Wikana

Wikana (16 October 1914 – 1966) was an Indonesian minister and independence leader.

He was one of the youths who forced Sukarno and Hatta to declare independence immediately after the surrender of the Japanese.

He was the first Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sport (although in his era the office was called Minister of State for Youth Affairs).

He was a member of the Indonesian Communist Party.

Wikana was born on 16 October 1914 in Sumedang.

He was the fourteenth child of sixteen.

His father was Raden Haji Soelaiman, from Demak, and his mother was Nonoh.

His brother was Winanta, an exile to Boven Digul, according to Soemarsono, one of youth leaders generation '45.

Wikana attended a Dutch-speaking Europeesch Lagere School (ELS) and continued his study to a Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs school (MULO).

After graduating from MULO, Wikana became a contributor to theBandung weekly Fikiran Rakjat

According to Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) member Trikoyo Ramidjo, Wikana was a member of the party since the 1930s.

He also was a member of the Bandung branch of Partai Indonesia (Partindo).

In 1935, Wikana went to Surabaya to head the Masjarakat Baroe weekly.

In 1938 he went to Jakarta to take charge of the Kebangoenan daily.

In the same year, he was elected second secretary of Gerindo (Indonesian People's Movement) and chairman of its youth section, Barisan Pemuda Gerindo (Gerindo Youth Wing).

In October 1938, Wikana, Amir Sjarifuddin, Asmara Hadi, dan A.M. Sipahutar became the editorial board of political monthly magazine Toedjoean Rakjat.

Wikana also contributed to Menara Merah (Red Tower), an illegal PKI newssheet, and was responsible for the paper's circulation in West Java.

In June 1940, he together with Adam Malik and Amir Sjarifuddin was suspected by colonial government after a copy of Menara Merah was discovered.

Along with Adam Malik and Pandu Kartawiguna, he was charged with distributing the newspaper and arrested.

After the Dutch colonial government surrendered to the Japanese imperial army, Wikana was released from Cilacap prison.

Around September or October 1944, Wikana offered Sjahrir a job as a lecturer at the Asrama Indonesia Merdeka, a school for Indonesian youths who had not graduated from high school.

The school was supported and supervised by two Japanese, Yoshizumi Tomegoro and Nishijima Shigetada and opened in December 1944 in Jakarta.

Besides Wikana and Sjahrir, the teachers were Sukarno, Hatta, Subardjo, Iwa Kusumantri, Soediro and Sjahrir.

On 14 August 1945, a group of youths held a meeting in the Bacteriological Laboratory in Pegangsaan after the news of the Japanese surrender spread.

The result was Wikana with some other youths being sent to convince Sukarno to proclaim Indonesian independence.

They left the lab and were on their way to the office of the Japanese Navy when they met Achmad Soebardjo, Iwa Kusumantri, Buntaran, and Samsi.

After some talks, the youths proceeded to Sukarno's house at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur 56.

After an argument with Sukarno, Wikana said to him, "If Bung Karno will not declare this proclamation, tomorrow there will be murder and bloodshed."

Sukarno answered, "Here is my throat! Drag me into a corner, finish me off tonight! Don't wait till tomorrow."

According to Sukarno in his autobiography Bung Karno Penyambung Lidah Rakyat, he refused to comply with Wikana's demand because he felt that they were not ready if they had to fight against the Japanese army physically.

However, according to Poeze, Sukarno refused because he did not want to leave the members of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence who were in Jakarta for a meeting.

The debate became heated after Mohammad Hatta joined, invited by Soebardjo.

Hatta said that the surrender news was not official yet and that he did not want the declaration to lead to chaos.

Wikana then said that the youths had enough power to fight back Japanese physically.

Hatta answered if the young men wanted to declare independence immediately they should declare it themselves.

Wikana replied that he and the youths did not want to be responsible for any consequences if the declaration were not made immediately.

In the early hours of the morning, Wikana and other youths, including Chaerul Salh kidnapped Sukarno and Hatta and took them to Rengasdengklok to try to force them to declare independence.

After pressure from the Japanese authorities, Wikana made arrangements for the men to be returned to Jakarta in exchange for a guarantee that the Japanese would not interfere in a proclamation.

The following day, Sukarno proclaimed independence in Jakarta

Sometime after the 1965 coup d'état attempt, he was arrested and went missing, it is supposed that he was one of the assassinated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66.