‘Using’ Japan to Achieve Independence

He was known to be close to Japan but he was smart enough to lessen their pressure and to usher in the proclamation of Indonesia’s independence.

April 20, 2011

ABDUL Wahid Hasyim was well-versed in Islam’s political principles. When leading the Masyumi Party during the Japanese occupation, he was free to inflame the spirit for independence. Through the Suara Muslimin Indonesia (Voice of Indonesian Muslims) magazine, his spirit of anti-colonialism was acutely felt though it did not directly hit the Japanese.

The magazine’s August 15, 1944, edition, for instance, carried the speech of his father, KH

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