Djuanda Kartawidjaja

Djuanda Kartawidjaja (EYD: Juanda Kartawijaya; 14 January 1911 – 7 November 1963), more commonly referred to mononymously as Djuanda, was an Indonesian politician and technocrat who held various positions during the presidency of Sukarno, most notably as prime minister of Indonesia and a cabinet minister in several cabinets.

Born into a noble ethnic Sundanese family, he graduated in engineering at the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng in Bandung.

He then worked as a teacher and later an engineer.

Djuanda Kartawidjaja was born on 14 January 1911, in Tasikmalaya, Preanger Regencies Residency, Dutch East Indies (now Tasikmalaya Regency, Indonesia).

His family was of ethnic Sundanese noble descent.

His father, Raden Kartawidjaja, was a young teacher, while his mother, Nyi Monat, was a housewife.

He also has 3 brothers and 2 sisters.

In his childhood, Djuanda Kartawidjaja went to elementary school at the Hogere Burger School (HBS).

Then he transferred to the Europesche Lagere School (ELS).

After that, he continued to the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng (now the Bandung Institute of Technology), majoring in civil engineering.

While a student, he was also active in non-political organizations such as the Paguyuban Pasundan and Muhammadiyah organizations.

He graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1933.

He became a teacher at a Muhammadiyah Islamic School in Batavia (now Jakarta), eventually becoming the principal of the school.

In 1937, he became an engineer in the West Java Water Conservancy Bureau.

In 1939, he became a senior advisor to the bureau.

In addition, he also actively participated in the work of the Batavia Municipal Council.

In 1942, the Japanese Empire invaded and occupied the Dutch East Indies.

The Japanese changed Batavia to its current name Jakarta.

In the same year, Juanda participated in the Jakarta City Council election but was not elected.

In 1943, the Japanese appointed Indonesian advisors (sanyo) to the administration and appointed nationalist leader Sukarno leader of a new Central Advisory Board (Chuo Sani-kai) in Jakarta.

On 7 August, the day after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (Indonesian: Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia) or PPKI was established.

Sukarno was chairman, and Mohammad Hatta as vice chairman.

Following the proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, he joined the newly-formed Republican government and served in several cabinets, mostly in economic portfolios.

On 19 August 1945, this body created 12 ministries for Indonesia's first cabinet, the Presidential cabinet.

Juanda was known as the "marathon minister."

In the first 16 cabinets of Indonesia, he has been in the cabinet 12 times, mainly serving as Minister of Transport or Minister of Economy.

He joined Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir ’s second cabinet (formed in March 1946) as a junior minister of the Ministry of Communications.

In the third cabinet of Sjahrir, he joined the cabinet again and was promoted to minister of transportation.

Apart from being the Minister of Transportation, he also held other strategic positions, including the Minister of Water, Prosperity, Finance and Defense.

He was also trusted to lead Dutch negotiations, one of which was negotiations at the Round Table Conference.

During the conference, Djuanda was sent to be the Chair of the Economic and Finance Committee for the Indonesian Delegation.

In the negotiations, the Netherlands officially recognized the independence of the Indonesian government.

In 1957, Djuanda was appointed prime minister by Sukarno following the inability of the parties to form a cabinet.

As prime minister, he is remembered for his role in proclaiming the Djuanda Declaration.

In 1959, Sukarno appointed himself prime minister but retained Djuanda as first minister with much the same duties as before.

He died in 1963.

Djuanda's death and the abolition of the post of Prime Minister in the Indonesian Republican system allowed far greater power to be exercised by the President, now being given full ruling power with minimal oversight, as both Head of State and Head of Government.

This had an enormous impact on Indonesian politics, allowing the constitutional legality of the autocracy of Sukarno and Suharto, also contributing to the absence of an economic policy in the later years of Sukarno's Guided Democracy.

Since his death, various landmarks have been named in his honor, including Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, and Juanda railway station in Jakarta.

He is also depicted in the recent 2016 edition of Rp 50,000 Indonesian rupiah banknotes.