Islam, Nationalism and Democracy: A Political Biography of Mohammad Natsir

Chapter 6. In the Jungle, 1958-61

114 Islam, Nationalism and Democracy 6 In the Jungle, 1958–61 When he fled to Sumatra, Natsir was returning to his home region. Throughout his long sojourn on Java his upbringing in West Sumatra had exerted an influence on most aspects of his life, including his strong religious faith and his belief in the form of grass-roots democracy that characterized village government in the Minangkabau heartland. During his years in government, however, he had frequently needed to subordinate these beliefs to what he saw as the demands of his office, when either as minister of information, prime minister, or leader of the country’s largest political party, his prime duty was as a representative of the national regime. Now back in West Sumatra his perspective changed and he could view the central government’s actions in starker terms, no longer needing to adapt his opinions to those of the competing political forces represented by Soekarno, the army and the other political parties. But he was also now faced with different choices, for the dissidents who launched the regional rebellion were united principally by their opposition to Soekarno, the Communist Party, and the army’s central command, without any clear goals on which they could agree. Natsir joined a movement that had been developing for more than a year and was already displaying signs of discord and division. Background to Rebellion Behind the coups mounted by the Army colonels in December 1956 and March 1957 lay several years of growing unease among Indonesia’s armed forces, especially in areas outside Java. In Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan 114 In the Jungle, 1958‒61 115 disaffection toward the central government had been increasing since the transfer of sovereignty, especially among territorial commanders resentful at Army Chief of Staff A.H. Nasution’s attempts to streamline the army and centralize its command structure. The military take-overs in Sumatra, however, were probably also sparked by Hatta’s resignation from the vice-presidency in December 1956. People on Sumatra and the other islands outside Java had seen the vice president as their major representative in the central government, and his departure led to intensified dissatisfaction with the Soekarno regime throughout the archipelago. Among local military leaders in Sumatra and Sulawesi, this dissatisfaction combined with their disaffection toward the top army command. It was less than three weeks after Hatta’s resignation, that Colonels Ahmad Husein in Central Sumatra and Maludin Simbolon in North Sumatra took matters into their own hands and proclaimed autonomous governing councils in their territories. Chief of Staff Nasution was able to out-maneuver Simbolon by playing on rivalries within the North Sumatra command, forcing Simbolon to flee Medan and seek refuge in Central Sumatra. Colonel Husein and his Banteng Council in West Sumatra, however, were too strong and enjoyed too much local support for the top army leadership to displace them. Central Sumatra Governor Roeslan Moeljohardjo handed over his office to Husein, and throughout 1957 the Banteng Council succeeded in running an administration in the region largely independent of the Jakarta government. (Recognizing that the other component provinces of Central Sumatra — Riau and Jambi — would not willingly acknowledge dominance by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Husein promised to grant autonomy to those two regions.) Husein’s take-over was soon followed, with considerably less success, by Colonel Barlian in South Sumatra and by Colonel Ventje Sumual in Sulawesi. Faced with these regional challenges, political and military leaders in Jakarta with family or political ties to Sumatra and Sulawesi, especially former Vice President Hatta and leaders of the Masjumi and Socialist (PSI) parties, made efforts to mediate the crisis. They organized a series of meetings between the central government and the dissident colonels, the most important being the Munas (Musyawarah Nasional, National Consultation) held in Jakarta in September 1957, which was attended by most of the major contestants, including Cols Husein, Barlian and Sumual. (Simbolon did not participate, as he no longer held a military command.) A few days prior to the opening of the Munas, however, the dissident colonels, together with Dr. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (a member of Sjahrir’s PSI, who had left Jakarta under threat of arrest for corruption), had met in Palembang on September 7‒8, to coordinate their plans, and reach their own 116 Islam, Nationalism and Democracy consensus as to their future course of action.1 As a result of these discussions they...