In memory of statesman Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung<\/p>\n
By Putu Wirata<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung, who served as a
\nstatesman for three eras, passed away on April 22, 1999, at the
\nage of 78 in Gianyar, Bali. He died after several weeks of
\ntreatment at a hospital in Perth, Australia. His remains will be
\ncremated on May 15.<\/p>\n
Anak Agung, son of the king of Gianyar, was once prime
\nminister of the Dutch-puppet East Indonesia State, a minister and
\nan ambassador. He spent his old age in the vast complex of his
\npalace, the Puri Agung Gianyar, in the central part of the town
\nof Gianyar. A secretary and dozens of parekan (courtiers) kept
\nhim company while his four children worked and lived in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He spent the rest of his life writing books and involving
\nhimself with Hindu intellectual fora concerned with the
\ncontinuity of Balinese culture.<\/p>\n
\"He had a strong memory and an extraordinary concern about the
\npreservation of Balinese culture,\" said Dewa Ngurah Swastha,
\nchairman of the Forum for Hindu Dharma Society in Indonesia, an
\nsymposium for Hindu intellectuals who are critics of development
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
In the forum, Anak Agung was an advisor together with other
\nprominent figures. It was in Puri Agung Gianyar that the
\nassociation was launched in 1996.<\/p>\n
Anak Agung formulated his ideas in what he called the \"Bali
\ntrilogy\" -- custom-culture-religion -- as the basis for the
\ngrowth of Balinese society. If one of the elements were
\ndestroyed, the frame would disappear and Balinese society would
\nbe on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n
It was also on account of the trilogy that he joined other
\nforum members once to visit the regional house of representatives
\nin Bali to criticize what he called commercialization of custom
\nand religion. He strongly opposed the Hindu-style wedding package
\nfor tourist couples who were on honeymoon and called it \"an
\ninsult\". He was also against ngaben (Balinese cremation) as a
\ntourism package.<\/p>\n
\"The people's culture which was destroyed by tourism as in
\nHawaii caused his concern about the phenomenon of
\ncommercialization of Balinese culture for tourism,\" said Ngurah
\nBagus, a professor at Udayana University.<\/p>\n
Anak Agung was also critical of the sociopolitical phenomena
\nin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The current government has no sense of crisis. They know that
\nthe country is in one, yet the House of Representatives is in
\nrecess. Indeed, they have a right to vacation, but they should
\nhave postponed their holidays and convened to discuss the steps
\nneeded to save the country and the nation in crisis,\" he said in
\nApril 1998.<\/p>\n
Anak Agung was born at Puri Agung Gianyar in 1921 and was
\nraised with the shackles of feudalism and Dutch colonialism.<\/p>\n
He entered grade school (HIS) at Klungkung, then continued
\njunior high school (MULO) and senior high school (HBS) in Malang,
\nEast Java. In 1939, he enrolled at the School of Law (RHS) in
\nJakarta where he studied until 1941 when his studies were stopped
\nbecause the war broke out in the Pacific region.<\/p>\n
The Japanese army defeated the Dutch. They accused Anak
\nAgung's father Dewa Agung Manggis of subversion, arrested him and
\nexiled him to Lombok. By coercion, the Japanese appointed Anak
\nAgung, then 21 years old, as regional head (syuto) of Gianyar in
\n1942 to replace his father.<\/p>\n
In his book Kenangan Masa Lampau (Memories From the Past,
\n1993) which retells the Dutch and Japanese occupations, Anak
\nAgung wrote that the Japanese only intended to make him a kind of
\n\"puppet\". The Japanese indirectly made use of Anak Agung's
\nauthority to force the inhabitants to hand over their food which
\nbecame the logistics of the army engaged in battles with the
\nAllied Forces. Japan also mobilized romusha workers and comfort
\nwomen.<\/p>\n
The Japanese occupation did not last long. Emperor Hirohito
\nsurrendered unconditionally after the Allies bombed Hiroshima and
\nNagasaki. Indonesia became independent in 1945.<\/p>\n
The situation was not stable though. The Dutch were still
\ntrying to reinstate their colonial government creating upheavals
\neverywhere. One year after the proclamation of Indonesia's
\nindependence the Paruman Agung (Bali's regional council of
\npeople's representatives) appointed Anak Agung as the Bali
\nrepresentative at the Malino conference followed by the Denpasar
\nconference in December 1946.<\/p>\n
The Denpasar conference decided on the establishment of the
\nEast Indonesian State and Ide Anak Agung as a member of the
\nprovisional board of representatives of the eastern Indonesia
\nstate.<\/p>\n
His career continued to rise. In the Nadjamoedin Daeng Malewa
\ncabinet (1947) Anak Agung was appointed minister of interior
\naffairs and concurrent deputy prime minister. Then, he was prime
\nminister of the East Indonesia State. Until 1949 the political
\nsituation was still turbulent as a result of the Dutch Military
\nAction II in 1948. International pressure brought Indonesia and
\nthe Netherlands to the Round Table Conference in The Hague in
\n1949. It was followed by the establishment of the Federal
\nRepublic of Indonesia in which Anak Agung together with Moh.
\nHatta, Hamengkubuwono IX, Sultan Hamid II became members.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Anak Agung was appointed RI ambassador to
\nBelgium and Portugal and was reassigned to Paris (1953). Two
\nyears later the foreign ministry assigned him to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In the Boerhanuddin Harahap cabinet (1955) Anak Agung was
\nassigned the post of foreign minister. The cabinet was dissolved
\nin 1956. Sukarno introduced a political policy which joined the
\nnationalist, religious and communist groups. The policy was known
\nunder its acronym NASAKOM, and coincided with the announcement of
\nit. Suspected of obstructing the policy, Anak Agung and his
\ncolleagues -- Mohammad Roem, Prawoto, Sutan Sjahrir and others --
\nwere detained on charges of waylaying the Indonesian
\nRevolution.<\/p>\n
\"The arrest violated human rights because it was done without
\na legal process,\" said Anak Agung in a discussion.<\/p>\n
When Soeharto came to power Anak Agung and friends were
\nreleased from prison and rehabilitated. Foreign minister Adam
\nMalik assigned Anak Agung to the East-West Center in Honolulu,
\nHawaii in 1967 to compose a manuscript on the history of
\nIndonesia's foreign policy.<\/p>\n
The assignment yielded a book titled Twenty Years of
\nIndonesian Foreign Policy 1945-1965. After the assignment in
\nHonolulu, Anak Agung subsequently became deputy director general
\nof foreign relations, RI ambassador to Austria, head of the RI
\nrepresentative office at the International Nuclear Energy Agency
\nin Vienna and head of the RI representative office at the United
\nNations for Industrial Development also in Vienna. He was staff
\nexpert and special assistant at the foreign ministry from 1974 to
\n1980.<\/p>\n
Amid his busy schedule of state duties, Anak Agung continued
\nto write and to conduct research for his book published in 1980,
\nRenville, Sebagai Titik Balik dari Perundingan-perundingan
\nIndonesia-Belanda (Renville, a Turning Point of the Indonesian-
\nDutch Negotiations). In 1984, Anak Agung received an invitation
\nfrom the Dutch Advanced Studies Institute in Wassenaar to collect
\nmaterial by a research of archives in the Netherlands for the
\nwriting of the book Dari Negara Indonesia Timur ke Republik
\nIndonesia (From the East Indonesia State to the Federal Republic
\nof Indonesia, 1985). In 1986, he was again invited by the
\ninstitute to conduct another research into archives which
\nresulted in the books, Bali pada Abad XIX (Bali in the 19th
\nCentury, 1987) and Surat Menyurat Hatta-Anak Agung (Hatta-Anak
\nAgung correspondence) which is a collection of the correspondence
\nbetween the two prominent figures from 1963 to 1974.<\/p>\n
In his last weeks, Anak Agung managed to work occasionally.
\n\"He was preparing a book. Apparently he had written more than 200
\npages,\" said Dewa Gde Agung, his personal secretary.<\/p>",
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