Page 101 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

TURMOIL TOWARDS UNITY

Although the Republic of the United States of Indonesia had been formed and

operated as an independent and sovereign country, even becoming a member

of the United Nations, all existing political problems remained.

DIFFERENCES in understanding and principles between groups that
accepted the KMB agreement and those who rejected it were noticeable
among both civilians and military. Many former KNIL did not want to join
or merge into the RIS Armed Forces (APRIS) despite being decided in
the KMB. Instead, they demanded to remain in the KNIL unit, which, as a
whole, had been made into the federal army or the state army.

On the other hand, among the government or the legislature, a move-
ment wanted to dissolve the federal states and merge with the Republic
of Indonesia, or RI-Yogya, to be specific. Sukabumi and South Sumatra
were examples. In Sukabumi, the local DPRD demanded that the Suka-
bumi Regency be separated from the Pasundan State and reunited with
the Republic of Indonesia-Yogyakarta. Similar movements emerged in
several other areas.

Many politicians disagreed with the results of the KMB, including Sya-
fruddin Prawiranegara, who was the former Chairman of the Emergency
Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI), and former Minister of
Foreign Affairs Agus Salim. Many thought that the federal system was
the Dutch’s trick to keep control of Indonesia through the federal states
it had formed.

There were grounds for such accusations. On January 4, 1950, the
Malang DPRD, which was part of the East Java State, issued a resolution
to separate from East Java and merge with the State of the Republic of
Indonesia in Yogyakarta. Then, following the Ratu Adil Armed Forces
(APRA) attack led by Captain Westerling in Bandung, on January 30, the
Sukabumi Regency DPRD, which was part of the Pasundan State, issued

94