Netherland Says The Song Of Indonesia Raya Harmless In Today's History, January 18, 1929

The Dutch East Indies Bumiputra Affairs Advisor, Charles Olke Van Der Plas. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA – In today's history, 94 years ago, January 18, 1929, the Advisor for Indigenous Peoples Affairs for the Dutch East Indies, Charles Olke van der Plas, wrote a letter to Governor General Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff. He revealed that the song Indonesia Raya sung at the Second Youth Congress was nothing special.

He even said that the song Indonesia Raya, which was composed by Wage Rudolf (W.R.) Soepratman, was harmless and did not need to be overly responded to. In fact, the song Indonesia Raya was then able to spark the enthusiasm of the natives against the Dutch.

The Second Youth Congress is the most decisive period in the nation's history. Young people from various regions in the archipelago gathered at Clubgebouw (now: Youth Pledge Museum) Jalan Kramat Raya 106, Batavia (now: Jakarta) on 28 October 1928.

They contained pledges and determined the direction of the struggle to free the shackles of colonialism. the pledge became widely known as the Youth Pledge. Among other things, young people are committed to spilling blood, nation, and one language: Indonesia.

The pledge was then greeted with a bang. Moreover, a movement youth who is also a musician, W.R. Supratman contributed a song of struggle. Indonesia Raya, the title. The song is able to burn the spirit of young people to be independent.

Partiture of the song Indonesia Raya. (Wikimedia Commons)

It was also at that time that the national anthem Indonesia Raya was heard in public for the first time. Then, the anthem Indonesia Raya never failed to be heard at various meetings of the freedom fighters. The song often succeeded in making the freedom fighters unite against the Dutch.

“For a moment he stood upright waiting for the sound of applause to disappear. After the atmosphere was silent, he began to show his skill in playing the violin rendition of his song. For about five minutes, the melodious strains of his violin charmed the attention of the audience."

"Then with a smile, he bowed to the public who greeted him with thunderous applause. Some accompanied them with whistling, some accompanied them with screams asking to be repeated. With great emotion because we have been given the honor to play our song which is expected to become the national anthem at a historic moment," wrote Bambang Sularto in the book Wage Rudolf Soepratman (2012).

Perhaps the national anthem Indonesia Raya is able to ignite the enthusiasm of all Indonesian people. However, not for the Netherlands. The Bumiputra Affairs Advisor, Charles Olke van der Plas, even wrote to Governor General De Graeff to discuss the Indonesia Raya anthem.

According to him, the Indonesian anthem is far from magical. In fact, politically harmless. All of this was because Van der Plas did not consider the Indonesian Raya song special. The proof is that there were no threatening events after the Indonesia Raya anthem was played at the Second Youth Congress.

“Among other things, there is a letter from the adviser on indigenous affairs Charles Olke van der Plas to Governor General De Graeff dated January 18, 1929. He expressed his opinion that he did not find anything special in the song which had been sung several times at the Youth Congress without any objections from the police.”

The song with banal European melodies and limp verses is a picture of a decline in taste (smaak). And politically it is not dangerous," said Rosihan Anwar in the book Sejarah Kecil ‘Petite Histoire’ Indonesia Jilid I (2004).