Committee For Preparatory Work For Indonesian Independence - Plenary Meetings

Plenary Meetings

The BPUPKI held two plenary meetings: 29 May - 1 June and 10 June - 17 July 1945. In May, the committee convened and was first chaired by Dr. Radjiman Wediodiningrat. Other notable members included Sukarno, Hatta, Yamin, Wahid Hasyim and the Indo (Eurasian) P.F.Dahler. Sutomo advocated national integration as opposed to personal individualism. Muhammad Yamin advocated the new nation state should not only include all the territories of the Dutch East Indies, but also include Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, and Portuguese Timor. Yamin further suggested ignoring international law and declaring all ocean areas between islands as Indonesian territorial waters. His nationalistic viewpoints were grounded in the history and territorial claims of the Majapahit Empire, but also the general appeal to unite all peoples of racial and cultural Malay backgrounds.

During the following BPUPKI session in July, a constitution for Indonesia was drafted. Hatta opposed Yamin's viewpoints, and even suggested that West Papua might be excluded from the new republic. Sukarno backed Yamin's nationalistic unitary statements. Haji Agus Salim proposed people in the British and Portuguese colonies could vote on whether to join Indonesia. Ultimately a committee majority votes to include Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Portuguese Timor, as well as the whole of the Dutch East Indies.

The committee endorsed Sukarno's Pancasila (politics) philosophy as the foundation of the new state.