Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati

Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati was born on 15 January 1899 in the city of Ubud on the island of Bali, then part of the Dutch East Indies and now part of the Gianyar district of the Indonesian province of Bali. Balinese by ethnicity, he belonged to the Balinese caste of ksatria, corresponding to the Indian kshatriyas, as indicated by the component "Tjokorda" in his name. Sukawati family from the beginning of the XIX century ruled Ubud, the principality of Gianyar; the latter, in turn, depended on the Dutch administration. Sukawati's father, Tjokorda Gede Sukawati, was the ruler of Ubud at the time of his son's birth.

In his young years, Soekawati attended a school for Indonesian officials. In 1918, as a candidate Indonesian civil servant, he was an official Indonesian candidate appointed by the Bandung auditors. At the end of the same year, he was mantri police (a title for native officials) to Denpasar. In 1919, he had political ambitions and was promoted to Punggawa (district) of his birthplace Ubud. In 1924 he was elected member of the Volksraad, which he held until 1927.^[4][1] Then, in the same year, he was a member of the board of delegates of the Volksraad.^[1] At the end of 1931 At the end of 1931, he abdicated in favor of his younger brother, Tjokorda Gde Agung Soekawati, and went to study in Europe. At the end of 1931, he left for Europe on a study assignment and first acted as head of the Balinese section of the Dutch exhibition at the International Colonial Exhibition in Paris. He then went to the Netherlands for his actual study assignment, which included the study of cooperative systems in agriculture and livestock breeding, about which he submitted a report on his return to the Indies in 1932. Until 1931 Sukawati remained a member of the board of delegates and until the Japanese invasion, he remained a member of the Volksraad.

After his return in 1932, he took a seat on various committees, such as the Agrarian Committee - where he, together with Prof. Logemann, dealt with the problem of Indonesian fundamental rights, among other things. Moreover, after his return from Europe, he was made available as a resident of Bali and Lombok and was also charged with the administration of justice in Boeleleng-Bandoeng and Karangaseni.^[5] A year after the Japanese capitulation, he started his political career. In July 1946, he was delegated to Malino, where he was chairman of the contact committee. At this conference, he was also elected as a member of the advisory board for Borneo and East Indonesia. At the Denpasar Conference, he again chaired the General Committee. At the end of August 1946, he stayed in the Netherlands for a short time, together with the sultan of Pontianak, Syarif Hamid II, to give information about the Conference of Malino.^[5]

 

Between 18 and 24 December 1946, Soekawati attended the conference in Denpasar and was chosen as interim president of the State of the Great East, soon renamed the State of East Indonesia. The conference also led to the formation of the Provisional Parliament of East Indonesia.^[6] The "Republic of Indonesia" saw it as a puppet state of the Netherlands, at least until Prime Minister Anak Agung Gde Agung, through his so-called "Synthese-politics" (cooperation with the Republic), succeeded in securing the recognition of the Sukarno / Hatta government as a future "co-state" in the (federated) United States of Indonesia (Republik Indonesia Serikat, RIS). However, the mistrust remained. This is because the Dutch participated in the administration of East Indonesia, especially in the beginning, and the KNIL was prominent.^[6] The latter was necessary because, in certain places, such as in South Sulawesi, there was a lot of unrest, caused by 'pemudas' (youths). The first governments were characterized by fraud and corruption, but that changed under Prime Minister Agung. When the Netherlands transferred sovereignty to the RIS in 1949, the state ran into problems. The Republic sent troops to Sulawesi, against which former KNIL commander Andi Aziz led the Makassar Uprising. Sukawati was probably part of the plot, but that has never been proven. Thought was given to the declaration of an independent state of East Indonesia, but that initiative failed because the Netherlands did not want to cooperate.^[6] The uprising ended, parliament dismissed the government and dissolved the state. The new East Indonesian Cabinet was pro-Republican and advocated the integration of East Indonesia into the unitary Indonesian Republic. On 21 April 1950, he successfully negotiated East Indonesia's integration into the unitary Republic of Indonesia, heeding majority support for a unitary state.^[6] Sukawati had no choice but to merge into the unitary state of Indonesia and therefore voted positively when Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia a unitary state on 17 August 1950. Sukawati played an important role in the process of peaceful reintegration of the State of East Indonesia into the Republic of Indonesia.^[6]

Soekawati had a Balinese wife, Gusti Agung Niang Putu, of which a son was born Tjokorda Ngurah Wim Sukawati. In 1933 Tjokorda Raka married a French woman named Gilberte Vincent^[2] with whom he had two sons.^[3][7]

• Hoe de Baliër zich kleedt (1926), p. 12
• Kraemer, Hendrik (1933). De strijd over Bali en de zending. Amsterdam: H.J. Paris.

 

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