Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia 独立準備委員会 Dokuritsu Junbi Īnkai | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 7 August 1945 (1945-08-07) |
| Disbanded | 29 August 1945 (1945-08-29) |
| Preceded by | Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence |
| Succeeded by | Central Indonesian National Committee |
| Leadership | |
Chair | |
Vice Chair | |
| Seats | 27 members |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Council of the Indies Building | |
ThePreparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (Indonesian:Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia, abbreviated asPPKI;Japanese:独立準備委員会,Hepburn:Dokuritsu Junbi Īnkai) was a body established on 7 August 1945 to prepare for the transfer of authority from theoccupying Japanese to Indonesia. It approved and promulgated the firstConstitution of Indonesia, and appointedSukarno andMohammad Hatta as the firstpresident andvice president of Indonesia, respectively.
In two sessions from May to July 1945, theInvestigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) decided onPancasila as the ideological basis of independent Indonesia, and produced a draft constitution. With the war turning against them, the Japanese, who wereoccupying Indonesia, decided to grant independence in order to create problems for the returning Dutch colonial authorities. The plan was that Java would become independent in early September, followed shortly by the rest of the country. On 7 August, the day after anatomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Lt. GeneralHisaichi Terauchi, commander of the Japanese Southern Area who was based in Saigon, gave permission for the formation of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI).[1]
On 9 August, the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese authorities flew future presidentSukarno,Mohammad Hatta and BPUPK chairmanRadjiman Wediodiningrat toDa Lat,French Indochina for a meeting with GeneralHisaichi Terauchi, the commander of the Southern Area. He promised Indonesian independence would be granted on 24 August, and appointed Sukarno chairman of the PPKI. After delaying discussion of the extent of independent Indonesia when setting up the BPUPK, the Japanese finally clearly stated it would include the whole of the former Dutch East Indies, an idea the PPKI took over from the BPUPK.[2] The three men flew back to Indonesia, arriving on 14 August.[1][3] The Indonesian underground rejected any independence gifted by the Japanese, preferring to win it through force of arms. However, on 17 August 1945, two days after theJapanese surrender, Sukarnodeclared independence.[1][4]
Most of the 21 committee members appointed by the Japanese belonged to the older generation. Unlike the BPUPK, whose members only came from Java, the PPKI had representatives from Eastern Indonesia (under the control of the Japanese navy) and Sumatra (under the25th Army).[5]
The membership comprised:[1]
Six additional committee members added without the approval of the Japanese authorities in Indonesia:[5][6]
The committee met for the first time on 18 August in the building in Jakarta formerly used by theCouncil of the Indies. It elected Sukarno as president and Hatta as vice-president of Indonesia. It established a seven-member commission, including Sukarno, Hatta, Soepomo andMuhammad Yamin, to approve the constitution that had been started by the BPUPK in July and to make other changes. One significant change was the removal from the constitution preamble of the obligation for Muslims to abide bySharia law included in theJakarta Charter as it was felt this would alienate Christians, as well as of the other religious faiths (Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism). The changes took less than a week, and the constitution was published in the 14 February 1946 edition ofBerita Republik Indonesia, the government gazette.[6][7] In the same meeting, the committee also decided that the president would be assisted by a national committee[8][9]
On August 19, the committee met again and divided Indonesia into eightprovinces: West, Central and East Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and the Lesser Sundas.[10][11] In its third and last meeting, held on August 22, the PPKI decided to establish theCentral Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), a state party theIndonesian National Party (PNI) and the Badan Keamanan Rakyat (People's Security Agency) - the forerunner of theIndonesian National Armed Forces.[12][13]
The committee was dissolved by Sukarno on 29 August and replaced by the KNIP.[14]
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