Rengasdengklok Incident on August 16, 1945 and Its Meaning

Kapanlagi.com - Today, 76 years ago or August 16, 1945, was an exciting event for a group of young people who wanted to immediately proclaim the independence of Indonesia. The members of this group, including Wikana, Chaerul Saleh, and Sukarni, daringly kidnapped Soekarno and Hatta as a tactic to expedite the proclamation. Now, this thrilling kidnapping event is often referred to as the Rengasdengklok incident.

Without the kidnapping of Soekarno-Hatta, the story of Indonesian independence would have been different. The Rengasdengklok incident and other efforts towards the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on August 17, 1945, are important and interesting stories to always be remembered. Based on information from the kemendikbud.go.id website, Indonesia's awareness to immediately proclaim Indonesian Independence began with the bombs dropped by the Allies on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The devastating bombs prompted Emperor Hirohito to unconditionally surrender to the Allies. Well, the young group immediately took advantage of the situation to pressure Soekarno-Hatta. The Rengasdengklok incident was followed by the formulation of the Indonesian independence proclamation document. To find out about the Rengasdengklok incident on August 16, 1945, please refer to the following information.

1. Chronology of the Rengasdengklok Incident

Illustration (Credit: Freepik)

On August 15, 1945, after hearing news from the British BBC radio that Emperor Hirohito surrendered, the young group persuaded Soekarno-Hatta to immediately proclaim Indonesia. Although they appeared prompt, the young group could not easily obtain approval from Soekarno-Hatta, who was still waiting for an official statement from the Japanese government.

The next day, on August 16, 1945, not surrendering to the rejection of the older generation who preferred to wait until August 24, according to the date set by Marshal Terauchi as the day of independence, the young group carried out the kidnapping of Soekarno-Hatta along with Fatmawati and Guntur to Rengasdengklok. The Rengasdengklok incident aimed to (once again) urge the older generation to expedite the proclamation plan.

Unfortunately, the efforts of the young group did not yield much result until the evening. Eventually, Ahmad Soebardjo came and persuaded the young group to release the duo or Soekarno-Hatta with the guarantee that the proclamation would be carried out the next day. After that, the entourage departed to Jakarta, to Admiral Maeda's house to discuss the proclamation plan. Negotiations took place with Gunseikan (Head of the Military Government) General Moichiro Yamamoto and resulted in a disappointing answer.

The disappointment came from Gunseikan's prohibition on Indonesia's desire to make changes before the Allies arrived. It was also this disappointment that made the leaders agree not to expect much, especially independence from Japan. That means the plan for proclamation had to be quickly designed. At that time, Sukarni and his friends escorted the members of PPKI to Admiral Maeda's house to participate in the preparation of independence plan.

2. Formulation of the Proclamation Text

Illustration (Credit: Freepik)

On August 17, 1945 at 03:00 AM, the drafting of the proclamation script took place in the dining room of Admiral Maeda. Two hours later, the script, consisting of two paragraphs containing mature thoughts, was completed. As you may have often heard, the handwritten script by Soekarno was typed by Sayuti Melik, and then signed by Soekarno-Hatta. However, before proceeding to the reading ceremony, let's first take a look at the other side of the Rengasdengklok Incident.

Why is the script, which supposedly only took two hours to complete in the dining room, considered to contain mature thoughts? This is because the aspiration for Indonesian independence had existed for a long time. Many negotiations had been conducted. Unfortunately, none of the individuals who were supposed to be the 'midwives' for the birth of the nation brought the prepared PPKI decision text.

Reflecting on the series of events in the Rengasdengklok Incident, an Indonesian documentary filmmaker named Muhidin M Dahlan wrote about the perceived reckless Indonesian documentation mentality, in the Jawa Pos edition of August 14, 2021. He mentioned that the two texts, the Proclamation and the UUD (including Pancasila), almost did not exist due to a very serious negligence. Because no one knew where the prospective official document that had been prepared in previous negotiations was located, the text had to be rewritten. Soekarno dictated, Hatta corrected, Sayuti Melik typed it.

Since the manuscript had been typed, Soekarno's handwritten manuscript was then thrown into the trash bin. Fortunately, there was a journalist named M.Diah who took and ironed the torn paper in the trash bin. After being stored for almost half a century, that important document was finally returned to Indonesia.

After that, at 10:00 AM, in the yard of Soekarno's house at Jl.Pegangsaan Timur No. 56, the proclamation manuscript was read with great joy. The news was spread everywhere in various ways, the essence of which was 'MERDEKA! INDONESIA HAS ACHIEVED INDEPENDENCE!'

3. Meaning of the Rengasdengklok Incident

Illustration (Credit: Pixabay)

After knowing the chronology of the Rengasdengklok incident and the formulation of the Proclamation text, it is understandable if you have mixed feelings. Admiration for seeing the courage of the nation's founders, as well as surprise at some attitudes that can be considered "careless" in terms of documenting the proclamation text.

However, there are many meaningful stories that you can take as lessons. Some lessons you can take include:

1. The readiness of young people to read the situation and use it to pressure the older generation to proclaim independence.

2. Indonesia's independence achieved independently without waiting for Japan and proclaiming itself on behalf of the Indonesian nation, not the PPKI or the Japanese-formed preparatory institution for independence.

3. The unity of two generations (young and old) despite facing challenging negotiations.

You can use the above Rengasdengklok incident as a reflection to remember the contributions of heroes and as Indonesian citizens, it is your duty to continue their struggle.

(Source: Kemendikbud.go.id, muhidindahlan.radiobuku.com)

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