Mohammad Hatta

Mohammad Hatta (born August 12, 1902, Bukittinggi, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies [now in Indonesia]—died March 14, 1980, Jakarta, Indonesia) was a leader of the Indonesian independence movement who was prime minister (1948–50) and vice president (1950–56) of Indonesia.

While he studied in the Netherlands from 1922 to 1932, he was president of the Perhimpunan Indonesia (Indonesian Union), a progressive, nationalist political group founded by overseas Indonesian students. Returning to the Dutch East Indies in 1932, Hatta was arrested for his political activities by the Dutch in 1934 and sent to the infamous concentration camp of Boven Digul in West New Guinea. In 1935 he was exiled to the island of Bandanaira, where he remained until the eve of the Japanese invasion in World War II.

In contrast to the Dutch, the Japanese actively promoted Indonesian nationalism. Hatta and Sukarno, the future president of Indonesia, collaborated with them in establishing numerous Indonesian mass organizations; in 1943 they helped to organize the Japanese-sponsored home defense corps Sukarela Tentara Pembela Tanah Air (Peta), the first Indonesian armed force. When it became clear that the Japanese would lose the war, however, many nationalists urged an insurrection and immediate independence, but Hatta advised patience until they were sure that the Japanese would surrender. On August 17, 1945, he and Sukarno were kidnapped by members of the students’ union and persuaded to declare Indonesian independence. Hatta served as vice president in the subsequent revolutionary government. In 1948, when he was prime minister, he played an important part in the suppression of the communist revolt at Madiun in eastern Java, a measure that gained the struggling government many supporters in Western countries. He led the Indonesian delegation at the United Nations-sponsored Hague Conference (August 23–November 2, 1949) that culminated in the recognition by the Netherlands of Indonesia’s complete independence. While serving as prime minister during the first seven months of 1950, he helped to guide the new country through a crucial period of transition from a federal to a unified state.

Hatta served as vice president until December 1956, when he resigned because of increasing disagreement with President Sukarno’s policy of “guided democracy.” Essentially a moderate, administratively oriented leader, Hatta felt that dealing with Indonesia’s grave economic crises was of primary importance and feared that Sukarno’s policies would bankrupt the country. He was also consistently critical of Sukarno’s anti-Western and anti-Malaysian foreign policy. After Sukarno’s downfall, Hatta came out of retirement to serve as special adviser to President Suharto on the problem of government corruption.

One of Indonesia’s leading economists, Hatta is known as the “father of the Indonesian cooperative movement.” His writings include The Co-operative Movement in Indonesia (1957), “Indonesia between the Power Blocs,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 36 (1958), and Past and Future (1960).