BRIN History Researcher Values Sunaryo From Tanjungpinang Deserves To Be A National Hero

Historical Researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Dedi Arman. (ANTARA/HO-Personal Documentation)

TANJUNGPINANG - Historical researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Dedi Arman said that Sunaryo, who is a police officer for independence fighters from Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands (Kepri), is very possible and worthy to be proposed as a national hero.

"Sunaryo died in the independence revolution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)," said Arman in Tanjungpinang, Antara, Sunday, November 10.

The Riau Islands Provincial Government (Pemprov) through the Social Service can propose Sunaryo as a national hero to the central government through the Ministry of Social Affairs.

But before the proposal is made, he said, the Regional Assessment Research Team (TP2GD) must conduct a study first, then be tried and then proposed to the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"The proposal was then discussed again at the central level by the National Title Review Research Team (TP2GN). This is the authority of the Ministry of Social Affairs," he said.

Arman, who is also a lecturer at the History Education Study Program at Riau University, Riau Islands (UNRIKA), also continued that until now there has been no national hero during the Indonesian independence war from Riau Islands.

According to him, there were only three national heroes from Riau Islands and that too in the 18th and 19th centuries, namely Raja Haji Fisabilillah, Raja Ali Haji, and Sultan Mahmud Riayat Syah.

"So there is nothing wrong with Riau Islands again proposing national heroes during the era of the war of independence, such as Sunaryo, whose name is immortalized today as the name Jalan R. Sunaryo in Tanjungpinang," said Arman.

Meanwhile, according to the records of Riau Islands historical observer Aswandi Syahri who quoted the Dutch National Archief in The Hague. The figure of Sunaryo is a police officer who served in Tanjungpinang in the period leading up to independence until post-independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

Although he is a Dutch colonial police officer, Sunaryo is known as an activist supporting Indonesia's independence. He joined the Red and White Movement (Rood Witte Beweging) and was the driver of the Indonesian Sovereignty Agency Riouw (BKIR) in Tanjungpinang in the early days of being proclaimed by Indonesian independence.

Sunaryo's actions often irritated the Dutch government who returned to Tanjungpinang after the proclamation, around early October 1945.

A Dutch archive called Sunaryo a dissident police officer. He is reportedly often collecting ex giyutai (the defense army of the islands during the Japanese era) at a restaurant in Tanjungpinang. He also made the restaurant the headquarters of the Red and White Movement.

Sunaryo, who is also listed as a teacher at a Dutch police school in Tanjungpinang, often uses his authority to inflame the spirit of independence and spread anti-Dutch sentiment to his students.

The Dutch government's frustration in Tanjungpinang peaked around 1946, when Sunaryo reportedly raised the power of 100 armed police officers to insurgency against the Dutch government who felt they still had power in Tanjungpinang.

He was also arrested and thrown into Tanjungpinang prison, which at that time was called Benteng KNIL (now a complex of the Tanjungpinang Naval Hospital, pen) on July 3, 1946, about one month before the commemoration of Indonesia's first proclamation of independence.

In detention status, he died. A Dutch archival note said Sunaryo was killed by a Dutch soldier named Keyman Bruno by shooting.

Sunaryo became the first fighter activist in Tanjungpinang to die in an effort to defend independence.

His body was buried in the hill village, Taman Bahagia, Tanjungpinang. In 1975, his body was transferred to the Pusara Bakti Heroes Cemetery at Kilometer 5, Tanjungpinang by the Riau Islands Regency Government.

As a form of appreciation for his services to the state, the government pinned his name as the name of the "Jalan R. Sunaryo"