page_title: Medan
section_title: Japanese occupation and post independence era
hierarchical_section_title: Medan / History / Japanese occupation and post independence era
caption_attribution_description: English: Becaks on the street in front of the Istana Maimun, the Sultan of Deli's palace Nederlands: Dia. Straatgezicht met becaks voor het Istana Maimun, het paleis van de sultan van Deli
context_page_description: Medan is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. A regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra, it is regarded as one of the four main central cities of Indonesia, alongside Jakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar. Medan has a population of over 2.2 million within its city limits, and over 3.4 million in its built-up urban area, making it the fourth largest urban area in Indonesia. The Medan metropolitan area—which includes neighbouring Binjai, Deli Serdang Regency, and a part of Karo Regency—is the largest metropolitan area outside of Java, with 4,220,439 residents at the 2010 Census. Medan is a multicultural metropolis and a busy trading city bordered by the Strait of Malacca. A gateway to the western part of Indonesia, Medan is supported by the Port of Belawan and Kualanamu International Airport, both of which are connected to the city centre via toll roads and railways.
  The city was founded by Guru Patimpus, a Karonese man who named a swampy land in confluence of Deli River and Babura river as Kampung Medan Putri. It later became a part of the Deli Sultanate which was established by Tuanku Gocah Pahlawan in 1632.
context_section_description: In 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, arriving in Sumatra by February. Sumatra was placed under the command of the 25th Army, based in Singapore. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, Sumatra came under the authority of the South East Asia Command headed by British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 17 August, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia independence in Jakarta, and appointed Muhammad Hasan as governor of Sumatra. However, news of the proclamation was only announced by Hasan in Medan on 30 September. After allied troops landed in October, clashes with armed Republicans led to the Battle of Medan.
  In December 1947, the Dutch established the State of East Sumatra with Medan as its capital in the area they controlled following the Operation Product against the republicans. This became part of the United States of Indonesia, but was dissolved into the unitary republic of Indonesia in 1950.
  The city development remained stagnant until the 1970s, when big developments, especially palm oil and rubber plantation company headquarters, making Medan the busiest city outside Java. The big migration program brought a lot of Javanese and the Batak people began to settle in the city as many people from Java and rural part of the province sought jobs.
  In 1998, 4 to 8 May 1998 riots occurred in Medan due to 1997 Asian financial crisis. They began when demonstrations around many campuses for nearly two months between students clashing with security officials that resulted in the death of a student.  The next day, the mobs became bigger, targeting and attacking the business and trading sector that lead into a racial riot, with many shops and vehicles burned and looted at several roads around the city which is majority owned by Chinese residents. As a result, a curfew was imposed for more than two weeks until peace returned.
caption: Becak or local version of pedicabs on the street in front of the Maimun Palace, taken around 1970s
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