Kuwat Rahardjo

Flag of the Dutch East Indies (1602-1949)

Flag of Indonesia (1945-present)

### Allegiance

Dutch East Indies (1938-1949)Republic of the United States of Indonesia (1949-1950)

Republic of Indonesia (1950-1955)

### Branch of Service

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (1938-1950)Indonesian Army (1950-1955)

### Regiment/Battalion

10th Infantry Battalion (1938-1942)1st Infantry Regiment (1938-1942)

1st Infantry Battalion (1944-1950)

### Division

1st Infantry Division (1938-1942)9th Division (1945)

7th Division (1945)

### Battles and Wars

World War II- Sumatra 1942

- Java 1942

- New Guinea 1945

- Borneo 1945

Indonesian National Revolution

- Java and Sumatra 1946-1949

### Parents

Bambang Rahardjo (father)Utari Cahyo (mother)

**Kuwat Hasan Rahardjo** (June 14, 1918 - April 7, 2006) was a Javanese Indonesian soldier, officer, and émigré. He served in the KNIL during World War II and the Indonesian National Revolution before changing sides and serving with the Indonesian Army until the 1950s.

## Early life and family

Rahardjo was born in 1918 in the city of Bandoeng on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. His family, although native Javanese Muslims, were members of high society insofar as natives could be as a result of his father's work with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company. Bambang Rahardjo (1892-1968) had worked his way up from a laborer to be a supervisor and later a white-collar office worker (in addition, he previously had no surname but had adopted "Rahardjo" in 1928). As a result, all of his children, including Kuwat, were able to be educated in prestigious primary and vocational schools only reserved for Dutch and upper-class Indonesian children.

While many of his siblings prepared to be lawyers or government officials, Kuwat decided to make a career as an officer in the military, as in the late 1930s the Dutch colonial government was appointing native officers for the first time. In 1936, he began attending the Bandoeng Military Academy, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in 1938, during the peak of the army's modernization efforts.

## Military service

### World War II

The KNIL, which had until this point been used purely for civil law enforcement and limited colonial wars, began to modernize itself in the wake of new Japanese offensives in China and Indochina. Anxiety over Japan's territorial expansion prompted a mass mobilization of military forces in the East Indies, and Lieutenant Rahardjo was sent to join the 10th Infantry Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment, based in Weltevreden, part of the 1st Infantry Division.

Dutch forces in the East Indies were dealt a significant blow in May 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands. With no support from Europe and facing a Japanese invasion, the hopelessly outclassed KNIL troops prepared to hold their ground.

On December 8, 1941, the Kingdom of the Netherlands declared war against the Empire of Japan. Just over a week later, Japanese forces landed in Borneo. Lieutenant Rahardjo and the 10th Battalion were quickly sent to the city of Palembang in southern Sumatra where the Dutch had important airfields and oil refineries. Throughout January, the Japanese conquered several smaller islands belonging to the Dutch East Indies, and it was clear they would soon come for the main islands such as Sumatra and Java. Rahardjo and his men were responsible for defending the Pangkalan Benteng airfield outside of Palembang.

In February 1942, the Japanese commenced their invasion of Sumatra with airborne and amphibious assaults. Fighting between the P1 airfield and the oil refineries at Pladjoe, Lieutenant Rahardjo and his men desparately tried to hold their ground against the onslaught in the Battle of Palembang. They repelled an attack on the airfield, and Rahardjo led a counterattack which threw the Japanese out of the refinery, before a Japanese attack retook it. With more Japanese forces landing on the coast, the KNIL troops retreated. As Palembang fell, Lieutenant Rahardjo and his men fell back south, fighting several rearguard actions against the advancing Japanese while destroying airfields, harbors, and oil and rubber supplies to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. By late February, they reached the port of Oosthaven and were evacuated from there to the island of Java. By the end of the month, Lieutenant Rahardjo's unit entrenched on the western coast of Java. When Japanese forces landed at Merak, beginning the Battle of Java, Rahardjo and his men held their ground, delaying the Japanese for as long as they could before retreating inland. In early March, the KNIL soldiers conducted their retreat, burning bridges and fighting off the Japanese advance guard. After holding the enemy in front of Batavia, they fell back further to Buitenzorg and fought there for a time before again evactuating. Rahardjo's men were pursued through Tjiandjoer and Tjimahi, and made their final stand in Bandoeng. On March 8, 1942, the Dutch East Indies surrendered to the Empire of Japan.

Taken prisoner, Lieutenant Rahardjo was given an offer by the Japanese. If he collaborated with the occupiers, he would be payed well and promoted, as well as given the chance to recruit a native force to assist the Japanese troops. He refused, declaring that he would not be a traitor. He was interned in a prisoner of war camp outside of Batavia, until he managed to escape a month later. Picked up by an Allied ship, he was transported to Australia.

In Australia, Rahardjo was detained by Australian troops for weeks under the suspicion that he was a spy for the Japanese, due in large part to his Javanese ethnicity. After being released when no evidence was found, he rejoined the remnants of the KNIL which had managed to escape the Japanese. Slowly, they began to regroup. The KNIL faced many problems during this period, including lack of manpower, lack of equipment, and the possibility of a Japanese invasion of Australia which they would have to fight. Rahardjo, as one of the only indigenous officers in the Dutch force, was often the target of harassment and suspicion but managed to affirm his loyalty to the Netherlands East Indies and the Dutch government in exile. In addition to having to defend the Australian coast from the possibility of Japanese invasion, the KNIL forces planned what to do next. In late 1942, Lieutenant Rahardjo was earmarked for deployment to East Timor, where a group of Allied soldiers was waging a guerrilla war against the Japanese. However, after the advance party was wiped out by the Japanese Navy, this operation was called off. Throughout 1943, the small KNIL force began to refit and rearm, bolstered by recruits from elsewhere. In November 1944, the force was redesignated the 1st Infantry Battalion, and Rahardjo was assigned to the 2nd Company. The KNIL troops prepared to go into action against the Japanese.

Lieutenant Rahardjo and the men of the 1st Battalion soon received orders to move out. In January 1945, they landed on the island of Biak in western New Guinea, which had only recently been secured by Allied forces. The battalion was to be committed to a massive Allied counteroffensive to push back the Japanese in the Pacific with the end goal being the liberation of British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The battalion moved out shortly after the landing, and were sent to participate in the invasion of Borneo. Lieutenant Rahardjo's company was attached to the 26th Brigade of the Australian 9th Division. In May 1945, Operation Oboe commenced and the Allied forces landed on the island of Tarakan. The KNIL troops, landing with the main force, attacked and pushed the Japanese back from the beaches, beginning the Battle of Tarakan. After securing Tarakan town and the nearby airfield, in which Rahardjo's men played a significant role, the fighting moved inland as the Japanese forces entrenched in the hills. A long, plodding offensive into the hills in the southeast of the island took place, with the KNIL and the Australians slowly flushing out the Japanese. With the island secure, the Dutch-Indonesian soldiers also had to deal with a rush of refugees seeking safety behind the Allied line.

In June, Lieutenant Rahardjo was sent to Morotai island to prepare for the second assault on Borneo, where he and his men joined up with the 18th Brigade of the Australian 7th Division. The Dutch-Australian force landed on the Borneo mainland at the beginning of July 1945, beginning the Battle of Balikpapan. After an unopposed landing, Lieutenant Rahardjo and his men fought their way up the hills north of Klandasan, encountering increasing resistance from the dug-in Japanese and taking Hill 87 and Parramatta Ridge in fierce fighting. In a few days, the Allies had captured Balikpapan town and the nearby harbor. Driving along the Milford Highway towards Batuchampar, Rahardjo's unit probed the flanks of the Japanese defenses as the defending enemy force began to retreat further inland. With the battle all but over, Rahardjo and the rest of the Dutch-Indonesian contingent were used as garrison troops in Balikpapan town, providing law enforcement and carrying out occupation duty but also preparing for an invasion of Java to liberate the rest of the Dutch East Indies. In early August 1945, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to combat operations, and on September 2, 1945, the Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

With Japan's surrender, the Netherlands attempted to reassert its control over Indonesia. The 1st Battalion was consolidated, its companies having been separated earlier and scattered across the Pacific. By October 1945, the battalion had landed on Java and reached Batavia, where they liberated prisoners of war and took part in restoring order to the city.

### Postwar and independence movement

On August 17, 1945, just two days after Japan's capitulation, Indonesian revolutionaries had declared independence as the Republic of Indonesia. Despite privately desiring independence for his country, Rahardjo would not accept Sukarno's movement as legitimate, viewing him and his cohorts as an isolated group of Japanese collaborationists, traitors, and extremists. Though he would later be confronted by the more nuanced reality, this view held.

After the independence declaration, a period began known as the *Bersiap*, in which nationalist mobs went from city to city attacking and intimidating Dutch, Eurasian, Ambonese, and Chinese citizens on an ethnic basis. Through the end of 1945 and into 1946, Rahardjo and his small unit of KNIL soldiers worked to keep the minorities safe, driving away republican mobs at the point of their rifles. Sometimes, he could even convince the gangs that he was on their side, owing to his Javanese ethnicity.

With British and Dutch troops slowly reoccupying the rest of Indonesia, talks between the republicans and the Dutch resulted in the Linggadjati Agreement, and an uneasy peace set in. Rahardjo and his men stood opposite republican militants, preparing for action but restraining from using force throughout 1946. By early 1947, however, talks had broken down and the Dutch and KNIL forces prepared for a military offensive in what would be known as a Police Action which would begin the Dutch-Indonesian war in earnest. In preparation for this, and in recognition of his earlier service, Rahardjo was promoted to Captain.

### Indonesian National Revolution

Citing violations of earlier agreements, the Dutch forces launched Operation Product in July 1947. Captain Rahardjo's unit, based in Batavia, was given the objective of driving along the coast of West Java, securing all ports from the Republican Army, or TNI. Pushing back the TNI, which only offered feeble resistance, the KNIL soldiers secured all of their objectives before the end of the month. In August, Captain Rahardjo was sent to the island of Sumatra, where the Dutch forces continued their offensive, driving back the TNI and securing the vital oil and rubber deposits on the island. With all objectives in Sumatra secure, the KNIL troops were sent back to Java, where they engaged in anti-insurgent operations against the TNI forces which had withdrawn to the hills and were waging a guerrilla war. In January 1948, more political negotiations ended the violence for a time, and Captain Rahardjo and his men withdrew behind the van Mook Line.

However, TNI guerrillas soon began to attack the Dutch and KNIL forces once again. By September, the Dutch high command was preparing for another police action. This would be a surprise attack over the van Mook Line to capture Yogyakarta and purge the republican government. In December 1948, Operation Kraai began, with Captain Rahardjo and the KNIL troops pushing through the TNI defenders to link up with allied forces at the Maguwo Airfield. When this was accomplished, they assaulted Yogyakarta itself, capturing the airport, main road, and bridge with the city itself soon falling and the heads of the republican government being captured. Even with the success of this operation, the war did not end. Guerrilla attacks doubled in frequency and intensity and Rahardjo and his men had trouble fending them off. With widespread international backlash the Dutch government saw the writing on the wall and declared a ceasefire in January 1949. However, the fighting did not end. Aside from guerrilla attacks, the TNI launched a counteroffensive to retake Yogyakarta in March. Though initially surprised and forced to retreat, Rahardjo and his men easily took back the city and repelled all further attacks from the TNI.

The Roem-van Roijen Agreement in May the fighting, but it would not be until December that Dutch rule in the East Indies would formally end and the United States of Indonesia would gain independence from the Netherlands.

### Post-independence

In July 1950, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army was officially disbanded. Captain Rahardjo was given a choice: either he could transfer to the Royal Netherlands Army, or the Indonesian Republican Army. Rahardjo chose to side with his home country, and entered service as a captain in the TNI. In August, the federation was dissolved, and all former states became part of the Republic of Indonesia.

Captain Rahardjo's career in the TNI did not go well. He was accused of sympathizing with the coup d'état attempt by Legion of Ratu Adil, as he was a former colonial soldier, despite there being no evidence for these sympathies. In addition, he was repeatedly denied promotion or postings outside of West Java, and his presence was deeply resented by those who had fought against the Dutch in the independence war. He did not do anything of note during this period, except for some brief periods from 1952 to 1954 where he led patrols to apprehend Darul Islam insurgents. Antagonized by the army, he retired in July 1955, having never been promoted.

## Later life

In 1955, after becoming a civilian, Kuwat Rahadjo returned to his home of Bandung and bought an apartment in the Gedebage district. In 1958, he married Purnama Ratu, a local shopkeeper's daughter who had been Kuwat's childhood friend, but had not seen him since he joined the army.

Life was difficult for the couple. Many neighbors refused to do business with Kuwat after they had learned of his KNIL service, and in several instances he was publicly spat on or insulted. Kuwat did not want to leave his country of origin, as he identified strongly with the Javanese people and Indonesia as a whole. However, in 1962, they left Indonesia to live in the Netherlands. In Europe, Kuwat tried to join the Royal Netherlands Army, and despite tireless advocacy on his behalf by lifelong friend Johan van Leeuwen, he was denied. He received a lukewarm reception in the Netherlands as well, as many former KNIL and Dutch Army soldiers, van Leeuwen excluded, viewed him as a traitor and turncoat for joining the TNI after the independence war.

In 1964, Kuwat and Purnama moved from Amsterdam, where they had been living since 1962, to go to Rotterdam. Kuwat got a job as a driver with *Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram*, and, in addition to support from his parents, this money was enough for the couple to live a decently comfortable life in the city. He retired from this in 1980.

On April 7, 2006, Kuwat Hasan Rahardjo passed away of old age. He made it known that he wanted to be buried in Bandung, and this was granted.

### Views

Kuwat Rahardjo had very complicated and often conflicting opinions. He desired Indonesian independence, preferrably as part of a federation with the Netherlands, akin to Abdulkadir Widjojoatmodjo's view for the country. As such, this placed him firmly in the anti-revolutionary camp, as he strongly disliked Sukarno and would not fight for him. However, as the war went on, Rahardjo's enthusiasm for his army's cause waned drastically. What began as (in his mind) a mission to oust pro-Japanese zealots and restore order quickly turned into a prolonged colonial war against independence fighters. Nevertheless, he had his orders and had chosen his side permanently, as was shown in his short career in the republican army.

In his later years he was quiet, rarely bringing up his military service, and regularly attending services at the *Mosquée Essalamm de Rotterdam*. The friends he made in the Netherlands remembered him as a kind, quiet, and tolerant man.

## Equipment

As a KNIL soldier during the Dutch East Indies Campaign, Rahardjo used the Dutch Männlicher M.95 bolt-action rifle. He carried an FN M1910/22 pistol as his sidearm, as well as the Eihandgranaat No.1 fragmentation grenade and the Hexiet Rookhandgranaat smoke grenade.

Reequipped in Australia, Rahardjo used the Lee Enfield No.1 Mk.III\* bolt-action rifle and Mills No. 36M Mk.I fragmentation grenade during the fighting in Borneo and also in the war of independence.