Abdul Rasjid

Last updated

Abdul Rasjid Siregar gelar Mangaradja Mahkota Soeangkoepon (born 1891, date of death unknown, Perfected Spelling: Abdul Rasyid Siregar gelar Mangaraja Suangkupon), commonly known as Dr. Abdul Rasjid, was a politician and physician in the Dutch East Indies. He was elected or appointed to the Volksraad from 1931 to 1942, during which time he sat with the Indonesian nationalist faction. During the 1930s, he became convinced that public health and cooperation with traditional healers should be central to the mission of physicians in the Indies.

Biography

Abdoel Rasjid was born in 1891 in Padang, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, into an elite Toba Batak family with roots in Sipirok. [1] [2] [3] He was the younger brother of Mangaradja Soeangkoepon, who would also later become a politician.

Weltevreden. Stovia Salemba College for Doctors (KITLV) Weltevreden. Stovia Salemba College for Doctors., KITLV 1406159.tiff
Weltevreden. Stovia Salemba College for Doctors (KITLV)

He studied medicine at STOVIA starting in around 1910 and graduated in 1914 as a native physician (Dutch : Inlandsche Artsen, a lower status than European physicians). [1] [3] [4] After graduating he entered the government medical service and was sent to Medan in Sumatra. [5] [6] He also entered local politics, and was appointed in July 1917 to the local council in Tanjungbalai in North Sumatra. [7] In 1919 he left Sumatra for a time and temporarily took up a teaching and physician post at STOVIA in Batavia. [8] [9] While living in Batavia he was also a leader in a Batak cultural club (Dutch : Batakschebond), which was inspired by the recently founded, Padang-based Jong Soematranen Bond. In late 1920 he put his name on the electoral list for Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo's Nationaal Indische Partij in the 1921 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election, but was not elected. [10] In 1922 he also attended the NIP-dominated nationalist Sumatran Unity Congress (Dutch : Soematraansch Eenheidscongres, also known as the Groot-Sumatra's Congres) in Padang. [11] [12] He gave a lecture in this conference where he called for unity between Sumatrans of different ethnic backgrounds. [13]

He returned to Sumatra and established his practice in Padangsidempuan in North Sumatra, where he developed a loyal following serving the local Batak population. [2] He was a major advocate for the respecting of Batak traditions and Adat; he worried that it would be lost during the rush to modernize society. [14] [15] While living in Padangsidempuan he chaired an Adat committee which examined issues surrounding it and issued publications. [16]

In the 1931 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election he was first appointed to the Volksraad, where his older brother Mangaradja Soeangkoepon had already been a fairly high-profile member since 1927. [17] He joined the Fractie nationaal, an informal group in the Volksraad consisting of Indonesian nationalist members from various parties. Like his brother Mangaradja Soeangkoepon, Abdul Rasjid worked hard to advance the interests of native Indonesians in the Dutch political system, but remained highly skeptical of its ability to deliver real change when it was so undemocratic and was dominated by the European minority. [18]

He was reelected in the 1935 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election. [17] In 1938 he became president of the Vereeniging van Indische Artsen (Society of Indies Physicians, known in Indonesian as Perkoempoelan Tabib Indonesia, PERTABIN), an organization which had been founded in 1911 but which had declined in importance since then. [19] [20] Inspired by the Rockefeller Foundation, which was promoting a public health project in Java at that time, he developed the Society to turn its attention to public health promotion as its primary mission. [19] He criticized the way that the Dutch tried to deliver health care services to remote regions via Christian missionaries and called for a new system which allowed collaboration between local Western-educated doctors, nurses and midwives and local traditional healers. [3] He also established a private foundation in Tapanoeli Residency, which was funded by local villagers, to promote health and hygiene there. [3] He advocated for the colonial government to fund a new colony-wide Therapeutic Institute which would regulate and allow for the use of traditional Indonesian medicine such as Jamu. [3]

Women selling Jamu (traditional health elixir) in Yogyakarta, Dutch East Indies, c.1910-1930s COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Vrouwen tijdens de bereiding van jamu een traditioneel geneesmiddel op de markt te Jogjakarta TMnr 60027026.jpg
Women selling Jamu (traditional health elixir) in Yogyakarta, Dutch East Indies, c.1910-1930s

Again in the 1939 Dutch East Indies Volksraad election he was reelected; he failed the first vote, but won in a Runoff election against another representative from Padangsidempuan, Mr. Binaga. [2] [17] [21] In July 1939 he withdrew from the Fractie nationaal and joined a smaller group called the Indonesisch nationalistische groep which was to be chaired by his brother Mangaradja Soeangkoepon. [22] The other members of this new faction, essentially a Sumatran bloc, were his brother, Mohammad Yamin, and Tadjuddin Noor. [23]

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, in 1943, he was appointed as an advisor to the Japanese authorities along with Sukarno, Mohammad Yamin and others. [24] He was also appointed to the Central Advisory Council, an advisory body similar to the Volksraad. [25] He helped negotiate the reopening of the medical school in Batavia, which had been closed during the invasion, and became a member of its faculty. [26] [27] Later in the war, when the Japanese allowed some colonial-era organizations to resume their activity, the Society of Indies Physicians requested permission to do so, but they declined to allow it to reopen. [20]

After Indonesia gained its independence in 1949 the native doctors behind the Society of Indies Physicians were among the founding members of a new organization, the Ikatan Dokter Indonesia. [20]

Abdul Rasjid's participation in the independence era and his year of death are not well documented.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sukabumi Regency</span> Regency of Indonesia

Sukabumi Regency is a regency (kabupaten) in southwestern Java, as part of West Java province of Indonesia. The regency seat is located in Palabuhan Ratu, a coastal district facing the Indian Ocean. The regency fully encircles the administratively separated city of Sukabumi. Covering an area of 4,145.70 km2, the regency is the largest regency in West Java and the second largest regency on Java after the Banyuwangi Regency in East Java. The regency had a population of 2,341,409 at the 2010 census and 2,725,450 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 2,761,476 with a large part of it living in the northeastern part of the regency that encircles Sukabumi City, south of Mount Gede. A plan to create a new regency, the North Sukabumi Regency is currently waiting for the approval of the central government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Yamin</span> Indonesian poet, revolutionary, and politician (1903–1962)

Mohammad Yamin was an Indonesian poet, politician and national hero who played a key role in the writing of the draft preamble to the 1945 constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volksraad (Dutch East Indies)</span> Advisory semilegislative council in the Dutch East Indies

The Volksraad an advisory, and later semi-legislative institution for the Dutch East Indies, was provided for by law in 1916 but was only established with the actual installation of the Council in 1918. It was a hesitant and slow attempt at democratisation of the Dutch East Indies as part of the "ethical policy" adopted by the Dutch government. The power of the Volksraad was limited as it only had advisory powers. Although part of the council was elected only a small proportion of the population had voting rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suharso</span>

Suharso, (1912–1971) also spelled Soeharso, was an Indonesian medical doctor known for his work with disabled people and in the rehabilitation of people injured during the Indonesian National Revolution. He was declared to be a National Hero of Indonesia in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pah Wongso</span> Dutch social worker and educator

Louis Victor Wijnhamer, better known as Pah Wongso, was an Indo social worker popular within the ethnic Chinese community of the Dutch East Indies, and subsequently Indonesia. Educated in Semarang and Surabaya, Pah Wongso began his social work in the early 1930s, using traditional arts such as wayang golek to promote such causes as monogamy and abstinence. By 1938, he had established a school for the poor, and was raising money for the Red Cross to send aid to China.

Tan Liok Tiauw Sia was a prominent Chinese-Indonesian landowner, planter and industrial pioneer in the late colonial period, best known today as the last Landheer of Batoe-Tjepper, now the district of Batuceper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tadjuddin Noor</span>

Tadjuddin Noor was an Indonesian politician and nationalist. He was a deputy speaker of the Provisional People's Representative Council between 1950 and 1956, and chaired the legislature of the State of East Indonesia (NIT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutan Mohammad Amin Nasution</span> Indonesian writer

Mr. Sutan Mohammad Amin Nasution, also known by his birth name Krueng Raba Nasution, was an Acehnese–Mandailing lawyer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Hakim Harahap</span> Indonesian politician (1905–1961)

Abdul Hakim Harahap was an Indonesian politician who held various positions, including deputy prime minister, in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Thomas</span> Indonesian physician

Marie Thomas was the first Indonesian woman to become a physician. She received her diploma from the School of Training of Native Physicians in 1922. She went on to specialize in obstetrics and gynaecology and is considered the first Indonesian doctor to specialize in this field. She also established a midwifery school in Bukittinggi.

Anna Adeline Warouw Karamoy was the second Indonesian woman to become a physician. She received her diploma from the School of Training of Native Doctors in 1924 and went on to specialize in otorhinolaryngology.

Parada Harahap was an important journalist and writer from the late colonial period and early independence era in Indonesia. In the 1930s, he was called the "king of the Java press". He pioneered a new kind of politically neutral Malay language newspaper in the 1930s which would cater to the rising middle class of the Indies.

<i>Pewarta Deli</i> Dutch East Indies newspaper

Pewarta Deli was a Malay language newspaper published in Medan, Dutch East Indies from 1910 until 1941, and again from 1945–6. During its run the paper became a strident anti-colonial voice, sympathetic to the Sarekat Islam and Indonesian nationalism and critical of the cruelty of big business in Medan's tobacco and plantation industries. It also gave space in its pages to Communism and Islamic modernism. The paper had a wide readership in its time, with an influence not only in the Indies, but also among Malays in British Malaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Alex Blaauw</span> Dutch East Indies politician

Paul Alex Blaauw, usually known as P. A. Blaauw, was an Indo politician, lawyer, and member of the Dutch East Indies Volksraad representing the Indo Europeesch Verbond from the 1920s to the 1940s. During the period of transition to Indonesian independence and the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference he was a leader of the largest faction advocating for the rights of Indos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jong Batak Bond</span> Intellectual organisation in the Dutch East Indies

Jong Batak Bond, sometimes simply called Jong Batak, was a short-lived but influential Batak intellectual organization founded in Batavia, Dutch East Indies in December 1925. Like Budi Utomo, Jong Java and other such organizations, its members consisted of native Indonesian students in Dutch-language schools interested in advancing their ethnic group and Indonesian nationalism at the same time. Notable members of the group include Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap, Todung Sutan Gunung Mulia Harahap, Sanusi Pane, Saleh Said Harahap and Arifin Harahap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Nazir Isa</span> Indonesian Naval officer

Rear Admiral Mohammad NazirIsa was an Indonesian military officer, minister, and diplomat. He served as Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy from 1946 to 1948, Minister of Shipping from 1957 to 1959, and Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland and the Vatican.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahyuddin Datuk Sutan Maharadja</span> Dutch East Indies Minangkabau intellectual and journalist

Mahyuddin Datuk Sutan Maharadja was a Minangkabau journalist, intellectual, activist and newspaper editor active in the Dutch East Indies. He is considered to be one of the fathers of modern Indonesian journalism and was a key figure in West Sumatran politics from the 1890s to 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mangaradja Soangkoepon</span> Dutch East Indies politician

Abdoel Firman Siregar gelar Mangaradja Soangkoepon was a politician and Volksraad member in the Dutch East Indies. He was an Indonesian nationalist and was a political ally of many of the leaders who came to power in the early independence era, although he himself died before the country achieved its independence.

<i>Sinar Sumatra</i> Defunct newspaper from the Dutch East Indies

Sinar Sumatra was a Malay-language newspaper published in Padang, Dutch East Indies from 1905 to around 1941 or 1942. It is generally considered a Peranakan Chinese publication, although it had European publishers and Minangkabau editors as well. During the pre-World War II period it was one of the most widely-read Malay language newspapers in Sumatra.

References

  1. 1 2 Kartadarmadja, M. Sunjata (1980). Prof.Dr.Wilhelmus Zakharias Yohannes (in Indonesian). Pusat Penelitian Sejarah dan Budaya, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. p. 84.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dr. ABDUL RASJID". Deli Courant (in Dutch). Medan. 15 February 1939. p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Neelakantan, Vivek (2017). Science, public health and nation-building in Soekarno-era Indonesia. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–7. ISBN   9781443878494.
  4. ↑ "S.t.o.v.i.a." Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). Batavia [Jakarta]. 11 July 1914. p. 2.
  5. ↑ "CIVIEL DEPARTEMENT". Bataviaasch nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Batavia [Jakarta]. 10 July 1914. p. 3.
  6. ↑ "Telegrammen uit de Locomotief". De nieuwe vorstenlanden (in Dutch). Surakarta. 24 July 1914. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Locale raden". De Locomotief (in Dutch). Semarang. 11 July 1917.
  8. ↑ Museum Kebangkitan Nasional (2014). Perkembangan pendidikan kedokteran di Weltevreden: 1851—1926. Diterbitkan untuk mengenang 75 tahun keberadaan STOVIA(Sekolah untuk Mendidik Dokter Bumi Putra) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. p. 289.
  9. ↑ "TELEGRAMMEN Reuterdienst, Speciale en Extra oorlogs telegrammen van de Preangerbode. De Vredesconferentie". De Preanger-Bode (in Dutch). Bandung. 13 March 1919.
  10. ↑ "Volksraadscandidaten". De Sumatra post (in Dutch). Medan. 10 November 1920. p. 10.
  11. ↑ "NEDERLANDSCH - INDIË. VOLKSRAAD. (Vergadering van Vrijdag 7 Juli.) Voorzitter Mr. Dr. Schumann. (Slot.)". De Preanger-Bode (in Dutch). Bandung. 8 July 1922.
  12. ↑ "Soematraansch Eenheidscongres". De expres. Semarang. 8 July 1922. p. 10.
  13. ↑ "Hindia Sepakat. HET SUMATRAANSCHE EENHEIDSCOMITÉ". Overzicht van de Inlandsche en Maleisisch-Chineesche Pers (in Dutch). 1922 (27): 27–9. 1 January 1922.
  14. ↑ Soangkoepon, Abdul Firman gelar Maharadja (1937). Boekoe peringatan waktoe merajakan pesta dari comite boeat menghormati keadaan toean, Abdul Firman gelar Maharadja Soangkoepon, telah sepoeloeh tahoen doedoek sebagai lid dan gedelegeerde di Volksraad, tanggal 26 December 1937" (in Indonesian). Comite Peringatan. p. 8.
  15. ↑ Tideman, J., J. (1932). De Bataklanden, 1917-1931 (in Dutch). Louis H. Becherer.
  16. ↑ Korte legende van een deel der stamvaders der bewoners van Tapanoeli en Oostkust van Sumatra (in Dutch). 1938. p. 67.
  17. 1 2 3 "VOLKSRAAD". Regerings-almanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië. 2: 61–64. 1939.
  18. ↑ Effendi, Roestam (1937). Recht voor Indonesie! : een beroep op democratisch Nederland (in Dutch). p. 14.
  19. 1 2 Pols, Hans (2009). "European Physicians and Botanists, Indigenous Herbal Medicine in the Dutch East Indies, and Colonial Networks of Mediation". East Asian Science, Technology and Society. 3 (2–3): 173–208. doi: 10.1215/s12280-009-9085-6 . ISSN   1875-2160.
  20. 1 2 3 Murakami, Saki (2010). Post, Peter; Frederick, William H.; Heidebrink, Iris; Sato, Shigeru; Horton, William Bradley; Kwartanada, Didi (eds.). The encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War. Leiden: Brill. pp. 573–4. ISBN   978-90-04-19017-7.
  21. ↑ "Indië Volksraadsverkiezing". Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). Batavia [Jakarta]. 17 January 1939. p. 2.
  22. ↑ Gonggong, Anhar (1985). Muhammad Husni Thamrin (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan. pp. 71–2.
  23. ↑ "Nieuwe fractie wenscht tot een onafhankelijk Indonesia mede te werken". De Sumatra post (in Dutch). Medan. 13 July 1939. p. 3.
  24. ↑ Han, Bing Siong (1993). "The Japanese occupation of Indonesia and the administration of justice today; Myths and realities ". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. Leiden. 154 (3): 417.
  25. ↑ Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. (1961). Some Aspects of Indonesian Politics Under the Japanese Occupation, 1944-1945. Ithaca: Modern Indonesia Project, Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Far Eastern Studies, Cornell University. p. 10.
  26. ↑ "History". Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  27. ↑ Neelakantan, Vivek (2017). Science, public health and nation-building in Soekarno-era Indonesia. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge University Press. p. 145. ISBN   9781443878494.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.