YOGYAKARTA – History is an important part of a nation’s journey. Nations can learn the past from history. Through history, a nation has a stronghold to achieve its future. As President Soekarno once said, “Don’t ever forget history.” But, sometimes history is twisted for the interest of those in power. Still, historic documents will prove the real facts as they happened.
This was raised in the discussion to commemorate the success of the Serangan Oemoem (General Offensive) on 1 March 1949, run by Centre for Pancasila Studies UGM in Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri Cultural Centre UGM, Tuesday (5/3).
UGM historian, Prof. Dr. Suhartono, the resource person of the discussion, mentioned an important document he had found in the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry archives, namely, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX’s handwritten letter with the header on the top right hand side Hamengkoe Boewono, Menteri Negara (State Minister).
“The handwritten document was found by Dutch intelligent service in Kepatihan in back-to-back pages. After hearing the UNO broadcast, Sultan HB IX arranged two main ideas to launch an offensive against the Dutch. In the document there is an instruction to arrest chiefs of village who supported the NICA,” Suhartono said.
Prof Suhartono was convinced after reading Sultan HB IX’s letter, that the initiative of the general offensive had come from Sri Sultan. The document even depicts a picture of cow cart, a means of transport during the revolution and also of a press conference of Sri Sultan in front of foreign journalists. “The idea of the offensive is from the Kraton. Generally, the idea was very specific with high intelligence,” he said.
The professor in history from UGM said the document that was marked as “VERY CONFIDENTIAL” also contained a report from Dutch Governor General to Dutch Government in Den Haag explaining that the 1 March hostile act was from Kraton Yogyakarta.