Muhammad Yamin

1. Biography

Many Indonesia national heroes are native to West Sumatra, one of them is Muhammad Yamin. For 59 years, he has shown his immersion in both academic and political realm, an Indonesian prolific writer and smart politician. Yamin was one of celebrated national heroes, became one of the pioneers of modern poetry in Indonesia Pujangga Baru (new writer), playwright, and a respected expert on constitutional law. He was also involved actively in anthropological and historical studies. In terms of language studies, he has observed more than one local language: Sanskrit, Java, and Malay languages. It is no wonder, then, many works emerged on his creation.  

Yamin was born on August 23^rd, 1903 in a heartland of the Minangkabau, Talawi village, Sawahlunto, West Sumatra province. He married Raden Ajeng Sundari Martoatmodjo who bored him a son named Rahadijan Yamin. During his early ages, he was known for his firmness on cultural and religious principles. Until 1904, his father installed in him extended education on religious and culture as he was envisioned as a person who would appreciate his cultural treasurers and religious thoughts. He was also well known for his lifetime dedication to national movements to regain the independence of Indonesia. His immersion in this field made him a leader in several widely respected national organizations in Indonesia.   

Yamin began his formal education at Hollands Inlands School (HIS) in Palembang, South Sumatra. In five years after graduating, he took courses on farming and husbandry in Lembaga Pendidikan Peternakan dan Pertanian, Cisarua, Bogor. For his preparation to study Eastern literature in Leiden, Dutch, Yamin enrolled at Algemene Middlebare School (AMS) Yogyakarta in 1925. In AMS, lees than three years, he has deepened his knowledge on both discipline: Language (Yunani, Latin, and Kaei), and ancient history. After completing all courses required in AMS, he prepared to depart for Leiden. However, as he was informed about his father`s death, he called out the plan. The main reason for discontinuing his study at Leiden was lack of financial support following his father`s death. He, then, pursued his master degree at Recht Hogeschool (RHS) in Jakarta, and in 1932, he had successfully completed the courses and obtained the qualification meester in de rechten. 

Yamin`s lifetime was spent in political activities in several national organizations. When he was in West Sumatra, Yamin had ever assumed head of Jong Sumatranen Bond, a young Sumanatranese organization where he met Muhammad Hatta (Vice President of Indonesia). In the celebration for the fifth birth of Jong Sumatranen Bond, in 1923, Yamin delivered a speech under the title “De maleische taal in het verleden, heden en toekomst “ (Malay Language: Past, Present and Future). In the occasion, he forecasted the dissemination of Malay Language in Indonesia that someday it would be National Language.

In 1920s, in his young age, Yamin put himself in several intellectual activities, some of which are the first and the second youth congress where he showed his intellectual precociousness. In the first congress, held on April 30^th to May 2^nd, 1926 in Jakarta, he bounced some bright ideas on the importance of National language serving as uniting language for Indonesia. Besides assuming the position of secretary, in the second congress on 217-28 October 1928, Hatta delivered a speech under title “Dari Hal Persatuan dan Kebangsaan Indonesia” in which he expressed his optimism on the unity of Indonesia. The second congress reached the well known agreement called Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Oath) in October 28^th, 1928.

Besides his intellectual and organizational activities, Yamin was involved in world of politic. He had ever been a member of Partai Indonesia-Partindo (Indonesian Party) where he adopted his non-cooperative position on the Ducth colonialism. He refused to be civil servant, but accepted salary from his profession as a writer, journalist, and poet. After the dispersion of Partai Indonesia, he formed a political movement called Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia-Gerindo (Indonesian People`s Movement). Ever since, he softened his political strategy toward the Dutch colonialism form non-cooperative position to cooperative. For example, in the period of Dutch colonialism, he had ever joined Volksraad (People` Representative Council). During Japanese period, he became one of advisory boards of Pusat Tenaga Rakyat-Putera (Center for People Power), and high rank official of Sendenbu (Information and Japan Propaganda). Yet, along with other national leaders, he still strove for the independence of Indonesia.  

In national history, together with other founding fathers, Yamin contributed to shape the very Indonesian characters. Around the proclamation of Indonesian independence, he was active at Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan-BPUPKI (Investigating Body for Preparatory Attempts to Indonesian Independence) and Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia-PPKI (Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence). Besides Soekarno and Soepomo, Yamin was also noted as one of political figures who formulated the constitutional concepts of Indonesia. In several meetings of BPUPKI and PPKI, he entered into detailed discussion with Muhammad Hatta about the inclusion of human rights articles in Undang-undang Dasar-UUD 1945 (Constitutional Law). He was also a member of committee for framing the concept Piagam Jakarta (Jakarta Charter).  

After the independence of Indonesia, Yamin assumed several important highly positions in governmental structure of Indonesia. He was installed as an adviser for Indonesian delegate to Konferensi Meja Bundar-KMB (Round Table Conference) in Netherland. He was commissioned also respectively as a Minister of Law (1951), a Minister of Teaching, Education and Culture (1953-1955), a member of DPR-RIS (People`s Representative Council of United State of Indonesia) which later on became DPR-RI, a member of Badan Konstituante (Constitutional Assembly) after the 1955 general election. He became a member of DPR-GR, and MPRS after the 1959 presidential decree, a member of National Defense Board, and member of Staf Pembantu Panglima Besar Komando Tertinggi Operasi Ekonomi Seluruh Indonesia. In Lembaga Pembinaan Hukum Nasional, he was an adviser. He was also member of Panitia Pembina Jiwa Revolusi, a Head of Dewan Pengawas LBN Antara (Internal Affairs Agency) (1961-1962). In 1926, he was installed as a Vice First Minister for Special Sector, a Minister of Information, and a head of Dewan Perancang Nasional (National Planning Agency).     

Yamin and Tan Malaka had ever established Murba Party and Persatuan Perjuangan, as their opposition to Syahrir`s cabinet minister. His political stance led him to be involved in July 3^rd tragedy in 1946, headed by Tan Malaka, at which he was accused of rebelling against incumbent government. Military court found him guilty and imprisoned him 4 years. On August 17^th, 1948, he was released from the jail after being granted amnesty by President Soekarno. 

Yamin died on October 17^th, 1962 in Jakarta. However, he was buried beside his father in Talawi, a city located 20 km away from capital of Sawahlunto regency, West Sumatra Province. 

2. Thoughts

Yamin`s thoughts were so immense. Yet, this article will elaborate some of his main thoughts. Amongst other things, his thoughts on nationality and literature will be the main focus of this article. 

a. Nationality

Mostly, Yamin developed some notions on resurgence and nationality of Indonesia. Together with Muhammad Hatta, Yamin wrote poems concerning ways and mechanisms to improve and promote the unity of Indonesia as a sovereign nation. In some occasions, he wrote scripts of drama discussing about myths in Indonesian past history as a means for imagining the unity of Indonesia in an ideal form. He always contextualized the past history and framed it into contemporary situation. He viewed that striving for a freedom should begin with understanding the recent situation.    

Yamin also contributed to founding of constitutional law of Indonesia. When delivering his speech on Asas dan Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia (Pillars and Foundation of Republic of Indonesia) May 29^th, 1945, he mentioned five important pillars should be held by Indonesia as a nation:

• Peri-kebangsaan (Nationality)
• Peri-kemanusiaan (Humanity)
• Peri-ketuhanan (Divinity)
• Peri-kerakyatan (Citizenship) which encompasses permusyawatan (consultation), perwakilan (representation), and kebijaksanaan (wisdom).
• Kesejahteraan Rakyat (Welfare)

The mentioned five pillars, to certain extent, were similar to that of Soekarnos` pillars

• Nationalism
• Internationalism
• Democracy
• Welfare
• Divinity

The five pillars were extracted to tri-sila (Three Pillars) namely, Socio-nationalism, socio-democratic, and divinity. Both shared the pillars in four items: nationality, humanism, divinity and welfare. The difference lies in democracy of Soekarno and citizenship of Yamin.

Yamin also proposed the formula of 1945 constitution: “Untuk membentuk pemerintahan negara Indonesia yang melindungi segenap bangsa dan seluruh tumpah darah Indonesia, dan untuk memajukan kesejahteraan umum, mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa,menyuburkan hidup kekeluargaan, dan ikut serta melaksanakan ketertiban dunia yang berdasarkan perdamaian abadi dan keadilan sosial, maka disusunlah kemerdekaan kebangsaan Indonesia dalam dalam suatu Undang-undang Dasar Negara Indonesia yang berkedaulatan rakyat dengan berdasar kepada: Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa, Kebangsaan, Persatuan Indonesia, dan rasa Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab, Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan perwakilan dengan mewujudkan keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia”. The formula had much in common with the preamble of the official 1945 constitution of Indonesia

In 1958, in commemoration of 30^th year of Youth Oath, Yamin stated that Indonesian flag had been existed in the pre-historic era. In his book, 6000 Tahun Sang Merah-Putih (1954), he discusses the philosophy of red-white flag (Indonesian flag) in which he used the platonic idea.

b. Literature

Yamin had begun his career on writing since 1920, when Indonesian poetry was marked by an intense and largely reflective romanticism. Yamin was one of the pioneers of modern poet in Indonesia. According to Umar Junus in his book Perkembangan Puisi Indonesia dan Melayu Modern (1981), Yamin`s works are still alive till today. The puisi of Yamin is close to Syair which usually narrates certain plots of story. Yamin in his puisi, more often than not, criticized the usage of Malay language. Yet, he still paid respect toward the classical norms of Malay language that guided him in writing puisi.

Yamin was also a playwright in pujangga baru generation. He made use extensively of past history as his source, but still correlated it with the contemporary issues facing Indonesia. Unlike other dramas that based on fiction, his stories reflected much of Indonesian history to portray the future of Indonesia. According to Jacob Sumardjo, the divergence was because of two genres existing in the pujangga baru era: the locality of dramas and globality of roman. It means that much of dramas in pujangga baru utilized local fiction as the source while the roman made use of global fiction. Hence, the picture of Indonesia depicted in most romans was the life style of global modern.     

3. Works

Yamin was a prolific writer; he had produced many works concerning history, politic, poem, translation, and drama. Below are some of his works, categorized according to their field

a. Selected Poem

• Tanah Airku (1922).
• Indonesia, Tumpah Darahku, Jakarta: Balai Pustaka (1928).

b. Historical Roman (drama):

• Ken Arok dan Ken Dedes, Jakarta: Balai Pustaka (1934).
• Kalau Dewa Tara Sudah Berkata, Jakarta: Balai Pustaka (1932).

c. History and Politic:

• Gadjah Mada, Jakarta (1945).
• Sejarah Pangerah Dipenogoro (History of Pangeran Diponegoro), Jakarta (1945).
• Proklamasi dan Konstitusi Republik Indonesia (1951).
• Kebudajaan Asia Afrika (1955).
• Revolusi Amerika (1951).
• Naskah Persiapan Undang-undang Dasar (1960; 3 volumes).
• Ketatanegaraan Madjapahit (7 volumes).
• Tan Malaka (1945).
• Sapta Dharma (1950).
• Konstitusi Indonesia dalam Gelanggang Demokrasi (1956).
• 6000 Tahun Sang Merah-Putih, Penerbit Siguntang (1954).

d. Translation:

• Julius Caesar, Shakspeare`s work (1952).
• Menantikan Surat dari Raja, R. Tangore`s work, 1928.
• Di Dalam dan di Luar Lingkungan Rumah Tangga, R. Tigore`s work ( n.y).
• Tan Malaka. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka (1945).

4. Awards

Due to his dedication and contribution to the formation of Indonesia, Muhammad Yamin was awarded as National Hero implemented in Presidential decree No. 088/TK/Tahun 1973, on November 6th, 1973. He also got Anugerah Bintang Mahaputera Republik Indonesia. His name is used as the name of streets in some regions in Indonesia. 

(HS/tkh/8/8-07)

(HQ/ter/76/10-07)

Reference :

• Jakob Sumardjo, “Sastra Indonesia, Fakta dan Fiksi”, Pikiran Rakyat, 03 Februari 2007.
• Kompas, 15 Maret 2003.
• Kompas, 23 Agustus 2003.
• www.uny.ac.id.
• www.kirjasto.sci.fi.
• www.paramadina.wordpress.com.
• www.pusatbahasa.depdiknas.go.id.
• Wikipedia.org.

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