This political biography recounts the extraordinary life of a forgotten figure in the Indonesian National Revolution (1945-1949): Max Alkadrie (1913-1978), Sultan Hamid II of Pontianak.
His most important legacy is his design of the Indonesian coat of arms, the Garuda Pancasila.
A child of the Dutch East Indies colony: aristocratic and of Muslim Arab-Malay descent, Hamid was born in West Kalimantan, yet European and Christian raised in Java. He served as an officer in the colonial army (KNIL). After the Japanese occupation, crowned a sultan he got involved in Indonesian state formation. He was both pro-Dutch and an Indonesian nationalist and became leader of the Indonesian federalists. After the transfer of sovereignty, he designed the national coat of arms. He fell from grace shortly thereafter and remained out of historiography.
His hybrid background and upbringing connected him to various ethnic, cultural, social, religious, and political groups. His life...
Show moreThis political biography recounts the extraordinary life of a forgotten figure in the Indonesian National Revolution (1945-1949): Max Alkadrie (1913-1978), Sultan Hamid II of Pontianak.
His most important legacy is his design of the Indonesian coat of arms, the Garuda Pancasila.
A child of the Dutch East Indies colony: aristocratic and of Muslim Arab-Malay descent, Hamid was born in West Kalimantan, yet European and Christian raised in Java. He served as an officer in the colonial army (KNIL). After the Japanese occupation, crowned a sultan he got involved in Indonesian state formation. He was both pro-Dutch and an Indonesian nationalist and became leader of the Indonesian federalists. After the transfer of sovereignty, he designed the national coat of arms. He fell from grace shortly thereafter and remained out of historiography.
His hybrid background and upbringing connected him to various ethnic, cultural, social, religious, and political groups. His life story bears clear resemblances to the highly segregated colonial state that shaped him and his position, which makes him historically interesting. His biography tells a broader story about Indonesia's colonial past, its decolonization, and its aftermath after independence. It demonstrates how the plurality of the archipelago influenced the decolonization process.
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