Sartono

Raden Mas Sartono (5 August 1900 – 15 October 1968) was an Indonesian politician and lawyer who was the first speaker of the House of Representatives from 1950 until his resignation in 1960. During his career, Sartono served as a cabinet minister, acting president, and vice chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) under President Sukarno. He was also active in the Indonesian nationalist movement.

Born into a Javanese family of noble descent, Sartono studied law at Leiden University. During his studies, he became a member of the Perhimpoenan Indonesia association. After graduating, Sartono worked as an advocate and helped found the Indonesian National Party (PNI) in 1927. He unsuccessfully defended the party's leaders when they were arrested by the colonial government. In 1931, Sartono founded a new party, Partindo, which sought to achieve Indonesian independence through mass action and non-cooperation, but repression from the colonial government led to its dissolution in 1936. He then helped found another party, Gerindo, which advocated for self-determination and the creation of an Indonesian parliament.

Following the successful Japanese invasion in 1942, Gerindo would be dissolved and Sartono briefly left politics. During the Japanese occupation, he returned to politics and was involved in the Central Advisory Council and Putera organizations, both of which were Japanese-sponsored. He also became a member of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence. After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, he was appointed a state minister in the Presidential Cabinet. As minister, he was dispatched to the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Surakarta Sunanate to strengthen support for the Indonesian government there. During the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution, Sartono became a member of a re-established PNI, served in the Central Indonesian National Committee, and advised the Indonesian delegation of the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference.

In February 1950, Sartono was elected as the first speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), though it was then the DPR of the United States of Indonesia (RIS). He would go on to serve as DPR speaker for the next ten years, including for the entirety of the liberal democracy period. Following the dissolution of the RIS, Sartono would be re-elected as speaker of a new Provisional DPR (which replaced the DPR-RIS). In 1951, after the collapse of the Natsir Cabinet, Sartono was appointed formateur and tasked with forming a new cabinet. However, he failed to do so after less than a month of negotiations and was forced to return his mandate. He also briefly resigned in March 1956 after a bill—which he opposed—on the Netherlands-Indonesia Union was passed by the DPR.

Following the 1955 elections, Sartono would be re-elected as DPR speaker. During this time, he served as acting president several times when Sukarno went on overseas trips. In 1959, the Constitution of 1945 was re-adopted by presidential decree, marking the rise of authoritarianism and Guided Democracy. In 1960, the DPR was suspended by Sukarno after it voted against the government budget; Sartono subsequently resigned. After his resignation, he refused to take public office for a few years. Eventually, he accepted an offer to serve as vice chairman of the DPA in 1962. However, he found it to be disappointing and resigned from the DPA in 1967. Thereafter, he left politics entirely and died in 1968. Since his death, there have been proposals to declare him a National Hero of Indonesia.

Sartono was born in Wonogiri, near what is today Surakarta, on 5 August 1900. Born to a noble ethnic-Javanese family, he was the second oldest of seven children. His father, Raden Mas Martodikarjo, was a civil servant who was a descendant of Prince Mangkunegara II. His mother was a noblewomen, who was a descendant of Prince Mangkunegara III. In 1906, he left Wonogiri and began his education at the Europeesche Lagere School in Surakarta, a school only for children of noble descent. There, he graduated in 1913, with the highest grade. After graduating, he was accepted to the Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO) school also in Surakarta. Sartono spent three years in MULO, from 1913 until 1916, and after graduating, he left for Batavia. In Batavia, he entered the School tot Opleiding voor Inlandsche Rechtskundigen, later known as the Rechts School, a law institute for the native Indonesian nobility.

At Rechts School, he joined the Tri Koro Dharmo organization, a youth organization of Budi Utomo, which later evolved into Jong Java. In 1921, he passed in his law examination, and received the title of "rechtskundige" (jurist). After graduating, he became a civil servant at the District Court in Surakarta for around six months. In September 1922, Sartono left his job as a civil servant, and departed to the Netherlands, to study for a doctorate in law at Leiden University, along with his former classmate Iwa Koesoemasoemantri. The pair departed from Surakarta to the port of Tanjung Priok, the main hub for transportation from the colony to Europe. They arrived in Genoa, Italy, before taking the train to the Netherlands. During his studies in Leiden, he joined the Perhimpoenan Indonesia association, and became the associations secretary from 1922 until 1925.

After completing his studies, Sartono returned to the Indies in 1925, and opened a law practice in the city of Bandung, together with his friends from Leiden (including Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo, Budiarto Martoatmodjo, and Soenario). The young advocates were successful in handling the legal actions of Dutch authorities. One notable case they handled was the trial of a man named Jasin, who was a train conductor from Tasikmalaya. Jasin was accused of being part of the failed 1926 communist revolt. As a result of Sartono's defense, Jasin's punishment was lightened, but he was still found guilty, and exiled to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp, in West New Guinea. Sartono later participated in the founding of the Indonesian National Party (PNI) at Bandung on 4 July 1927. Following the 1929 PNI congress in Yogyakarta, he was appointed as treasurer of the party. He also became the legal adviser during the second Indonesian youth congress in 1928 – which resulted in the Youth Pledge.