Oerip Soemohardjo

Oerip Soemohardjo

Born in Purworejo, Dutch East Indies, Oerip was a mischievous child who exhibited leadership skills from an early age. His parents wanted him to follow in the steps of his maternal grandfather and become a regent, therefore after elementary school Oerip was sent to the School for Native Government Employees in Magelang. His mother died during his 2nd year at the school, and Oerip left to undertake military training in Meester Cornelis, Batavia. After graduating in 1914, he became a lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, the army of the Dutch colonial government. During almost 25 years of service he was stationed on three different islands and promoted several times, eventually becoming the highest-ranking native officer in the country.
Oerip resigned from his position in about 1938 after a disagreement with the regent of Purworejo, where he had been stationed. He and his wife Rohmah then moved to a village near Yogyakarta, where they established a large flower garden and villa. After Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 Oerip was recalled to active duty. When the Empire of Japan occupied the Indies less than two years later, Oerip was arrested and detained in a prisoner-of-war camp for three and a half months. He spent the rest of the occupation at his villa.
After passing an exam for would-be state employees and several months of preparations, Oerip moved to Magelang in 1908 to attend the School for Native Government Employees ; his parents intended for him to become a regent like his grandfather. The following year his brothers joined him. After his mother died in 1909, Oerip sank into a months-long bout of depression and became withdrawn.
After finishing the year at OSVIA, he decided to enrol at the military academy in Meester Cornelis, Batavia. He went there directly from Magelang, and told his brothers to inform their father, who disapproved of his son's choice. Soemohardjo initially attempted to bribe his son with 1,000 gulden to return to OSVIA, but eventually agreed to pay for Oerip's tuition. After his training, during which he found military life enjoyable, Oerip graduated from the academy in October 1914 and became a 2nd lieutenant in the KNIL.
In Malinau, Oerip patrolled the border between the Dutch East Indies and the British-controlled Kingdom of Sarawak ; he also worked to prevent conflicts and headhunting among Dayak tribes. One day, seven years after arriving in Borneo, Oerip returned from patrol to find his home had been burned down. Upon the recommendation of a passing doctor, Oerip went back to Java, via Tarakan and Surabaya, to Cimahi, where he spent several months in recovery for fatigue.
The year after his marriage, Oerip and his wife were stationed in Ambarawa, where Oerip was tasked with rebuilding a previously disbanded unit. While training local recruits in place of the Dutch commander who had yet to arrive, Oerip was promoted to captain. After the Dutch commander arrived, in July 1928 Oerip was given a year's leave, which he used to travel throughout Europe on a sightseeing trip with his wife. Upon his return to the Indies, he was stationed at Meester Cornelis.
In Meester Cornelis, Oerip began running training exercises; while stationed in Batavia, his father died. In 1933, he was sent to Padang Panjang in Sumatra to deal with unrest that had already killed several Dutch officers. His time in Padang Panjang passed uneventfully, and in July 1935 he was given leave to go to Europe again. He was also promoted to major at that time, which made him the highest-ranking native officer in the KNIL. The following year, upon his return to the Indies, he was stationed in Purworejo. In mid-1938, after a disagreement with the local regent,[e] Oerip was told to transfer to Gombong; he refused, then left the KNIL and moved to his parents-in-law's home in Yogyakarta.
After the Japanese occupied the Indies in early 1942, Oerip was held in a mixed prisoner of war camp in Cimahi. Upon his release three and a half months later, Oerip refused an offer to form a new, Japanese-backed police force and returned to KEM, where he and his wife rented paddy fields to grow rice while continuing to operate their flower garden. To protect their land, they surrounded their property and home with a high bamboo fence. Although no longer active in the military, Oerip occasionally received former KNIL members, including Abdul Haris Nasution and Sunarmo, who brought news of events outside the village. The couple continued their work, harassed and surveilled by the Japanese and pro-Japanese Indonesians, until the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945 signified that Japan would soon withdraw. It was during this period that Oerip began having heart problems.
With the BKR scattered under independent leadership throughout the country, the newly formed People's Security Army drew officers mainly from the native members of the former KNIL. However, these officers were poorly received by Indonesian nationalists, who viewed them as mercenaries for having served in the Dutch forces. Meanwhile, rank and file members of the TKR were drawn from numerous groups, including former PETA, current Pemuda (young Indonesian revolutionaries), and the BKR. Although Oerip set out a command structure, in reality the army's hierarchy was provisional and depended heavily on the strength of local units.

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