The Dark History of the Republic of South Maluku Rebellion

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JAKARTA – The Republic of South Maluku (RMS) rebellion cannot be separated from this part of Indonesia’s dark history. After Indonesia became independent, this country experienced many internal conflicts, one of which was the rebellion in Maluku.

A separatist movement was proclaimed by Christian Robert Steven Soumokil, former Attorney General in the State of Eastern Indonesia, on April 25 1950, or exactly 76 years ago.

This movement was born from the desire of several parties to maintain the State of Eastern Indonesia (NIT) as a federated state, especially after the Round Table Conference.

Summarized from various sources, not long after the closed meeting on April 13 1950, where Soumokil met with various parties in Ambon, the proclamation of the founding of the RMS was announced.

On 25 April 1950, JH Manuhutu was appointed President and Albert Wairisal as Prime Minister in the new RMS government.

The Indonesian government tried to resolve this conflict peacefully by sending J. Leimena. However, when these peace efforts failed, the government finally sent an expeditionary force under the leadership of Alex Kawilarang.