Sutan Sjahrir (1909-1966) was an early leader in the struggle for Indonesian independence from Dutch rule. Sjahrir served as prime minister of Indonesia from 1945 to 1947.
Sutan Sjahrir was born in Padang Panjang, Sumatra. His father was a public prosecutor, and Sutan Sjahrir studied law in the Netherlands. In 1931, he returned to Indonesia (then the Netherlands East Indies) and founded an Indonesian national group called the Indonesian National Education Party. In 1934, he and other leaders of the party were arrested by the Dutch and exiled to Upper Digul in West New Guinea (now the Indonesian region of Papua). A year later, they were moved to a small island in the Banda Sea. When the Japanese occupied Indonesia in 1942, they released the exiles. Sjahrir then built up an underground network of Indonesian nationalists.
From 1945 to 1947, Sjahrir was prime minister as well as minister for foreign affairs and the interior. In December 1948, Sjahrir and other Indonesian leaders were captured by the Dutch. They were released in June 1949. After Indonesian independence was recognized in 1949, Sjahrir’s views, which favored Western democracy, brought him into conflict with President Sukarno. In 1962, Sukarno had him imprisoned. In 1965, he allowed Sjahrir to seek medical treatment in Switzerland. He died there in 1966. He was given an Indonesian state funeral.
