Rear Admiral Mas Pardi (1 October 1901 – 13 August 1968) was the founder and leader of the central

People's Security Agency The People's Security Army () or commonly abbreviated as TKR is the name of the first military force formed by the Indonesian Government, after the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence. TKR was formed on October 5, 1945, based on an announcemen ...

Marines, which was the forerunner of the

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy (, TNI-AL) is the Navy, naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclus ...

. Mas Pardi is known as the "Father of Indonesian Shipping" by establishing maritime schools. On 10 September 1945, the marine BKR was renamed to TKR Laut. Mas Pardi was the Chief of the Marine TKR General Staff. He is the namesake of buildings at the Semarang Shipping Science Polytechnic and the

Indonesian Naval Academy The Naval Academy ( or ) is a service academy of the Indonesian Navy, the naval component of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Academy System or the . Its campus is located in Surabaya, East Java and trains men and women to become officers of ...

Early life

Mas Pardi was born in

Ambarawa Ambarawa is a town and an administrative district (''kecamatan'') of the Semarang Regency, located between the cities of Semarang and Salatiga in Central Java Province of Indonesia. Administratively, it is bordered by the districts of Banyubiru ...

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

, in 1901, studying at a ''

Hollandsch-Inlandsche School Hollandsch-Inlandsche School (HIS) (Dutch school for natives) was a school during the Dutch East Indies, Dutch colonial era in Indonesia. The school, was first established in 1914, following with the enactment of the Dutch Ethical Policy. The scho ...

'' until 1916 and continued to a ''

Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs ( Dutch, "more advanced primary education") was during part of the twentieth century a level of education in the Netherlands, Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. The system was comparable with the junior high school ...

'' until 1920. In 1922 he entered a ''Zeevaartschool'' (Marine Academy). After graduating in 1923, he joined the

Government Navy The Government Navy ( or , GM) was a Dutch naval force in the former Dutch East Indies and Dutch New Guinea between 1861 and 1962. It succeeded the Civil Colonial Navy () of 1815 and existed alongside the Indies Military Navy () until 1930, w ...

, a Dutch naval unit tasked with policing and transport, on the survey ship SS ''Orion,'' with the rank of Officer First Class'','' he was transferred to the ship SS ''Fomalhaut'' in the year 1936.

Japanese occupation period

During the

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...

, Mas Pardi, a Senior Sailor among the native ''

Pribumi Native Indonesians, also known as ''Pribumi'' () are Indonesians whose ancestral roots lie mainly in the archipelago and consist of various Ethnic groups in Indonesia, ethnic groups, predominantly of Austronesian people, Austronesian and Melanesi ...

'', Continuing his career at the Higher Shipping School (SPT) which was formed by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

, now the Semarang Shipping Science Polytechnic. Mas Pardi was active as an instructor for young sailors at the school. On the eve of the

Proclamation of Indonesian Independence The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence (, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 Tokyo Standard Time on Friday 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of the Indonesian Nati ...

on 17 August 1945, Mas Pardi and a line of Indonesian sailors and mariners, escorted the reading of the text of the Proclamation on Jl. East Pegangsaan No. 56 with the Pioneer Front. On 10 September 1945, Mas Pardi regrouped Indonesian sailors who were scattered into the BKR Laut. The agency was later transformed into the TKR Marine and during the

Indonesian Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during p ...

, participated in combat against the Dutch forces both at sea and on land in various parts of Indonesia.

Independent Indonesia

After completing the organization of the TKR Marine, Mas Pardi, who was among the elders, was replaced by Mohammad Nazir Isa as the head of the marine defense agency in 1948. Mas Pardi was active in seafaring education and worked in the shipping service in

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

. After the recognition of sovereignty, the Indonesian government worked on improving the structure of the nation state, including in the Navy, with the establishment of IAL – Institute of the Navy (now the

) in 1953. In 1958 he was one of the Indonesian delegates during the creation on the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

, in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, 1958.

Death

Mas Pardi died at the SPM Polyclinic in

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

, Central Java, at the age of 66 years, on Tuesday, 13 August 1968, at 18.45 WIB. His grave was moved to the Giri Tunggal Heroes Cemetery,

, Central Java in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pardi, Mas 1901 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Indonesian military personnel