On 17 August before dawn, a group – Maeda, Sukarno, Hatta, Soebardjo, Nishijima, Tomegorō Yoshizumi and (an army representative) gathered in Maeda's house to compose the text of the declaration. After an agreement was reached on the text, the proclamation was read to the public later that day. Maeda also assisted with allowing the Naval Office press to be used to print copies of the proclamation text, which was distributed across Jakarta. Maeda was later arrested by allied authorities along with his staff and imprisoned for failing to maintain the status quo. He was later tried by a Japanese military court, found not guilty, and was released in 1947. He left military life.