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[Yemen Update 34(1994):14-19,44]
Mr. Hamid Algadri (born near Surabaya,East Java in 1912), lawyer, one of the leaders of Indonesia'srevolutionary movement, former member of Parliament, and a prominentsenior member of the Arab community in Indonesia, spoke to CynthiaMyntti (CM) in Jakarta in March and April 1993.
CM: Pak Hamid, before we discuss your ownpersonal story, it might be helpful for our readers to hear about theArab community in Indonesia. Approximately how many Indonesians ofArab descent are there in Indonesia today?
HA: The last Dutch census before theJapanese invaded Indonesia in 1942 counted 50,000 Arab Indonesians. Since Indonesia became independent, no information has been collectedon their numbers. However, if we assume no in- or out-migration ofArabs and a natural growth rate similar to the rest of Indonesia, Icalculate that there should be approximately 200,000 Indonesians ofArab descent here today.
CM: Which places in the Arab world are theyfrom? When did they come? Why?
HA: This depends on the period we arespeaking about. Arab traders came from the Red Sea and Persian Gulfto the Indonesian archipelago via the silk route(Persia-India-Burma-Malaya, and China) even before Islam.
After the advent of Islam, and particularlyduring the Abbasid period in Baghdad, traders and Muslim preachersfrom what is now Iraq and the Gulf States came to the archipelago. The traders dealt mainly in spices, which they shipped from theIndonesian archipelago to the Persian Gulf harbors, and from theresent by caravan to other parts of the Middle East and theMediterranean for points in Europe.
Some Hadramis came to Indonesia by sailingships in the 18th century. The Sultan of Pontianak in Borneo, fromthe Algadri family, and the influential Albashayban family of Cirebonon the north coast of Java, arrived during this period.
The next great wave of immigration occuredafter the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869. The Hadramaut atthat time was very poor. The people there soon heard that manyeconomic opportunities existed in the British colonies of the East --India and Malaya-- and in Indonesia too. Hadramis boarded thesteamships stopping in Aden and began their journeyeastward.
CM: In which towns did they settle in thearchipelago?
HA: When the Portuguese arrived in thearchipelago in the middle of the 16th century they found on the northcoast of Java many small states ruled by Arab descendants. This hasbeen documented by Professor LWC Van Den Berg in his importanthistorical text Le Hadramout et les Colonies Arabes dans l'ArchipelIndien, which was published in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1886.
The Portuguese, who had been fighting theMoors (Muslims) in Spain, soon learned that conquering the IndonesianArchipelago meant fighting their old enemy here! SharifHidayatullah, an Arab descendant and governor of the Muslim Kingdomof Demak in the late 15th and early 16th century, rid the entirenorth coast of Java, from Banten in the west to Banyuwangi in theeast, from the Portuguese.
During the migrations of the late 19th andearly 20th centuries, the Arabs from the Hadramaut settled inPalembang in South Sumatera, and the coastal towns of Jakarta,Cirebon, Pekalongan, Semarang, Tuban, Gresik, Surabaya, Pasuruan,Bondowoso, and Banyuwangi in Java.
Many Hadrami families also settled at thattime in Malaya and Singapore. A former Mufti of Johore (now inMalaysia) was Salim Alatas, and there are still many Assagafs, Alkafsand Aljufris in Singapore.
CM: How did they earn theirlivelihoods?
HA: Throughout the centuries, the Arabsettlers combined trade and religious work. But one needs tounderstand trade in the context of European powers battling forcontrol of the valuable raw materials coming from this part of theworld. For example, spices were extremely important for the Arabtraders in the early period. The Muslim Kingdom of Demak, forexample, controlled the trade from the spice islands in what is nowEastern Indonesia, along Sumatera and then through the Straits ofMalacca to the Indian Ocean and points west. In fact, when the Dutcharrived in Java in 1602, they wanted to get the Portuguese out of thearchipelago once and for all, and then wrest control of the spicetrade from Demak. By 1640, after a battle with the Demak forces inwhat is now Jakarta, the Dutch controlled key points on the route andDemak's decline began.
The Arabs, many of whom were descendants ofthe Prophet, were seen as holy men and authoritative in religiousmatters by the local population. Some Arab descendants are, to thisday, revered as saints. For example, Habib Karamat Almukhdar,considered a saint in East Java in 1920-30 drew large crowds to hissermons. In modern Indonesia, Arab descendants continue thetradition of their forefathers in religious education. For example,the Rector of Sharif Hidayatullah Islamic University outside Jakartais of Arab origin.
From the 19th century onwards, many Arabstraded in batik textiles. It's interesting to note that Arab batiktraders collaborated in establishing the Sarekat Islam. Formed in1911, it promoted Indonesian commercial enterprise and, inparticular, sought to protect the local textile market that was beingundermined by the Dutch and their importation of textiles fromHolland. A number of leading Arab activists played key roles in theSarekat Islam: Hassan Binsmit, Alim Algadri, Al-Aydrus, andBajuneid.
Arab Indonesians also traded in horses. Mygrandfather was among them. The horses were purchased wild fromIndonesia's eastern islands and sold to Javanese, usually inauctions. Once a family became wealthy from trading, they oftenmoved into real estate.
CM: Is it true that Arab women did notmigrate? Was there intermarriage, then, with the local population? Did Arab men marry women of all ethnic groups?
HA: That is correct, Arab women did notmigrate. Arab men married local women wherever they were, Javanese inCentral Java, Sundanese in West Java, Sumatrans in Sumatera etc. Most wives were Muslim, although Arab men even married Chinese women. The Arab men, particularly those descended from the Prophet, werevery eligible bridegrooms!
Thus, the pure Arab immigrants or ulaytistook local wives. Their children became muwallads through theirIndonesian mothers.
CM: The Dutch ruled the Indonesianarchipelago from 1602, as you have mentioned, until 1949. What didthe colonial rule mean for the Arab community here?
HA: As I have mentioned, Arab traders andpreachers intermarried with the local Muslim population. Their pietyaccorded them much respect with the local people, and as a result ofthis status, they married the daughters of the local aristocracy. Over time, they were considered native, or pribumi, and themselvessometimes even became the local sultans. For example, the Sultan ofPontianak in Borneo was an Algadri, and the Sultan of Siak inSumatera was from the Binshahab family. In the Dutch colonialsystem, the highest administrative position that could be held by alocal person was that of the bupati; he was an official just underthe Dutch provincial governor. Several of the bupatis of CentralJava in the 1700s were Arab descendants from the Albustom andAlbasyaiban families.
But the Dutch felt threatened by the Arabsfrom the beginning. They arrived in Indonesia with many of the samesentiments that led the Crusades: a hatred for the Muslim "infidels". Although they were Protestant and the Portuguese before them wereCatholic, their policy toward the Muslims was the same.
Through the centuries the Dutch engaged inthe old "divide and rule" tactic. They first divided the peoples ofthe archipelago into two groups, Muslim and Christian. The Arabswere grouped with the other Muslim subjects, and had the same rightsas they. During this period, as I have mentioned, some Arabdescendants became local political leaders and evensultans.
The Dutch continued to worry about the Arabcommunity. By the mid-19th century, feeling threatened by the Arabs'political role, the Dutch passed the infamous law IS163, whichcategorized the Arabs as a minority like the Chinese. Thus accordingto the new classification, one had the European settlers, indigenouspribumis, and Vreemde Oosterlingen or "foreign Asians."
Don't forget that it is these same people(the Dutch) who designed the system of apartheid in South Africa. Their policy from this time in the archipelago was calledWijkenstelsel in Dutch, and it established a ghetto-like system. Arabs could only live in certain parts of the city. They needed apassport to leave their quarter, and the men had to wear clothes toidentify themselves as Arab. By World War I all public places(cinemas, trains, etc) were divided into three compartments:European, pribumi, and "foreign Asians". Of the other "foreignAsians", the Indians were insignificant and the Chinese were verylarge and economically powerful. The Dutch clearly saw theintegration of the Arabs as a political rather than economic threatin their colony.
Many of the Arab descendents were, in fact,against Dutch rule. Abdurrachman Azzahir led the Aceh war against theDutch in north Sumatera at the end of the 19th century. The Arabcommunity of Batavia (now Jakarta) was the first supporter of the PanIslam movement. This movement, led by the Ottoman sultan, wasopposed to all European empires. A number of the Jakarta residentswrote anti-Dutch articles in Turkish newspapers at that time. TheDutch tried to fight back by paying a well-known 'alim of Arabdescent to make fatwas against the Pan Islamic and anti-Dutchmovements.
Later, in the 1930's, the Dutch again triedto make the local pribumi elites anti-Arab by creating a stereotypeof the Arabs as moneylenders. The tactic was typically anti-Semitic,with Arabs being cast in the role occupied by the Jews in Holland,Russia, and the rest of Europe. The Arabs fought back by taking astrong stand against moneylending. One of the leaders of the Arabcommunity at that time, Hoesin Bafagih, wrote a play called "Fatima"about the Arab hatred of usury. The play was performed in the majorcities of Java and was very popular with the generalpublic.
Initially Dutch propaganda against Arabs hada negative effect on their relations with local pribumi elites. Arabs were not allowed to join the early nationalist activities. Asa response, a group of us formed the Indonesian Arab Party (PAI). Wedeclared ourselves as Indonesian, not Arab, citizens, and at one withthe local nationalists in our opposition to Dutch colonialpolicy.
CM: In the 19th and 20th centuries, wasthere much movement back and forth between Southeast Asia and theArab world?
HA: Yes, many Arab immigrants were stillarriving. In fact, I believe that the Dutch were selective in whothey allowed in in those days. They feared the ulama, so blockedtheir immigration. On the other hand, they actively encouragedusurers and other bad people to come to Indonesia. The Dutch wantedto create a bad image of the Arabs.
Some did go home too. But usually it wasonly the wealthy who returned to the Hadramaut, since it was soexpensive to return. The villages in the Hadramaut always expectedtheir kin from Indonesia to bring lavish gifts and this requiredconsiderable wealth.
For example, my wife's grandfather Abu BakrAlatas, who was born in the Hadramaut but came as a child to Java,returned to the Hadramaut just before World War II. When the warbroke out, Abu Bakr could not return to Indonesia, so he stayed inthe Hadramaut and took a Hadrami wife. It was this wife who boreHaidar, Yemen's current prime minister. After the war, Abu Bakrreturned to Indonesia and died here.
If they could afford it, first generationimmigrants, called ulaytis, would send their sons to school in theHadramaut to, as they said, make them a "man" (rijal).
CM: Did the Arab community here sendremittances back home to the Arab world?
HA: Yes, of course remittances were sentback to the Hadramaut, which was so poor in comparison to Java. Usually an agent or wakala was used, since the post was nonexistentor unreliable at that time. The recipients of the remittances usedthe money for daily subsistence.
When persons left Java to return to theHadramaut, they used to pack considerable amounts of food to takewith them, even conserved durian, because they thought these foodswould be welcomed by their kin in the Hadramaut.
It was difficult to send remittances duringthe Japanese occupation of Indonesia (1942-1945) and followingindependence in South Yemen in 1967. These periods must have beendifficult for the Hadrami families who had become accustomed tosupport from their wealthy Indonesian relatives.
CM: When South Yemen became independent fromthe British in 1967 and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen wasestablished, were the connections between Indonesia and Yemenaffected?
HA: Indonesia, remember, had just passedthrough the traumatic events of 1965 and the communist coup. Thefear of communism made many Indonesians of Hadrami descent afraid tohave any contact with their families in the Hadramaut. They werealso reluctant to have contact with the Consul General of thePeople's Democratic Republic of Yemen, which was opened in Jakarta inthe mid-1970s. (There was no North Yemeni embassy in Jakarta at thattime.) As recently as 1988, I gave a lecture on the Indonesians ofArab descent at the Consulate, and after that time things were morerelaxed.
The newly unified Republic of Yemen openedan embassy in Jakarta in 1992, and relations between our twocountries are friendly. Haidar al-Attas, the Prime Minister ofYemen, was here in fact for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit lastSeptember.
CM: The Kenyan-Hadrami anthropologistAbdalla Bujra has written about the divisions of the Southeast AsianArab community into the Alawi (sayyid) and Irshadi (qabili) strata. Could you please explain?
HA: Yes, the Hadrami community of Indonesiawas divided into these two groups, the Alawi (sayyid) and non-Alawi(al-Irshad, i.e. qabili and others).
Colonialism added a new dynamic to theconflict since the Dutch were thrilled to "divide and rule", and anyforce that would compromise the moral and political power of theAlawi Ulama was welcomed by them.
The basic disagreement between the Alawi andnon-Alawi was over marriage rules. For example, could a sharifamarry a non-Alawi? Many conservatives thought that sharifas shouldonly marry sayyids.
Ironically, many liberal intepretations ofreligion and marriage rules came from Alawis. In about 1912, aleading Alawi, Abdullah Alwi Alatas contributed 50,000 guilders forthe founding of the Al-Irshad reform movement. (In those days, 5guilders could purchase 100 kg of rice). Alatas invited AhmadSoerkati, a leading reformer of Islam in Mecca (he was a Sudanese) toJakarta to teach his reforms. Soerkati was a follower of MuhammadAbduh and Rashid Ridha of Al-Manar, Egyptian liberal thinkers whoseviews paralleled much of the anti-stratification sentiment thenpresent in the Hadramaut. In time, Soerkati became the leader of theAl-Irshad movement.
The division was more complex than simplyconservative Alawis versus reform-minded non-Alawis associated withthe Al-Irshad. First- generation immigrants, the ulaytis, tended toside with the conservatives, whereas the younger generation of themuwallad in general sided with the reformists no matter where theirfamily stood in the system of stratification.
The young muwallads who had been educated inlocal madrassahs could read Arabic, and maintained active contactswith writers and publishers in Cairo, especially from the journalal-Manar. It was this group that formed the Indonesian Arab Party(PAI) in 1934. The founder of the PAI was Abdurrachman Baswedan, anon-Alawi. The Party's Central Board was composed of people from allstrata. The new organization formally abolished the system ofstratification. The title "Sayyid" could no longer be used as a termof address, and, in accordance with the custom of the Indonesiannationalist movement at that time, Arab descendants should call eachother "brother".
CM: Do these social divisions existtoday?
HA: Yes, but their importance is fading. The Alawi organization Rabita al-Alawiyya and the mainly non-Alawigroup al-Irshad still exist. People still talk when an Alawi familymarries their daughter, a sharifa, to a non-Alawi, but even thistension point is becoming less important. The Al-Irshad have beenvery active in founding and running schools, and they run a hospitalin Surabaya.
CM: What is the basis of Arab identity inIndonesia today?
HA: It certainly is one's silsila orpatrilineal descent. But remember that most of the Arab familieshave been in Indonesia for many generations, and there wasconsiderable intermarriage. We are proud of our Arab descent, but weare also very much Indonesian. We see absolutely no conflict betweenour Arab descent and our Indonesian citizenship.
CM: Do you have cultural practices (marriagepatterns or rituals, other ceremonies, food, lifestyle) that arespecifically Arab?
HA: We tend to follow the customs of wherewe live, to take on the local color. Until recently, especiallyamong the ulaytis, families would have the male-only walima at thetime of the writing of the marriage contract (akad nikah). But eventhis is fading, and our wedding parties tend to be like the localones.
CM: Tell us a bit about the Indonesians ofArab decent today.
HA: The situation is different in 1993 thanit was in the early part of this century and the early period ofrevolutionary struggle. The Indonesians of Arab descent havedistanced themselves from small trade. A number are wealthy businesspeople, or involved in real estate. Since independence, Arabdescendants have educated their children in modern (secular) schoolsand many are now professionals such as lawyers or doctors. In thenewly named government there are three ministers of Arab descent: Ali Alatas, Foreign Minister; Saleh Affif, Coordinating Minister forEconomic Affairs; and Mari'e Muhammad, Minister ofFinance.
CM: Let's now hear a bit about your ownvery interesting life. You were born in Pasuruan, near Surabaya,East Java in 1912. Why was your family there?
HA: My paternal grandfather Alim Algadri wasborn in Surat on the west coast of India in about 1860. He was ofArab origin, like many others there, but his mother tongue was Urdu. He came to East Java in about 1880 and began trading in horses. Whenhe became wealthy from this trade, he invested in real estate inPasuruan and Surabaya. The Dutch called him (and my father Muhammadafter him) "Kapitein der Arabieren" or head of the Arab community, inPasuruan because of his influence in the community. My maternalgrandfather was a Muslim Indian whose family had settled in Surabaya.He was the head of the Indian community there.
CM: What was the ethnic composition of yourhome town? Were there many other Arab families?
HA: Pasuruan, like neighboring Surabaya, hadmany Arab families of all strata. It also had a small Indiancommunity and very large Chinese community.
CM: What language did you speak athome?
HA: Bahasa Melayu or Malay. We spoke someJavanese with our servants and learned Dutch at school. We learned alittle Arabic from private lessons, but didn't really speakit.
CM: Your grandfather and father wanted youto have a modern education. What was your experience in the colonialschools?
HA: The elementary school I went to wasmainly for Europeans, but some Chinese and children of Javanesearistocrats were there too. Initially I was not allowed to enter theschool because I was an Arab. My grandfather protested strongly andthreatened to give back his Dutch medals. The Dutch authoritiesreconsidered their decision, and let me in. No other Arab familieswere allowed to send their children to the Dutch schools. Many alsochose not to send their children to what they thought were theChristian schools of the Dutch.
I felt very alone, and remember well thepain of not being accepted by the other pupils. At that time, thePan Islam movement insisted that Muslim men wear a tarbush. So Iwore a tarbush to school. The other pupils made fun of me, playingfootball with my tarbush. This really was the beginning of myanti-Dutch feelings.
By the time I was in junior high school(MULO in Dutch) I no longer felt alone. I joined the Young MuslimAssociation. We had seminars on religious topics, and paid a monthlycontribution. The organization was headquartered in Jakarta and hadbranches all over the country. It was inspired by the progressiveMuslim thinkers Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, with Haji Agus Salimits Indonesian spiritual leader. The movement favored reason(ijtihad) as opposed to unquestioning faith (taqlid) in matters ofreligious doctrine.
For high school I went to Yogyakarta inCentral Java to study in the school for western languages. After myexperience in elementary and junior high schools, I was ready tofight with my Dutch teachers. But I found them willing to debate andvery interested in Islam. In fact, certain progressive Dutchteachers I had at that time had a profound influence on me. And Icould see that not all Dutch were bad people.
I later studied law at the Dutch Faculty inJakarta.
CM: What inspired yournationalism?
HA: Even though my grandfather and fatherwere decorated by the Dutch and wanted me to have a modern education,they were anti-western and, what one might call "pro-Asian." I canremember my grandfather saying that "there is hope for us if theJapanese can beat the Russians!" ( He was referring to theRusso-Japanese War in 1905).
As a young man, I started readinganti-colonial books and this influenced me. One in particular, MaxHavelaar, by the Dutch author Douwes Dekker shows the Dutch in a verybad light, as coffee traders cheating local people. I memorizedparts of it! And like other nationalists at that time, I was alsovery influenced by progressive European literature on imperialism andthe economic domination of poorer countries by more powerfulcountries.
CM: Please tell us about the Partai ArabIndonesia and its founding in Semarang on October 4, 1934.
HA: I should say first that we were a Union(Persatuan) rather than a Party (Partai) to start. As I mentionedpreviously, we, the young generation, were against the system ofstratification that had divided the Arab community up 'til that time. Calling ourselves a Union really meant a union of Alawis andnon-Alawis. We abolished titles and said we would call each otherbrother. Persons of all strata joined in.
Also remember that the Dutch had createdanti-Arab sentiment among the local nationalists. In the early1930s, being treated by Dutch law as "foreign Asians", we were notallowed to join pribumi political parties. So we formed ourown.
In Semarang we declared that our fatherlandwas Indonesia, and that our culture and language were Indonesian. This oath of loyalty was a very important statement of identificationwith the revolutionary struggle. We were not foreigners, as theDutch had tried to make us. And our subsequent activities reallyproved that we were a clear nationalist voice in the struggle forindependence from the Dutch.
Sukarno, Hatta, and other nationalistleaders were in favor of the PAI. They said, "We know you by yourbehavior."
CM: Where were you when the Japaneseinvaded in 1942? And what do you remember of theoccupation?
HA: I was a law student in Jakarta, and Iremember seeing Dutch and Japanese soldiers fighting in the center ofthe city. Initially the Indonesian people were thrilled with thearrival of the Japanese, who promised that "we will make you free." But soon, the reality of their occupation became clear. They bannedall political parties, forbade the use of our national anthem, andclosed all Dutch schools. They confiscated all iron goods and ourbasic food, rice, for their war. We were starving! They promisedour women jobs and then put them in brothels. And they forciblyrecruited many thousands of workers under the "Romusha" system tohelp build their grand road from Burma to China, to be the link inthe Japanese controlled "Great Asia." Those three years under theJapanese were as bad as 350 years of Dutch rule.
CM: Indonesia proclaimed its independencein 1945 immediately following the end of World War II and the defeatof the Japanese. What were you doing during this period?
HA: Following the Proclamation ofIndependence in 1945, Sukarno was named President and Sutan SyahrirPrime Minister. Political parties were re-established. NowIndonesians of Arab descent could belong to any party, so there wasno need anymore for the PAI. I joined Syahrir's social democratparty, the Partai Sosialis Indonesia (PSI), and became active in thenew parliament.
Meanwhile, remember that the Dutch hadregained control of much of Indonesia, but had also begunnegotiations with the newly declared Republican government. In 1947I was Secretary to the Minister of Information. In that capacity Ihelped run the Radio Republik Indonesia, which tried to counteractDutch propaganda. The Dutch came to think of me as a greatterrorist. At one particularly tense period, they came to arrest mein the middle of the night. Thirty soldiers surrounded my house. They found me in my sarong holding my eldest daughter, Atika, a baby,not holding grenades as they suspected.
In those days we could identify two separateDutch policies. One favored a negotiated settlement. Holland hadjust suffered through World War II, and many people there felt it wastime to leave Indonesia and grant it its independence. The otherpolicy, favored by the military and European residents in Java,wanted to attack the Republican forces and hold on to the colony. Inthis period a number of us were involved simultaneously in politicalnegotiations with the civilian Dutch but subjected to recurringarrest and exile by the Dutch military authorities.
CM: Eventually, you participated in thefinal talks on independence.
HA: Yes, Sukarno appointed me as an advisorto the Indonesian delegation to the Round Table Conference in theHague in 1949. There were actually two delegations, the RepublicanDelegation headed by Vice-President Hatta, of which I was a part, andthe Delegation of the "Sub-States" still occupied by the Dutch. TheSub-States included the Eastern Islands of Indonesia. The otherHamid Algadri, then Sultan of Pontianak, headed the Delegation of the"Sub-States." After much negotiation, in December 1949 we agreed tothe Transfer of Sovereignity to the new Indonesian state. It was thegreatest moment of my life.
CM: The 1950s are known as the period ofparliamentary democracy in Indonesia. What were you doing in thisperiod?
HA: I was very involved with the PSI, as amember of the Central Bureau. I participated in the first appointedparliament of 1950, and was elected as a member in the elections of1955. Our party believed in multiparty democracy, strongly supportedthe idea of human rights that was then declared in the UnitedNations, and favored a planned economy of mixed public and privatesectors. In 1958, as Chairman of the Social Democratic faction, Ipresented a speech to the constituent assembly advocating humanrights entitled "The Struggle of Man Against Nature and his Fellowmenthrough the Centuries."
It is worth mentioning here that ArabIndonesians joined all parties, from the Islamic Masjumi, to theNationalists, Socialists, and even the Communists.
CM: You also had connections with two Arabstates fighting for their independence in the 1950s. Please tell usmore about this, and the honors they have recently givenyou.
HA: In 1952 Habib Bourguiba and Tayeb Salimof the NeoDestour Party of Tunisia came to Indonesia to ask our newrepublic for help against the French. Later, in 1956, two youngAlgerians, Lakhdhar Brahimi and Muhammad Benyahya, came requestingsimilar help. At that time I was Chairman of the Foreign AffairsCommittee in the Indonesian parliament. Parliament gave me officialresponsibility to help both groups, and I eventually became SecretaryGeneral of the Algerian and Tunisian Aid Committee. The Tunisiansand the Algerians wanted moral support from our political parties andmaterial support for their struggle. Materially, we helped them byproviding an office, car, and monthly allowance for theirrepresentatives in Jakarta, and by arranging that some of our foreignexchange from rubber sales be sent to them. We also sent anexperienced guerilla fighter, General Suwarto, to Algeria.
My wife, children and I became like familyto these young men, Lakhdhar Brahimi in particular. Perhaps it wasbecause I was of Arab descent myself. But first and foremost, Iwanted to help these countries in their struggle against colonialismin the same way I had done for my own country Indonesia.
For my work in support of their struggle, Iwas awarded in 1957 the Nishan Iftighar by the Kingdom of Tunisia andlater in 1992 awarded the Wism Jumhuria from the Republic of Tunisia. I was several times invited as a government guest to Algeria with mywife Zena, and in 1992 also awarded the Masaf al-Istihaqaq al-Watani. All three awards are the highest awards of thosecountries.
CM: Sukarno dissolved the constituentassembly in 1959. That must have been a great blow to theaspirations of many democrats at the time. What did youdo?
HA: A number of my closest associates werearrested, including Sutan Syahrir. Those who weren't arrestedcontinued to meet and follow the situation. Sukarno didn't believein democracy but in some mixture of nationalist, religious andcommunist ideologies (NASAKOM). Meanwhile the communists weregrowing in power. Fearing their protector Sukarno was about to die,they staged a pre-emptive coup. They hadn't liked us socialdemocrats, and I feared for my life during the coup. It was adifficult time.
CM: What are your presentactivities?
HA: I am now Executive Director of a socialfund-raising organization, Yayasan Dana Bantuan, which helps morethan 40 social organizations, such as those helping people of oldage. I am also writing. I have finished two books already: DutchPolicy Against Islam and the Arab Descendants, and The Joys andSorrows of the Revolution. I am now trying to finish my memoirs,consisting of two or three volumes. This interview covers a smallpart of what I have written in my first book.
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