ID :
27880
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 07:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/27880
The shortlink copeid
SELF-CONFESSED INDEPENDENCE HERO TO VISIT BLITAR WITH SAFETY GUARANTEE
Blitar, Indonesia, Oct 31 (ANTARA) - Andaryoko Wisnuprabu, an 89-year-old Semarang resident who claims to be the long-missing national independence figure Supriyadi, has asked for a guarantee for his personal safety to attend a book review function in Blitar on Saturday (Nov 1), a member of the event's organizing committee said.
In compliance with Wisnuprabu's request, Blitar police would assign one platoon of officers and a number of plainclothes personnel to guard the venue of the book review gathering, according to the Blitar police chief.
Wisnubrabu triggered a public controversy in August 2008 when he suddenly made the sensational claim that he was in reality Supriyadi, an officer in Peta (Pembela Tanah Air or Defenders of the Motherland), an all-Indonesian military self-defense force formed and trained by the Japanese military occupying Indonesia during World War II, who eventually led a rebellion against the Japanese in Blitar.
The uprising was quelled and a number of Peta members involved in it were courtmartialled by the Japanese but Supriadi himself had disappeared and his fate remained unknown ever since. Yet, when the country's first president, Soekarno, formed his first cabinet in 1945, he named Supriyadi as defense minister.
Farhan Mahmudi of the committee organizing the book review session said the book to be reviewed was titled "In search of Supriyadi, Testimony of Bung Karno's Chief Aide" and written by Baskara T Wardaya.
Wisnubrabu had been invited to the event sponsored by
Lakpesdam NU and Sitas Desa to give his views on the book, and he had accepted the invitation on condition his personal safety was guaranteed, Mahmudi said.
He said the event was to be staged in an attempt to establish the real historical facts about Supriyadi whose role in the Blitar uprising had earned him the reputation of a hero despite his subsequent disappearance.
Mahmudi said the committee had also invited a younger brother of Supriyadi who lived in Blitar to attend the book review function.
Meanwile, the chief of the Blitar district police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yosafat Sunaryanto, said a platoon of police and a number of plainclothes officers would be deployed at the Bung Karno National Library building where the book review gathering is to take place.
In compliance with Wisnuprabu's request, Blitar police would assign one platoon of officers and a number of plainclothes personnel to guard the venue of the book review gathering, according to the Blitar police chief.
Wisnubrabu triggered a public controversy in August 2008 when he suddenly made the sensational claim that he was in reality Supriyadi, an officer in Peta (Pembela Tanah Air or Defenders of the Motherland), an all-Indonesian military self-defense force formed and trained by the Japanese military occupying Indonesia during World War II, who eventually led a rebellion against the Japanese in Blitar.
The uprising was quelled and a number of Peta members involved in it were courtmartialled by the Japanese but Supriadi himself had disappeared and his fate remained unknown ever since. Yet, when the country's first president, Soekarno, formed his first cabinet in 1945, he named Supriyadi as defense minister.
Farhan Mahmudi of the committee organizing the book review session said the book to be reviewed was titled "In search of Supriyadi, Testimony of Bung Karno's Chief Aide" and written by Baskara T Wardaya.
Wisnubrabu had been invited to the event sponsored by
Lakpesdam NU and Sitas Desa to give his views on the book, and he had accepted the invitation on condition his personal safety was guaranteed, Mahmudi said.
He said the event was to be staged in an attempt to establish the real historical facts about Supriyadi whose role in the Blitar uprising had earned him the reputation of a hero despite his subsequent disappearance.
Mahmudi said the committee had also invited a younger brother of Supriyadi who lived in Blitar to attend the book review function.
Meanwile, the chief of the Blitar district police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yosafat Sunaryanto, said a platoon of police and a number of plainclothes officers would be deployed at the Bung Karno National Library building where the book review gathering is to take place.
