Djawoto (

Perfected Spelling Indonesian orthography refers to the official spelling system used in the Indonesian language. The current system uses the Latin alphabet and is called (EYD), commonly translated as ''Enhanced Spelling'', ''Perfected Spelling'' or ''Improved Spel ...

: Jawoto; August 10, 1906 – September 24, 1992) was an Indonesian journalist and diplomat.Encyclopedia of Jakarta.
Djawoto
'' He served as Indonesia's ambassador to China and Mongolia starting in 1964.

Teacher and journalist

Djawoto became part of the Indonesian nationalist movement through the

Sarekat Islam Sarekat Islam or Syarikat Islam ( 'Islamic Association' or 'Islamic Union'; SI) was an Indonesian socio-political organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century during the Dutch colonial era. Initially, SI served as a cooperative of ...

, one of the first mass organizations of native Indonesians which was at its height in the 1910s and early 1920s. He started working as a teacher in 1927. A friend of

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

, Djawoto joined the

Indonesian Nationalist Party The Indonesian National Party (, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until 1973. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, the new PNI supplied a number of pri ...

in 1927. After 15 years as a teacher, Djawoto changed career and became a journalist instead. He worked at the

Antara Antara may refer to: * Antara (music), a verse in Hindustani classical music * Antara (musical instrument), or siku, a traditional Andean panpipe * Antara (news agency), an Indonesian news agency * Antara (Peru), a mountain in Peru * Antara Pol ...

news agency for a number of years and served as its chief editor from 1946 to 1964. In 1945 he was included in the Education Section of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

at the founding congress of the party. He was a member of the

Central Indonesian National Committee The Central Indonesian National Committee (, KNIP), also known as the Central National Committee (, KNP), was a body appointed to assist the president of the newly independent Indonesia. Originally purely advisory, it later gained assumed legisl ...

between 1945 and 1949. His book ''Djurnalistik dalam praktek'' ('Journalism in Practice') was published in 1960. Djawoto was a leading figure in the Union of Indonesian Journalists (PWI).

Ambassador

In 1964 he was named ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

by President Sukarno. He was one of six journalists that Sukarno appointed as ambassadors during the 1960s.

Life in exile

After the

30 September Movement The Thirtieth of September Movement (, also known as G30S, and by the syllabic abbreviation Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement, also unofficially called Gestok, for ''Gerakan Satu Oktober'', or Fir ...

coup attempt, rumored to have been sponsored by the

Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its Indo ...

, and the resulting purge of persons considered communists which killed hundreds of thousands, the political situation in Indonesia became unstable. The once civil government became a military regime, and the country's political allegiances, previously supporting the

East Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

, became more friendly to the West. As a result, several hundred or thousand Indonesian leftists travelling abroad were unable to return to their homeland. Djawoto, the ambassador to a communist country, remained in China and resigned his post, despite being recalled by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the early morning of April 16, 1966, Djawoto held a press conference at which he declared that he was no longer the Indonesian ambassador. In April 1966 Djawoto was granted political asylum in China. The Indonesian government withdrew his passport. He became general secretary of the Beijing-based Afro-Asian Journalists Association. Djawoto left China and emigrated to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1981. Although he had not been a Communist Party member, Djawoto was not allowed to return to Indonesia.

References

* {{Authority control 1906 births 1992 deaths Ambassadors of Indonesia to Mongolia Ambassadors of Indonesia to China Indonesian exiles 20th-century Indonesian journalists