User:The man from Gianyar/Sartono II

Sartono (5 August 1900 – 15 October 1968) was an Indonesian politician and lawyer who served as the first speaker of the People's Representative Council (DPR) from 1950 until 1960. Born to a noble ethnic-Javanese family, Sartono studied law at Leiden University. During his studies, he joined the Perhimpoenan Indonesia association and became an advocate for Indonesian independence. After graduating, he opened a law practice and helped found the Indonesian National Party (PNI) in 1927. When several party leaders were arrested by the colonial government in 1929, he became one of their defense lawyers and unsuccessfully argued for their acquittal. Following the arrest of its leaders, PNI became paralyzed and the party subsequently suspended its activities. In its place, Sartono founded a new political party, Partindo, which sought to achieve independence through non-cooperation and mass action. Partindo lasted until 1936, when it decided to dissolve itself. After Partindo's dissolution, Sartono helped found another party, Gerindo, which advocated for the creation of an Indonesian parliament.

Following the Japanese invasion of the colony in 1942, Sartono briefly left politics, before returning to serve as the general-secretary of a Japan-founded labor organization, Putera, in 1943. He subsequently served in several positions during the Japanese occupation period, including as a member of the Central Advisory Council and Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence. After the proclamation of Indonesian independence in 1945, he was appointed one of five ministers of state in the Presidential Cabinet by Sukarno. As minister, Sartono was dispatched to the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Surakarta Sunanate to shore up support for the nationalist government. During the subsequent national revolution, he became a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), the provisional legislature, and served in the KNIP's working body, which ran the legislature's day-to-day affairs. He then served as an advisor to the Indonesian delegation of the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference before being elected speaker of the DPR of the United States of Indonesia in February 1950.

Sartono served as speaker of the DPR throughout the entirety of the liberal democracy period, being re-elected in August 1950, when the Provisional DPR was formed following the transition into a unitary state, and again in 1956, after legislative elections were held. Following the fall of Mohammad Natsir's Cabinet in 1951, Sartono was appointed formateur by Sukarno. His efforts were thwarted due to policy differences between the two largest parties, the PNI and Masyumi Party, and he returned his mandate after less than a month. Following Mohammad Hatta's resignation from the vice presidency in 1956, Sartono was legally second in the presidential line of succession and he conducted presidential duties on multiple occasions. In 1960, the DPR was suspended by Sukarno as it rejected the government’s budget. Sartono was deeply embittered by the DPR's suspension, and he subsequently resigned from the DPR and did not take public office for several years. In 1962, Sartono accepted an offer by Sukarno to serve as the deputy chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA). His time in the body "confused and irritated him," and he eventually resigned from the DPA in 1967. He died in Jakarta, on 15 October 1968, and was buried at Astana Bibis Luhur, Surakarta.

Early life and career
Sartono was born in Wonogiri, near what is today Surakarta, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), on 5 August 1900. Born to a noble ethnic-Javanese family, Sartono was the second oldest of seven children. His father, Raden Mas Martodikaryo, was a civil servant and a descendant of Mangkunegara II. His mother, Raden Ajeng Ramini, was a noblewoman and a granddaughter of Mangkunegara III. In 1906, Sartono left Wonogiri and began his education at a Europeesche Lagere School (ELS) in Surakarta. He graduated from ELS with the highest grade in 1913, and continued his education to a Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO) also in Surakarta. In 1916, Sartono graduated from MULO with flying colors and he continued his studies to the Rechts Hogeschool (RHS), a law institute for the native Indonesian nobility, in Batavia (now Jakarta). During his time at RHS, Sartono joined the Tri Koro Dharmo youth organization and led gymnastic exercises in the school yard. In 1921, Sartono passed his law examination, and received the title of "rechtskundige" (jurist). After graduating, he worked as a civil servant at a district court in Surakarta.



In September 1922, after working at the court for around six months, Sartono left his job as a civil servant and departed for the Netherlands, to study for a doctorate in law at Leiden University, along with his former classmate Iwa Koesoemasoemantri. During his studies in the Netherlands, he lived frugally and as "simply as possible." He didn't work, and instead funded his studies through a scholarship. Around this time, Sartono became involved in the struggle for independence, joining the Perhimpoenan Indonesia association either as a regular member or a commissar. Sartono later became the association's secretary from 1922 until 1925. In 1925, he completed his studies and graduated with a Meester in de Rechten degree. He then returned home and opened a law practice in Bandung, together with some of his friends from Leiden, including Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo, Budiarto Martoatmodjo, and Soenario. By 1928, the firm had opened a second branch in Batavia. The young advocates regularly fought the colonial government in court, unsuccessfully defending a train conductor and a hajj pilgrim accused of having participated in a failed communist rebellion in 1926.

Early political career


On 4 July 1927, Sartono participated in the founding of a pro-independence political party, the Indonesian National Party (PNI), which sought independence for Indonesia through non-cooperative methods and mass organization. Sukarno, then a young student from the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng, was chosen as chairman. The party opened branches in most major cities of Java, as well as one branch in Sumatra (Palembang), and had around 10,000 members by 1929. Within PNI, he was initially only a regular member until he was appointed party treasurer in 1929. He also became a legal adviser for the second Indonesian youth congress in 1928, which resulted in the creation of the Youth Pledge. Sartono was also active in the People's College, a private university in Batavia, founded by Soenario. Sartono regularly managed the college alongside other PNI figures, including Wilopo and Suwiryo, and he even donated some of his own money to fund the university. Meanwhile, PNI activities caught the attention of the colonial government, and they promptly arrested Sukarno, Gatot Mangkoepradja, Soepriadinata, and Maskoen Soemadiredja on 29 December 1929 for "being a threat to public order."

Despite being PNI's treasurer, Sartono was not arrested. Instead, he was one of the many advocates who came in throngs to defend Sukarno in court, alongside Iskaq, Sastromoeljono, Idih Prawiradipoetra, and Lukman Wiriadinata. The four men were sentenced to prison by the district court in 1930, however they appealed their cases to the Council of Justice. Despite their appeal, the council upheld the conviction of the district court in 1931. PNI was paralyzed by the arrest and imprisonment of its leaders and the party subsequently suspended its activities.