Prijono (20 July 1907 – 6 March 1969Vickers, Adrian.
A History of Modern Indonesia
'. Cambridge .a. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007. pp. 146-147) was an Indonesian politician and academic. Prijono was a leading figure of the

Murba Party Murba Party (, Proletarian Party) was a 'National communism, national communist' political party in Indonesia.Harold Crouch, Crouch, Harold A. The Army and Politics in Indonesia. Politics and international relations of Southeast Asia'. Ithaca, N.Y ...

and the Indonesian Peace Committee. Prijono served as Minister of Education and Culture between 1957 and 1966. He was one of the intellectual ideologues who surrounded President

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 ...

. In December 1954 he was awarded the

Stalin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel ...

.Australian Institute of International Affairs.
The Australian Outlook
', Volume 12-13. ydney Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1958. p. 265

Academic

Prijono studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and obtained a Ph.D. at the

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

(studying medieval

Javan Javan () was the fourth son of Noah's son Japheth according to the "Generations of Noah" (Book of Genesis, chapter 10) in the Hebrew Bible. Josephus states the traditional belief that this individual was the ancestor of the Greeks. Also servi ...

ese texts). In 1954 Prijono presented a proposal for a new orthography for Indonesian. Prijono suggested that letter combinations such as 'nj' and 'ng' be substituted with IPA characters. A similar orthography, 'Ejaan Kongres', was in use in Malaya. The Indonesian government appointed Prijono as chairman of a spelling commission. In 1960 Prijono's orthography was the basis of the MELINDO proposal for a joint Melayu-Indonesian orthography. The

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n and Indonesian government agreed to implement the MELINDO orthography, but the project fell into oblivion as relations between the two countries became increasingly hostile.

Minister

Prijono was appointed as Minister of Basic Education and Culture in the

Djuanda Cabinet The Djuanda Cabinet (), also known as the Working Cabinet (), was an Indonesian cabinet that served from 9 April 1957 until 10 July 1959, when it was dissolved by a President Sukarno's 1959 Decree, decree from President Sukarno. Background On 14 ...

formed in 1957. His appointment was met with opposition from anti-Communist sectors, who claimed that he was linked to 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 ...

.Lev, Daniel S.
The Transition to Guided Democracy: Indonesian Politics, 1957-1959
'. Jakarta: Equinox Publishing, 2009. p. 35 Prijono continued to serve as a minister in all cabinets until the end of the

period.Mujiburrahman.
Feeling Threatened: Muslim-Christian Relations in Indonesia's New Order
'. Leiden: ISIM, 2006. pp. 228-229 As a government minister, Prijono was frequently targeted by the army and Islamic organizations. In October 1960 Prijono introduced the principle of ''Pancawardhana'' ('five principles of development') in the primary and secondary education system. This was followed by Prijono's linking of ''Pancawardhana'' to the principle of ''Pancacita'' ('five loves') in February 1963. The secular ''Pancacita'' principle was developed by National Education Institute, an institution dominated by the Communist Party. However, Prijono's policies met with opposition from General Nasution.Bresnan, John.
At Home Abroad: A Memoir of the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, 1953-1973
'. Jakarta, Indonesia: Equinox, 2006. p. 43 From 1961 Prijono would share the Ministry of Education with Sjarif Thajeb (a high-ranking officer with links to Islamic organizations, Minister of Higher Education and Science). Prijono was pro-Soviet whilst Sjarif Thajeb was pro-American. And whilst Prijono promoted secularism in the primary and secondary education system, Sjarif Thajeb introduced compulsory classes on religion in the universities. Thus the wider political confrontation between the army and the Communist Party was reproduced within the walls of the Ministry of Education. During his government tenure, Prijono established various cultural institutions with the objective to promote new national and revolutionary culture. These institutions taught new worker-peasant folk dances and revolutionary songs. On March 16, 1966 Prijono was kidnapped by activists of the Islamic students movement KAPPI and Laskar militia. He was brought to the headquarters of

KOSTRAD The Army Strategic Reserve Command (; abbreviated Kostrad) is a combined-arms formation of the Indonesian Army. Kostrad is a Corps level command which has up to 35,000 troops. It also supervises operational readiness among all commands and con ...

Honour

Foreign honour

* : ** Honorary Commander of the

Order of the Defender of the Realm The Most Esteemed Order of the Defender of the Realm () is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country. The Order Motto are 'Dipeliharakan Allah-Pangkuan Negara' (By the Grace of God-Defender of the Realm). The o ...

(PMN (K)) - Tan Sri (1959)

References

{{Authority control Indonesian politicians 1907 births 1969 deaths Sukarno Stalin Peace Prize recipients Honorary commanders of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Leiden University alumni