Joesoef Ronodipoero: Founder Of RRI Who Broadcasts The Text Of The Proclamation And Nearly Deaths Being Cut By A Japanese Katana
Joesoef Ronodipoero (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Indonesian independence is a collective effort of the native people against colonial tyranny. Each hero has their own merits. Joesoef Ronodipoero, for example. As a radio journalist, Joesoef Ronodipoero became an important figure in the news of the proclamation throughout the world. Action that almost killed him killed by a katana.

Thanks to Joesoef's courage, he became the inspiration for freedom fighters throughout the country against the invaders. Moehammad Joesoef Ronodipoero - his new spelling is Muhammad Yusuf Ronodipuro - was born on September 30, 1919 in Salatiga, Central Java. After graduating from AMS-B high school in Batavia, Joesoef Ronodipoero took part in the realm of journalism.

His specialty is radio broadcasting. Because, at that time radio was the most reliable media for information. However, before becoming a broadcaster, Joesoef Ronodipoero tasted many other jobs.

As proclaimed by the Indonesian Ministry of Information in the book Sedjarah Radio in Indonesia (1953), early in his career, Joesoef Ronodipoero actually worked for a Dutch-owned trading company. He occupies a position as vehicle sales.

After that, during the Japanese colonial period (1942-1945), Joesoef Ronodipoero worked at the Cultural Center (Keimin Bunka Sidoosho) in the painting section. There, Joesoef Ronodipoero was familiar with many national artists, such as Affandi and Sodjojono, and Agus Djaya.

However, Joesoef Ronodipoero did not have a long career at Keimin Bunka Sidoosho. Joesoef Ronodipoero moved to work at Hooso Kyoku, a Jakarta radio station run by the government of the Dai Nippon (Japanese) army in 1943.

On the radio belonging to the Japanese army officer, Tomo Bachi, Joesoef worked as an announcer. That profession brought him close to Bachtar Loebis, the older brother of the writer, Mochtar Loebis. The two were friends, until after independence they jointly founded Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI).

Nearly killed by a katana

After Soekarno-Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, the Japanese censorship body, Nippon Gun Kenetsu Han, prohibited news of the proclamation from spreading. As a result, all newspapers in Jakarta are prohibited from reporting on this historical event.

However, the spirit of the proclamation ran in the blood of many people at that time. Domei-Indonesia journalist (forerunner of Antara), Sjahruddin is one of them. By Sjahruddin, the text of the proclamation of independence was smuggled into the broadcasting room.

Sjahruddin managed to get into Hooso Kyoku after jumping over the back wall from Tanah Abang. He brought two sheets of paper. The first paper contains the complete text of the proclamation of independence. The second contains a letter from Adam Malik containing a request that the text of the proclamation be read as news.

However, Sjahruddin was caught by the guards. However, the manuscript which was given the memo "Please Broadcast" was found by Joesoef Ronodipoero. Then, Joesoef inserted the news into the international news segment.

"Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of several nationalist youths, such as Sjahruddin, journalists from Domei-Indonesia, Bachtar Loebis, and Joesoef Ronodipoero, the text of the proclamation was smuggled into the Hooso Kyoku newsroom. Then when sidookan (supervisor) Nippon was off guard, the text of the proclamation could be read out by Joesoef Ronodipoero in a foreign broadcast room that was not currently in use. That way, the news and text of the proclamation will spread to the public, "wrote Rosihan Anwar in the book Small History of Indonesia's" Petite Histoire "Volume III (2009).

The news was then read out at exactly 7pm. Joesoef Ronodipoero calmly read the news about the proclamation of independence. Joesoef Ronodipuro also read the complete manuscript of the Indonesian version of the proclamation of independence.

Meanwhile, the English version was read by Soeprapto. As a result of this reckless act, two hours after Joesoef Ronodipoero and Bachtiar Loebis had to deal with the Japanese secret police, Kenpetai, who immediately came to the studio.

They were trampled by the Japanese troops. In fact, they were almost killed by a Japanese officer who became furious with a katana. Before the katana was swung, they were rescued by the older radio general leader.

The person is able to persuade kenpeitai to give up killing intent. In fact, Joesoef Ronodipoero's courage did not stop there. Joesoef returned to heroic action when Indonesia had seized power from Japan. He courageously raised the Red and White flag in front of the RRI office.

"Under the threat of firearms, the Red and White flag was flying in front of the Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) office. A stubborn and stubborn Indonesian youth was not at all worried about the threat of the Dutch. Joesoef Ronodipoero, the leader of RRI, refused to bring down what they called Sang Saka Merah Putih, which flew after Soekarno and Hatta announced the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945. This incident then moved Saridjah Niung Bintang Soedibio's heart, more popularly known as Mrs. Sud, to wrote a song: Berkibarlah Benderaku, "said Leila S. Chudori and Reza M. in their writing in Tempo Magazine entitled Pahlawan Tanpa Controversy (2008).

Not only that, the other role of Joesoef Ronodipoero was to force Big Brother to re-record the Proclamation of Independence in 1950. Initially Soekarno refused, arguing that historical events only happened once (enmalig). But finally Bung Karno agreed to repeat the reading of the landmark Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, at least it can be heard to this day.

"So when Soekarno and Hatta accompanied the proclamation of the text of the proclamation on August 17, 1945, or 2005, it was read without being recorded. Even though the reading is very modest, the news of the proclamation slowly but surely continues to spread throughout the country which then sparked a social revolution across the region, "added Raistiwar Pratama in his writing in the Archives Magazine entitled Beyond Authentication: A Review of the Archives of the Proclamation and Supersemar (2013).

* Read other information about HISTORY OF NUSANTARA or read other interesting writings from Detha Arya Tifada.

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