.

The Dutch Lieutenant Governor-General Hubertus van Mook accepted negotiations. Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir negotiated for the Republic. The Linggadjati Agreement was initialled on 15 November 1946 and ratified on 25 March 1947.

On 20 July 1947 the Dutch launched Operatie Product, presented as a "police action" to restore law and order. Around 100,000 Dutch troops attacked from Republican-controlled territory in Java and Sumatra, capturing plantations, oil installations, and major cities outside Yogyakarta. The Republic retained Yogyakarta as its capital under President Sukarno.

Negotiated aboard the US Navy ship Renville in Jakarta harbour, the agreement was signed on 17 January 1948. The Dutch retained the territory taken in the police action. The Republic accepted the Van Mook Line as a ceasefire line. Republican forces (the Siliwangi Division) were forced to evacuate to Republican-held territory.

The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) under Musso (returned from Moscow in August 1948) launched a rebellion at Madiun in East Java on 18 September 1948. Musso proclaimed a Soviet Republic of Indonesia. Hatta and Sukarno responded with force; the Republican army under Colonel Gatot Subroto and Lieutenant Colonel Nasution crushed the uprising within three weeks. Musso was killed on 31 October 1948.

The Dutch, judging the Republic weak after Madiun, launched Operatie Kraai on 19 December 1948. Dutch paratroopers seized Yogyakarta the same day. Sukarno, Hatta, Sjahrir and most of the cabinet allowed themselves to be captured and exiled to Bangka. President Sukarno empowered Sjafruddin Prawiranegara to head an Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI) from Bukittinggi in Sumatra, ensuring constitutional continuity.

The Second Police Action triggered international outrage. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 67 on 28 January 1949, demanding the restoration of the Republic's government and a transfer of sovereignty by 1 July 1950. The United States, decisive on Marshall Plan disbursements to the Netherlands (around $400 million in 1948 to 1949 alone), threatened to suspend aid.

The Round Table Conference at The Hague ran from 23 August to 2 November 1949. The Indonesian delegation was led by Hatta; the Dutch by Foreign Minister D.U. Stikker. The conference produced three sets of agreements.

Anthony Reid (The Indonesian National Revolution, 1974) is the standard account. He emphasises the social revolution within the political revolution: aristocrats, Chinese, and Eurasian populations all had to be accommodated within the new Republic.

It was as much Sjahrir's, Hatta's, Sudirman's and Sjafruddin Prawiranegara's. Sukarno spent the second half of 1948 and the first half of 1949 in Dutch internment.

Linggadjati (1946) recognised Republican territory in Java, Madura, Sumatra. Renville (1948) shrank that territory along the Van Mook Line.

It was not transferred in 1949. The dispute would continue to 1962 to 1963 and shape Sukarno's foreign policy.

It was 27 December 1949, not 17 August. The Republic celebrates 17 August (proklamasi) as Independence Day for ideological reasons.