Johannes Leimena

Johannes Leimena (Often abbreviated as J. Leimana; 6 March 1905 – 29 March 1977), more colloquially referred to as Om Jo, was an Indonesian politician, physician, and national hero.

He was one of the longest-serving government ministers in Indonesia, and was the longest-serving under President Sukarno.

He filled the roles of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health.

Leimena was born in Ambon, Maluku, on 6 March 1905.

His father, Dominggus Leimena, was a substitute teacher in an elementary school in Ambon, and his mother, Elizabeth Sulilatu, also worked as a teacher.

Throughout his childhood, Leimena lived in the town of Ambon or at his parents' villages elsewhere on Ambon Island.

The Leimena family was descended from the local rajas from his father's home village of Ema, and like the rest of Ema, the Leimena family adhered to Christianity.

When Leimena was five years old, his father died and his mother remarried, leaving Leimena to live with his aunt (also an elementary school teacher) while his other siblings moved in with their stepfather.

As a child in Ambon, he enrolled in the Dutch language Ambonsche Burgerschool.

In 1914, Leimena moved to Cimahi, West Java; his aunt had been promoted to a principal of a school serving the children of Ambonese colonial troops stationed there.

After nine months, before Leimena had enrolled at that school, his aunt was reassigned to Batavia.

In Batavia, he initially enrolled at a Europeesche Lagere School elementary school, but moved to the more diverse Paul Krugerschool after some time.

He continued his studies at a Christian-only Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs.

Leimena's nationalist views deepened in the mid-1920s, as he became aware of Sukarno's founding of the Indonesian National Party and the nationalist aspirations of the Perhimpoenan Indonesia student organization in the Netherlands.

After graduating in 1922, his aunt ruled out enrolling at a Hogere Burgerschool, and Leimena did not qualify for the technical Koningin Wilhelmina School.

Leimena applied for jobs as a railway or postal officer, but was rejected by both.

Instead, he enrolled at the medical school STOVIA.

During his time at STOVIA, Leimena participated in youth organizations such as the Jong Ambon ("Ambonese Youth") and the Christen Studenten Vereniging ("Christian Students Association").

Leimena became a leading figure within the former, initially advocating neutrality for Jong Ambon in the background of competition between pro-independence and pro-Dutch Ambonese organizations.

He also joined the Theosophical Society, influenced by his Sumatran colleagues such as Amir Sjarifuddin and Mohammad Yamin.

He became involved in Indonesian nationalist movements through the Ambonese youth group Jong Ambon, and he took part in the two Youth Congresses in 1926 and 1928.

In 1926, Leimena was a committee member at the "First Youth Congress", and again in 1928's Second Youth Congress.

Outside of the nationalist movements, Leimena also took part in the ecumenical movement, which was taking root in Indonesia during his time at STOVIA.

In addition, he participated in the Christian ecumenical movement during his time at Batavia's medical school (STOVIA), from which he graduated in 1930.

After briefly working in a Batavian hospital, he moved to work at a missionary hospital in Bandung.

In 1941, he became a chief physician of hospitals in Purwakarta and Tangerang throughout the Japanese occupation, during which he was briefly arrested and imprisoned.

Following the proclamation of independence and the beginning of the Indonesian National Revolution, Leimena was appointed Deputy Health Minister, and later Health Minister.

He retained his ministerial position through nine different cabinets across six years, and was a member of the Indonesian delegations in the Linggadjati, Renville, and Roem–Van Roijen Agreements, as well as the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference.

An Ambonese Christian, he served in the People's Representative Council and the Constitutional Assembly during the 1950's, and was the chairman of the Indonesian Christian Party from 1951 until 1960.

Leimena was born in Ambon, Maluku, but he grew up in Cimahi and later Batavia (today Jakarta).

During this time, Leimena founded the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), and was elected the party's chairman in 1950.

He also participated in national Christian organizations such as the Communion of Churches in Indonesia.

During his tenure as Health Minister, Leimena envisioned a plan to provide preventive healthcare in rural areas, which, despite encountering difficulties during its 1954 implementation, became the precursor of the modern Puskesmas system.

Leimena became Deputy Prime Minister in 1957 and became one of Sukarno's closest aides.

During the 30 September Movement and the ensuing political shifts, Leimena was heavily affected, his own house being attacked on the night of the incident.

Leimena took part in many meetings to advise Sukarno, with some giving him credit for convincing Sukarno to take a course of action which avoided a civil war.

Witnessing the signing of the Supersemar, he lost his position as a government minister after Sukarno's fall.

Unlike many of his imprisoned colleagues, Leimena was still involved in politics, becoming a member of the Supreme Advisory Council until 1973.

He died in 1977, and his body was interred at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

In 2010, he was declared a National Hero of Indonesia by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.