CHAPTER X THE AMBONESE AND THE PROCLAMATION OF INDONESIAN INDEPENDENCE

The proclamation of Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1945 trans• formed what had up till then been a question of discussion amongst a small group of politically aware Ambonese into an issue of real and immediate importance for the whole society. In the months and years which followed the proclamation, the question of Ambon's place in the state structures of the Indonesian archipelago was the dominant and all-pervasive issue about which Ambonese contended. The differences within the political elite in their responses to and participation in the Indonesian nationalist move• ment before the arrival of the Japanese intensified and spread throughout Ambonese society, leaving the society deeply divided within itself and dis• united in its relations with the outside world. As a small minority of the archipelago's population, the Ambonese attempted to further their own interests within the context of political conflicts - between the Indonesian Republic and the Netherlands and amongst contending groups within the Republic - which were dominated by powers whose decision-making took little or no account of the wishes of the Ambonese. While the Ambonese exercised no significant influence in the determination of these conflicts, they were inextricably involved through the participation in and identifica• tion with the competing causes of the Republic and the Netherlands. The areas of social change during the preceding decades within Ambonese society - the contraction of raja power, religious reform and the emergence of the Moslem community - fed into and gave form to the conflict about Ambon's political future in the archipelago. The response of Ambonese groups to the conflict between the Indonesian Republic and the Dutch were as much an expression of the social change from within as they were to the political pressures from without. At issue was not only the position of Ambon in the archipelago but the political leadership of Ambonese society itself. The fortunes of the nationalists on Ambon were intimately linked to those of the Republic, while those of their opponents were strongly influ• enced by the position of the Dutch. 198 Nationalists, soldiers and separatists

Ambonese in the revolution

The Ambonese experience of the Indonesian revolution differed greatly between metropolitan society of the Ambonese islands and the Ambonese communities living in the centres of the revolution in fava and Sumatra. Those living in the Ambonese islands were in an area of uncontested Dutch military control. Until September 1949, the great issue of Ambon's place in Indonesia was fought out in words rather than deeds, while the military and diplomatic sparring could be viewed from a leisurely distance. For Ambonese residents in Republican or contested areas, their attitude to the proclamation was a matter potentially effecting their immediate personal security. In the months following the proclamation, the bersiap period, when the Republic was struggling to establish its authority in the midst of the collapse of Japanese power and before the Dutch could re-establish theirs, Ambonese suffered similar persecution to that which they had experienced under the Japanese. The breakdown of authority permitted the resentments and frustrations of the colonial society to surface again. Ambonese were deeply distrusted by other Indonesians and the nationalist leadership for their perceived colonial relationship and there were widespread attacks on Ambonese. The Ambonese nationalists in Java, under Latuharhary, had the most dif• ficult task of persuading their compatriots that the future of Ambonese was in the Republic as well as convincing their fellow-nationalists that Ambonese should not be attacked as lackeys of the Dutch. Latuharhary had been the principal Ambonese participant in the preparations for Indonesian independence. He had been a member of the Badan Penjelidik Oesaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (Body to investigate measures for the preparation of Indonesian independence) or BPKI. During the BPKI sessions Latuharhary had been a forceful defender of Ambonese and Christian inter• ests, arguing against the establishment of an Islamic state and for a federal system permitting broad autonomy for the regions (Yamin 1959-60, I:258-9). Two days after the proclamation Latuharhary was appointed Governor of the Moluccas by the Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan (Committee for the preparation of independence) (Teu Lususina 1950:15-6). The appointment was of no significance for the administration of the Moluccas, as Latu• harhary was unable to travel to the Moluccas, let alone exert his authority there. He did establish a group of young Ambonese around him, who formed the Angkatan Pemuda Indonesia Ambon (The Ambonese Indo• nesian Youth) and API Ambon became the nucleus for Ambonese nation• alists in Jakarta. API Ambon issued a number of press releases and pam• phlets announcing Ambonese support for the new Republic and their will• ingness to fight with their fellow-Indonesians to defend it. They appealed to