Mr.

Besar Mertokusumo
Born(1894-07-08)July 8, 1894
Brebes, Dutch East Indies
DiedFebruary 23, 1980(1980-02-23) (aged 85)
Resting placeGiritama Cemetery, Bogor, Indonesia
NationalityIndonesian
Alma materLeiden University
OccupationAdvocate
SpouseRaden Ayu Majatoen
Children4

Besar Mertokusumo (also spelled Besar Martokusumo; 8 July 1894 – c. 1980) was an Indonesian advocate, said by Daniel S. Lev to be the first.

Early life and education

Mertokusumo was born in Brebes, Central Java, Dutch East Indies on 8 July 1894[1] to a prosecutor and his wife;[2] he was the first of two children. [3] He attended elementary school at a Europeesche Lagere School in Pekalongan, graduating in 1909.[1] He then attended the Rechtschool in Batavia, which he graduated in 1915;[1] there, he lived with numerous other Indonesian students under the supervision of a Dutchwoman, studying criminal law.[3] After several years as the Official Seconded (Dutch: Ambtenaar Ter Beschikking) at the Landraad (state court) in Pekalongan, he received a grant to go to Leiden, Netherlands, to study at Leiden University together with eleven others.[1][3] He graduated in 1922.[1]

After being refused equal legal status with the Dutch, Mertokusumo decided to become an advocate.[4] He later established a law firm in Tegal, not far from his family in Brebes;[5] at the time, there were few Dutch lawyers there.[6] Despite a lack of support from his family,[4] after a few years he was able to open a second branch in Semarang, attracting young lawyers to his firm with wages up to 600 gulden a month.[5]

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Mertokusumo served as the mayor of Tegal in April 1942; he was the first Native Indonesian mayor.[1] In 1944 he became the regent of Tegal Regency.[1] Towards the end of the Japanese occupation, he joined the Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence and became the Assistant Resident of Pekalongan.[1]

After independence, Mertokusumo served as secretary general of the Department of Justice.[1]

Mertokusumo died at age 86[7] on 23 February 1980.[8] He is buried in Giritama Cemetery, Bogor.[7]

Legacy

American scholar of Indonesia Daniel S. Lev has called Mertokusumo Indonesia's first advocate,[9] noting that he often represented poor Indonesian defendants in the Landraad, where they would be forced to sit on the floor.[5] Lev writes that Mertokusumo "broke the ice" for Indonesian advocates.[4]

On 17 August 1992, Mertokusumo received the Bintang Mahaputra posthumously for his legal work.[7]

Personal life

Mertokusumo was married to Raden Ayu Majatoen, with whom he had four children.[1]

References

Footnotes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bahari 2011, p. 16.
  2. ↑ Bahari 2011, p. 18.
  3. 1 2 3 Lev 2000, pp. 261–263.
  4. 1 2 3 Lev 2000, p. 265.
  5. 1 2 3 Bahari 2011, p. 17.
  6. ↑ Lev 2000, p. 264.
  7. 1 2 3 Bahari 2011, p. 19.
  8. ↑ "Makam Giritama". makamgiritama.com. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  9. ↑ Lev 2000, p. 261.
Bibliography


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.