Hisaichi Terauchi
In two sessions from May to July 1945, the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) decided on Pancasila as the ideological basis of independent Indonesia, and produced a draft constitution. With the war turning against them, the Japanese, who were occupying Indonesia, decided to grant independence in order to create problems for the returning Dutch colonial authorities. The plan was that Java would become independent in early September, followed shortly by the rest of the country. On 7 August, the day after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Lt. General Hisaichi Terauchi, commander of the Japanese Southern Area who was based in Saigon, gave permission for the formation of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI).