Struggle in the Dutch East Indies The Indonesian National Party Hatta returned home in 1932 to an Indonesia whose nationalist momentum had been slowed down by the arrest and imprisonment of Sukarno. By the time Hatta had returned, most of the members of Sukarno's PNI had joined the
Indonesia Party (Partindo) and more radical PNI members, together with the Dutch-educated
Sutan Sjahrir had banded together to form the New PNI. Although the initials were the same, the PNI in this case stood for the Indonesian National Education, indicating that it would focus on cadre training. In August 1932, after returning from the Netherlands, Hatta became the chairman of the New PNI. In December 1932, Sukarno was finally released from prison and the attention now turned to which party Sukarno would choose. Sukarno, who had wanted one united front to gain Indonesia's independence was uncertain, thinking that in choosing one over the other, he would encourage division. In this, he was criticized by Hatta, who was more pragmatic about differences, in this case the conflict between Partindo's radical and mass party approach versus the New PNI's moderate and cadre party approach. Sukarno insisted on negotiations to unify Partindo and New PNI but after failing, chose to join Partindo. Between 1932 and 1933, Hatta wrote articles on politics and economics for the New PNI's newspaper
Daulat Rakyat (The People's Authority). These articles were aimed at training new cadres for Indonesia's leadership. Hatta seemed to be extremely critical of Sukarno at this point in time. In August 1933, with Sukarno once again arrested and facing trial, he wrote an article called "Sukarno Is Arrested". This was followed by articles entitled "The Tragedy of Sukarno" (November 1933) and "The Stance of a Leader" (December 1933).
Arrest and exile The Dutch colonial government gave Sukarno a harsh punishment, exiling him to Ende on the island of Flores in December 1933. With Sukarno in exile, the Dutch colonial government now turned their eyes to the New PNI and its leadership. In February 1934, they made their move and arrested its leaders from its Jakarta branch (which included Hatta) and its Bandung branch. For a year they were jailed at prisons in Cipinang and Glodok, with Hatta spending his time in Glodok. During his time in prison, Hatta wrote a book entitled "The Economical Crisis and Capitalism". In January 1935, it was decided that Hatta and his fellow New PNI leaders (including Syahrir) would be exiled to
Boven Digoel in Papua. When Hatta arrived there, he was told by the local authorities that he had two options. The first option was to work for the Dutch Colonial Government as a civil servant for 40 cents a day with the hope of returning from exile, and the second option was being an exile, receiving food but having no hope of returning from exile. Hatta commented if he had decided to take a job as a civil servant in Jakarta, he would have earned a lot of money and knowing that, there was no need to go to Boven Digoel to be paid cheaply. In saying this, Hatta chose the second option.During his exile, Hatta continued to write articles, this time for the Newspaper
Pemandangan (The View). He earned enough money from that to make ends meet at Boven Digoel and to support his colleagues who had financial troubles. Hatta also used his books (which filled 16 chests when they were packed to leave Jakarta) to give his colleagues lessons on economics, history, and philosophy. Later on these lessons would be made into books entitled "An Introduction on the Way to Knowledge" and "The Nature of Greek Thought" (four volumes). In January 1936, Hatta and Syahrir were transferred to
Bandaneira in
Maluku. There they joined more nationalists such as
Iwa Kusumasumantri and Dr.
Cipto Mangunkusumo. Hatta and Syahrir were given more freedom and were able to interact with the locals. Hatta and Syahrir also gave lessons to the local children, teaching them about politics and history. Hatta adopted a local boy,
Des Alwi, as his son while living in Bandaneira. Alwi would become a prominent Indonesian historian and diplomat. In February 1942, Hatta and Syahrir were transferred to
Sukabumi in West Java.
Japanese occupation Japanese invasion By 1942,
World War II was well under way and the
Empire of Japan was fulfilling its imperial ambitions in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In March 1942, they began
landing in Indonesia. Like their counterpart in Europe, the Dutch colonial government crumbled in the face of the invaders and by 9 March 1942, surrendered. On 22 March 1942, Hatta and Syahrir were again transferred to Jakarta. In Jakarta, Hatta met with
Major General , the interim head of government. Harada asked Hatta to become an advisor for the occupational Government. Hatta accepted the job and then asked Harada if Japan was here to colonize Indonesia. Harada assured Hatta that Japan would not do. In Hatta's eyes, an acknowledgement of an Indonesian independence by Japan was extremely important. If Japan, with its ultra-nationalistic ideology was able to recognize Indonesia's independence, it would put more pressure on the
Allies (especially the United States and the United Kingdom) as representatives of democracy to do the same thing. In July 1942, Hatta was reunited with Sukarno who after Flores had been transferred to Sumatra before the Japanese arrived, and had also been asked for his services. Although they had left off on a bad note, Sukarno wanted to speak with Hatta before speaking with anyone else. In a secret meeting at Hatta's Jakarta home Sukarno, Hatta and Sjahrir agreed that Sjahrir would go underground to organise the revolutionary resistance while the other two would commence their cooperation with the Japanese occupier.
Collaboration with the Japanese Hatta and Sukarno now had the common goal of working with the Japanese and then trying to achieve independence from them. Together with
Ki Hadjar Dewantoro and
Muhammadiyah chairman,
Kiai Haji Mas Mansur, Hatta and Sukarno formed a quattuorvirate of leaders tasked by the Japanese occupational Government as their intermediary with the Indonesian people. Hatta together with the other members of the quattuorvirate worked with much fervor under the Japanese government. They echoed Japanese propaganda and presented the
Japanese Empire as the protector, leader, and the light of Asia. At the same time however, Hatta continued to promote Indonesia's desire for independence. In a speech in December 1942, Hatta said that Indonesia had been freed from the Dutch colonial government, but if they were freed only to be colonized by another power, he would rather see Indonesia drown to the bottom of the ocean. On 9 March 1943, the Japanese occupational government approved the formation of the Centre of People's Power (Putera) with Hatta and the other quattuorvirate as the co-chairmen of the association. Sukarno thought that this would be a way from which they could gain support for independence, instead the Japanese used this to their own cause and to start their
romusha (forced labour) regime in Indonesia. On 4 October 1943, Hatta, along with Sukarno and other nationalist figures was appointed to the Javanese
Central Advisory Council, which was by set up the occupation government. In November 1943, Hatta and Sukarno's efforts in cooperating with the Japanese occupational government was recognized by Emperor
Hirohito who decorated them with awards in Tokyo. As the tide of the war began to turn against the Japanese, the Japanese occupational government in Indonesia became desperate to maintain control. Putera was disbanded and replaced with
Djawa Hokokai in March 1944. Although still chaired by Sukarno, the Indonesians had less freedom of movement than they had had in Putera. When defeat began looming on the horizon, Prime Minister
Kuniaki Koiso announced in September 1944 that Japan would grant Indonesia its independence in the near future. From then on, momentum began to gather for the independence of Indonesia, fuelled by the nationalist sentiments of Indonesians and supported by sympathizers from Japan such as
Rear Admiral Tadashi Maeda. In Maeda's case, he even set up a discussion forum called the Free Indonesia Centre and invited Hatta and Sukarno along to deliver lectures on nationalism. This was followed in April 1945, by the formation of the
Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK), which would meet over the next three months and would decide on things such as the constitution and which territories would be part of Indonesia. ==Proclamation of independence==