Japanese Silence on Proclamation News, Surabaya Youth Outsmart It Using Madurese Language
KOMPAS.com - Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, did not mean that news of the birth of the Republic was immediately heard throughout the country.
After the proclamation was read, the Japanese continued to try to control the flow of information to prevent the news of independence from spreading widely. However, the more strongly they tried to block it, the more the people found ways to pass it on.
Amid the tense situation, young people played a crucial role. They not only spread news of independence but also boldly defied Japanese regulations through various street actions.
In Surabaya, for example, this spirit was evident in the seizure of weapons and the raising of the Red and White flag.
Shortly after Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta read the Proclamation, efforts were immediately made to disseminate the news of independence. One way was through radio broadcasts. However, this effort did not run smoothly.
The Domei news agency, one of the channels for spreading information, was sealed and shut down by the Japanese.
With that route blocked, the broadcast of independence news was then carried out via radio from Menteng 31.
For the Japanese, controlling the news meant maintaining control over the situation. Conversely, for the Indonesian people, the proclamation news became something that had to be passed on. This is where the resistance unfolded not only with weapons but also through information.
One interesting story from Surabaya is that on the evening of Saturday, August 18, 1945, around 7 p.m., Djakfar Brotoatmodjo, who served as a radio newsreader in Surabaya, tried to find a way for the proclamation news to slip past Japanese oversight.
He opened the broadcast with a recording of the Javanese gamelan gong beaten 15 times. After that, the proclamation text was read in Madurese, following the usual style of radio broadcasts.
This method successfully deceived Japanese censors who did not understand Madurese.
That night, news of independence began to move from the radio to the streets and villages. The next day, Madurese traders helped spread the news to people who had yet to hear it.
Information that was initially suppressed eventually found another path to reach the people.
Before the proclamation, news of Japanβs defeat to the Allies had already sparked a change in the atmosphere.
In Surabaya, news of Japanese defeat was known around August 15, 1945, although at first the spread of this news was strictly forbidden.
