Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati

Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati (new spelling: Cokorda Gde Raka Sukawati), (15 January 1899 in Ubud, Gianyar, Bali – 1967) was the only President of the State of East Indonesia from 1946 to its disestablishment in 1950.

Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati
1st President of the State of East Indonesia
In office
24 December 1946 – 17 August 1950
Prime MinisterNadjamoeddin Daeng Malewa
Warouw
Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung
J.E. Tatengkeng
D.P. Diapari
J. Poetoehena
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born(1899-01-15)15 January 1899
Ubud, Gianyar, Bali, Dutch East Indies
Died1967
Indonesia
Spouse(s)Gusti Agung Niang Putu
Gilberte Vincent

Biography

His title Tjokorda Gde indicates that Soekawati belonged to the highest ksatria (one of the four noble castes in Bali).

In his young years, Soekawati attended a school for Indonesian officials. In 1918 he was an official Indonesian candidate appointed by the Bandung auditors. At the end of the same year he was mantripolitie (a title for indigenous officials) to Denpasar. In 1919, he had political ambitions and was promoted to Punggawa (district) of his birthplace Ubud. In 1924 he was elected member of the People's Council, which he held until 1927.[1] Then, in the same year, he was a member of the board of delegates of the People's Council. At the end of 1931 he went to study in Europe. In 1932 he continued his journey to the Netherlands to study agriculture and animal husbandry.

Between 18 and 24 December 1946, he attended the conference in Denpasar and was chosen as interim president of the State of East Indonesia. The conference also led to the formation of the Provisional Parliament of East Indonesia.[2] On 21 April 1950, he successfully negotiated East Indonesia's integration into a unitary Republic of Indonesia, heeding majority support for a unitary state.[2]

He had a Balinese wife Gusti Agung Niang Putu of which a son was born Tjokorda Ngurah Wim Sukawati. In 1933 Tjokorda Raka married a French woman named Gilberte Vincent with whom he had two sons.

Notes
  1. Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati, Legende over den oorsprong van de rijst en Godsdienstige gebruiken bij den rijstbouw onder de Baliërs, Cincinnati, OH: Albrecht & Co, 1926, pp 364, 460
  2. George McTurnan Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1952, pp 364, 460

Sources in Dutch
  • Hoe de Baliër zich kleedt (1926),p. 12
  • Kraemer, Hendrik (1933). De strijd over Bali en de zending. Amsterdam: H.J. Paris.
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