During the independence era the building was used as a meeting place for a group of youth artists known as "Seniman Merdeka", ("Independent Artists"), among whom were Rosihan Anwar, Usmar Ismail, El Hakim, and HB Jassin. On August 29, 1945, twelve days after the official declaration of independence of Indonesia, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, inaugurated the Central Indonesian National Committee, which had its first meeting in the building.