99 Interview with Sudijo, 31 October 1979; Totosardjono, 8 August 1979.
100 Kementerian Pertanian (ed), Agraria (Djakarta, Pusat Kantor Urusan Tani, n.d. ), p .293.
101 Reid, op.cit., p.128.
102 Kedaulatan Rakjat, 5 May 1946.
103 Interview with Sardjono, 4 August 1979. 104 Interview with Panudi, 27 July 1979.
Atmosudarmo instructed Sardjono to form an anti-Swapraja committee in the subdistrict of Kedawung.
By the middle of May Sardjono had set up the anti-Swapraja committee, which consisted of members of the BBI, the Barisan
Banteng and the Kedawung KNI. The committee issued a political statement that the subdistrict of Kedawung was under the Republican Government and not under that of the Kasunanan. The committee also demanded that the central government distribute former land of the western enterprises in Kedawung subdistrict, estimated at about
300 ha.105
In the Mangkunegaran rural areas, the anti-Swapraja movement was also led by teachers. At the end of January 1946 seventeen primary school teachers in the subdistrict of Tawangmangu announced that they were breaking relations with the office of educational affairs of the Mangkunegaran. They gave as a reason that the Mangkunegaran had not increased the salary of primary school teachers and had not paid the salary of teachers during the first months of 1946. This was because in the months after the proclamation the Mangkunegaran
government experienced severe budgetary difficulties, as some taxes, such as the market tax and land tax, were held at local government level (e.g., subdistrict or village) to finance the local offices and lasykar organizations.
The action of these primary school teachers was followed by other teachers in the subdistricts of Karangpandan and Jumapolo. The local Army battalion, under the command of Major Sastrolawu, supported the action of these teachers. The teachers and the local army both made propaganda among the officials of the regency and the subdistricts to reject the Mangkunegaran government. This propaganda had its effect. In early May the officials of Karanganyar regency announced that they had broken off relations with the Mangkunegaran. All subdistricts held mass meetings in which the subdistrict KNIs and
105 Interview with Sardjono, 4 August 1979. 106 Interview with Sanjoto, 26 June 1979.
badan perjuangan leaders urged the rural masses to refuse the authority
of the Mangkunegoro. In Wonogiri regency the teachers and the
officials of the health office took a leading role in the movement
against the Mangkunegaran. These teachers, for the same reasons as the
primary school teachers of Tawangmangu, rejected the authority of the
Special Region of Mangkunegaran. On 22 May the officials of the
health office announced that they too had broken their relations 107
with the Mangkunegaran.
It is clear that the daulat operation against the traditional governments occurred not only in the urban bureaucracy but also in
the rural areas. The urban daulat operation was mainly under the
leadership of leftist groups and revolutionary badan perjuangan. In the rural areas the leftist groups (e.g., the BBI) were the most
powerful social force opposing the traditional authorities. Both
in urban and rural areas the KNI seemed to be a powerful political institution in carrying out the daulat operation to replace or reform the old institutions of the traditional government.
CHAPTER FIVE
RISING SOCIAL TENSIONS
NATIONAL P O L IT IC S , JULY 1 9 4 6 - 4 7 T h e f a i l u r e o f t h e P e r s a t u a n P e r j u a n g a n c o u p on 3 J u l y 1 9 4 6 d i d n o t e n d p o l i t i c a l t e n s i o n s a r i s i n g f r o m p a r t y a n d i d e o l o g i c a l c o n f l i c t s , g r o u p r i v a l r i e s a n d t h e p e r j u a n g a n v e r s u s d i p l o m a s i q u e s t i o n . T h e s e c o n f l i c t s b e c a m e e v e n m o re i n t e n s e i n t h e m o n t h s l e a d i n g u p t o t h e M a d iu n r e b e l l i o n i n S e p t e m b e r 1 9 4 8 , a s w i l l b e s e e n i n t h e f o l l o w i n g c h a p t e r s . As a r e s u l t o f t h e f a i l u r e o f t h e c o u p o f 3 J u l y , t h e T an M a l a k a g r o u p l o s t t h e p o w e r w h i c h i t h a d p o s s e s s e d d u r i n g t h e f i r s t m o n t h s o f 1 9 4 6 . ^ M o st o f t h e t o p l e a d e r s o f t h e P e r s a t u a n P e r j u a n g a n ,
i n c l u d i n g Muhammad Yamin a n d Tan M a l a k a h i m s e l f , w e r e i n d e t e n t i o n
2