The legacy of Maeda's residence

By Ida Indawati Khouw

The former official residence of Rear. Adm. Tadashi Maeda, a senior naval officer during the Japanese occupation here, on Jl. Imam Bonjol No. 1 in Central Jakarta has been turned into an historical building since it was the place where the text for the Indonesian declaration of independence was drafted. This is the 59th article on the old and protected buildings of Jakarta.

JAKARTA (JP): Once located in Weltevreden, one of the more prestigious areas of old Batavia (former name of Jakarta), the two-story building on Jl. Imam Bonjol is now known as the Museum Perumusan Naskah Proklamasi, the Museum of the Drafting of the Proclamation Text, for its important role in the country's independence.

The building's art deco architectural style with few ornaments but plenty of doors and windows does not look particularly spectacular compared to nearby buildings, most of which have a similar style.

There is no precise data about when the building was first constructed. However, some people believe that it was around 1920.

Literature mentions that the building was initially designed as the residence for an official from a certain Dutch private company. Documents show that in 1931 it was owned by insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwasraya Nilmy (Nederlands Levenzekerring Maatschappij) and at that time had a total width of 4,380 square meters.

The building has changed owners several times. Once, when the street was called Oranje Nassauboulevard, the house was occupied by the British Council General until the Japanese occupation here. The Japanese later changed the name of the street to Myakoodoori street.

For Indonesians, the building became important when it was the official residence of Rear. Adm. Tadashi Maeda, head of the Japanese naval liaison office in Batavia.

The senior naval officer's name is familiar to most Indonesians since it often appears in books on Indonesian history both for students and the general public.

Maeda, who lived in the house right after the Japanese military occupied the country in 1942, was a military figure who had sympathy toward the Indonesians' struggle for independence. He had a principle that "all nations should gain their independence". As a consequence he volunteered his house to be used as the place to draft the text for Indonesian independence.

The naval officer told the magazine Media Joang 45 that he was happy when the Japanese government promised to give Indonesians their independence in 1944, but he felt guilty and disappointed knowing that the promise would not soon be realized.

Moments

The historical moment took place in the house only hours before the proclamation text was read out by Sukarno (who then became Indonesia's first president) at 10 a.m. on Aug. 17, 1945.

It has been widely known that during the struggle for independence, youth groups and nationalist leaders such as Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta (the first vice president) held different stances on the timing of the proclamation.

The youth were eager to proclaim independence after knowing that Japan had surrendered to the Allied Forces on Aug. 15, 1945 -- a fact that the Japanese tried to cover up -- while the leaders, who did not believe the news, preferred to wait until Japan granted it.

The youths then kidnapped Sukarno and Hatta and brought the two of them to Rengas Dengklok, a small town in West Java which had been occupied by Indonesian troops on Aug. 16, 1945. The youths attempted to force the two future leaders to proclaim independence and it was agreed that it would be proclaimed in Jakarta.

Maeda sent a message that if the two leaders were returned safely, he could arrange that the Japanese would not disturb the proclamation of independence. Then, it was also agreed that Maeda's house was the safest place to draft the proclamation text.

But Maeda said in a report to Audretsch, attached to the Attorney-General of the Netherlands East Indies in 1947, that it was Sukarno -- who arrived with Hatta at his house at 11 p.m. -- who asked him to allow the house to be used for the declaration meeting.

The meeting began at midnight until early in the morning and was attended by around 50 people. In the meantime a great number of youths were waiting for the results of the meeting.

Maeda himself was not involved in the drafting process as he left the meeting and went to bed on the second floor.

The drafting process of the declaration of independence itself started at around 3 a.m. and involved Sukarno, Hatta and Ahmad Soebardjo, head of the Office of Consultants for Political Affairs of the Japanese Navy in Java.

Hours after the draft was finished, it was read out before Indonesians at Sukarno's residence on Jl. Pegangsaan Timur No. 56 (now the site of the Proclamation monument on Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta), instead of in an open field to avoid clashes with Japanese troops.

Apart from the place where the proclamation text was prepared, the building was also a witness to other momentous diplomatic negotiations between Indonesia and the Dutch on Nov. 17, 1945 and on Oct. 7, 1946. At that time the building was used as the headquarters for the English troops.

The building was turned into a museum in 1984.

The dining room is now called the room of the drafting of the proclamation text. Inside, there are displayed statues of Sukarno, Hatta and Soebardjo, and replicas of chairs and a table used during the drafting process.

Next to the room, there is the so-called typing room where the text was typed by Sajuti Melik. Due to the lack of a typewriter at that time, the machine was borrowed from a German military office, said Maeda's assistant Satzuki Mishima in a book Sejarah Perumusan Naskah Proklamasi (The History of the Drafting of the Proclamation Text).

Another historical room is a big hall where Maeda used to hold meetings. It is now called the room of the signing of the proclamation text, because in that room Sukarno repeatedly read out the text before signing it along with Hatta on behalf of the population of Indonesia.

Maeda himself was imprisoned in the Glodok area (West Jakarta) in April 1946. He was granted the Nararya medal in 1976, a special honor given for extraordinary services to the Indonesian state and nation, a year before his death.