Jump to content

Abdoe'lxarim MS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dan Carkner (talk | contribs) at 04:12, 23 November 2022 (→Biography: Fix typo). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Abdul Xarim M. S. circa 1940

Xarim M. S. (1901-60), who was born Abdul Karim bin Moehamad Soetan, was a journalist and Communist Party of Indonesia leader. He was interned in Boven-Digoel concentration camp from 1927 to 1932. During World War II, he collaborated with the Japanese and became an important figure in recruiting support for them in Sumatra; after their defeat he then became a key figure in the anti-Dutch republican forces during the Indonesian National Revolution.

Biography

Xarim M. S. was born in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh Regency, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1901.[1] His birth name was Abdul Karim bin Moehamad Soetan. He was childhood friends with Nathar Zainuddin, another future Communist Party leader.[1] He studied for three years in a Dutch-language school.[1] He then worked as a Drafter in the Public Works department of Lhokseumawe and became active in trade union politics.[1][2]

He joined Cipto Mangunkusumo's National Indisch Partij and became the local party chairman in Lhokseumawe.[1] He was transferred to a new government post in Padang in 1920.[1] He became a journalist as well, editing Hindia Sepakat in Sibolga and then Utusan Rajat in Langsa.[1] While in Langsa he joined the Communist Party of Indonesia (Template:Lang-ms) and rose through its ranks to become a leader in the national executive in 1924.[1][2]

In 1927 he was detained during the mass arrests of Communist Party members and was exiled to Boven-Digoel concentration camp in May of that year.[3] During his time in Digoel he was very active in camp life; he participated in councils organized by internees, and even led a Jazz band.[4]

He was released from Boven Digoel in January 1932 although he was not allowed to return to Aceh or to participate in political activities.[2][5] He moved to Medan in Sumatra and became a non-political journalist and writer of short fiction.[1][2]

After the outbreak of World War II, Xarim, who had clandestine contacts with the Japanese consulate in Medan, was arrested by the Dutch and sent to an internment camp in Java.[2][6] In 1942, after the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies began, he was released from the camp by the Japanese and became an advisor to them.[7] He returned to Medan and was appointed head of public relations for the Japanese occupiers in that city, and eventually into a more national propaganda role.[2][8][9] He led recruitment drives for the Heiho.[10] He was briefly detained by the Kenpeitai in 1943.[2] After his release later that year, he became a key figure in BOMPA (Template:Lang-id, Body to Support the Defense of Asia), which was a sort of propaganda organization which was intended to enlist more Indonesians for the Japanese war effort, as well as other similar organizations.[2][11] By 1944, however, as the Japanese started to lose the war he began to distance himself from them.[12]

After the Japanese surrender and the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, he met with Tengku Mansur and other Sumatran leaders who had collaborated with the Japanese to discuss what to do as the Allied army arrived in Sumatra.[13] After the arrival of the English and the Dutch, he continued to organize supplies for Indonesians who had been enlisted with the Japanese via BOMPA, and eventually reorganized many of them into clandestine pro-republic (anti-Dutch) militias or Pemuda groups.[14][15] During this period of instability he managed to stockpile weapons as well.[16]

Due to his level of organization, his rhetorical skills, and his reputation as a leader from the 1920s who had been interned, he became an important figure among the pro-independence forces in Sumatra and the main republican notable in Medan.[17][18] He was promoted to the rank of Resident in Medan alongside Mangaradja Soeangkoepon and Luat Siregar.[18] During this time, he held roles in various republican parties, being appointed deputy leader in Sumatra for the Indonesian National Party (PNI), building up the organization of the PRI/PESINDO (Socialist Youth) under Sarwono S. Soerardjo, and then defecting from the PNI and founding a local branch of the Communist Party in November 1945.[18] This group did not at first have any connection with the Communist Party in Java; Xarim became the chairman, Luat Siregar became vice-chair and Nathar Zainuddin became an assistant at large.[18] In his new role, Xarim often acted as an intermediary between the republican government in Java and the local youth militias; he believed in a broad coalition of leftist forces and allied himself with Tan Malaka, who had created his own party in Sumatra, and used the Indonesian red-and-white flag rather than the communist flag.[19]

After the end of the Indonesian National Revolution in 1949, his role declined and he finally left the Communist Party in 1952.[1] He died in 1960.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 79–80. ISBN 019580399X.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Post, Peter (2010). Post, Peter (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War: In cooperation with the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. BRILL. p. 470. ISBN 978-90-04-19017-7.
  3. ^ Shiraishi, Takashi (1997). "Policing the Phantom Underground". Indonesia (63): 19–20. doi:10.2307/3351509. ISSN 0019-7289.
  4. ^ Shiraishi, Takashi (1996). "The Phantom World of Digoel". Indonesia (61): 93–118. doi:10.2307/3351365. ISSN 0019-7289.
  5. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 61. ISBN 019580399X.
  6. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 85. ISBN 019580399X.
  7. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 019580399X.
  8. ^ Reid, Anthony; Saya, Shiraishi (1976). "Rural Unrest in Sumatra, 1942 a Japanese Report". Indonesia (21): 115–133. doi:10.2307/3350959. ISSN 0019-7289.
  9. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 108. ISBN 019580399X.
  10. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 019580399X.
  11. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 019580399X.
  12. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 136. ISBN 019580399X.
  13. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 019580399X.
  14. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 153. ISBN 019580399X.
  15. ^ Melvin, Jess (2019). "The Hammer and Sickle in "Mecca's Verandah"—The Indonesian Communist Party in Aceh, 1920–65". Indonesia. 108 (1): 23–40. doi:10.1353/ind.2019.0011. ISSN 2164-8654.
  16. ^ Steedly, Mary Margaret (2013). [muse.jhu.edu/book/26191 Rifle Reports: A Story of Indonesian Independence]. University of California Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-520-95528-8. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  17. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 156. ISBN 019580399X.
  18. ^ a b c d Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 170–3. ISBN 019580399X.
  19. ^ Reid, Anthony (1979). The blood of the people : revolution and the end of traditional rule in northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 224–5. ISBN 019580399X.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abdoe%27lxarim_MS&oldid=1123324989"