Mokhtaruddin Lasso (1915–1951) was a Sumatran-born Malayan independent guerrilla, a former anti-Japanese rebel during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

who later became one of the founders of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM – Malay Nationalist Party).

Life

Mokhtaruddin was born in

Padang Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...

, West Sumatera, in 1915. His given name was Mukhtar Sutan Indra Lasso. He had his early education in MULO, Padang. After Silungkang uprising, he left West Sumatra and went to Batavia joined with

Indonesian National 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 1937, he moved to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and Malaya. There he made a contact with

Tan Malaka Ibrahim Simabua Datuak (posthumous) Sutan Malaka also known as Tan Malaka (2 June 1897 – 21 February 1949) was an Indonesian statesman, teacher, Marxism, Marxist, Philosophy, philosopher, founder of Struggle Union (Persatuan Perjuangan) and Murb ...

. Influenced by Tan Malaka's concept, he established Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya and envisaged a socialist platform for the party. He was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, the earliest known in Malay history, and once debated about the existence of a god with his colleague and future PAS president, Burhanuddin al-Helmy. During the declaration day of PKMM policies, 30 November 1945, he revealed 8 resolutions which were considered influenced by the Communist Party of Malaya by the British colonists. Furthermore, PKMM's anti-

UMNO The United Malays National Organisation ( abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a conservative, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its inception in 1946), UMNO has been known as ...

and anti-

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

movement and activities were worried by the British. Due to this, the British refused Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya's registration under the Malayan's establishment law. Later, Mokhtaruddin, along with few other anti-British leaders were imprisoned and presumably executed.

References

Sources

* Harper, Timothy Norman; The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya, Cambridge University Press, 1999 {{Communism in Malaysia 1915 births Malaysian people of Malay descent 1951 deaths Malaysian people of Minangkabau descent Malaysian communists Minangkabau people Malaysian former Muslims Indonesian emigrants to Malaysia Indonesian Marxists Indonesian former Muslims Indonesian atheists People from West Sumatra People executed by Malaysia