Hostilities between Collaborators
Sjahrir and General Sudirman had a different understanding about how to win and defend Indonesia’s sovereignty. They once had each other arrested, but eventually came to admire one another.
March 10, 2009
GENERAL Sudirman’s face became tense as he read the pamphlet Our Struggle, some time in November 1945. The pamphlet set out Sutan Sjahrir’s political program five days before he was to be appointed as prime minister. Sjahrir asserted that full independence would not be won through diplomacy. The way this would be undertaken would be first of all to “Get rid of all the Japanese collaborators”.
Sudirman was angry because the Defenders of t
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