It Was Better For Bandung To Be Scorched Than Controlled By The Allies

Illustration (AHMADNAJIP CORLEONE / Pixabay)

JAKARTA - After Indonesia declared independence on August 17, 1945, it did not mean that the threat from the enemy was over. Many heroic events took place. One of them happened today, March 23, 74 years ago or in 1946. At that time, the Flower City of Bandung was burnt down by the army and its own citizens. They did not want their hometown to be used by allied forces.

Quoting the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture's website, the incident called Bandung Lautan Api began when the allies entered Bandung in October 1945. At that time, the fighters were disarming and seizing power from Japanese hands. Almost in many regions in Indonesia simultaneously carried out a similar action.

However, the weapons that Indonesian fighters had collected from the Japanese troops were requested by the allied forces and asked to be handed over to them. The ally threat is no joke. On November 29, 1945, the allies also gave an ultimatum to the community to vacate the northern part of Bandung for security reasons.

Bandung Ocean of Fire Monument (Commons Wikimedia)

However, the youth ignored the ultimatum, so that the city of Bandung had to be divided into two, namely North Bandung and South Bandung. The incident then continued. March 23, 1946, the allies issued a new ultimatum containing the order that the Indonesian Army (TRI) vacate the entire city of Bandung.

From this ultimatum, the attitude of the Indonesian side was divided into two attitudes. The Government of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta gave instructions for TRI to follow instructions from allies. Meanwhile, the TRI Headquarters gave instructions not to vacate the city of Bandung.

The contradiction in attitudes was then rectified in the Priangan Persatoean Perdjoangan Madjelis deliberation, the results of which were announced by Colonel AH Nasution (Commander of Division III). The community and TRI were asked to leave the city of Bandung.

Better scorch

Hearing these instructions, the fighters, especially those in Bandung City did not want to. In addition to fighting against the allies who continued to push into the South Bandung area, the fighters finally took steps to burn Bandung City before leaving it.

They did this the night before the City was emptied. And it only took seven hours to burn the southern city of Bandung. The efforts to burn Bandung City were not without obstacles.

One of the most difficult events was when TRI was about to destroy gunpowder factories and warehouses belonging to the allies in Dayeuhkolot Village, south of Bandung. In carrying out the mission, Muhammad Toha and Ramdan were sent to burn the factory. Both of them also died in the mission.

Quoting information on the history of Bandung on the website of the Bandung National Institute of Technology Library, it was explained that the City of Flowers was deliberately burned by the TRI and the local people with the intention that the Allies could not use Bandung as a military strategic headquarters. When the incident took place, black smoke was seen rising above the city ceiling while all the electricity went out.

The burning of Bandung was considered the right strategy in the war for Indonesian independence because the strength of the TRI and the people's militias was not comparable to the strength of the Allies and NICA which were large in number.