One month after Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, youth in the region created a militia People's Security Defender ("Pembela Keamanan Rakyat") with Kolaka as it's headquarter. The militia was controlled by PRI (Indonesian Republican Youth) and spread it's influence to cities and towns in Southeast Sulawesi including Kendari. Indonesian flag was hoisted in Kendari with support of a noble named Lasandara, which was also a local official in charge of Kendari under Dutch East Indies.:61 However, on October 1945 Australian troops entered the region together with Netherlands Indies Civil Administration. On 19 November 1945, Republican militia clashed with Dutch troops, known as Kolaka incident. On February 1946, large cities in the region were already occupied by Dutch troops.:64 However, guerilla resistance by Republican continued until 1948.:64 The city and region around it became part of State of East Indonesia, which later incorporated into newly-recognised Indonesian Republic on 1949. The city was heavily impcated by Darul Islam rebellion, which started in South Sulawes but spread to eastern coast. As the result of the conflict, there were several refugee camps around the city. The city was unstable due to political climate at the time until the end of 1960s. On 1964, new province of Southeast Sulawesi was created with Kendari as it's capital city. On 1978, Kendari gained it's city status based on Government Law Number 19 of 1978 as administrative city and on 1995 as "kotamadya".