Diponegoro

Diponegoro, also called Raden Mas Ontowirjo, (born c. 1785, Jogjakarta, Java [Indonesia]—died January 8, 1855, Makassar, Celebes), Javanese leader in the 19th-century conflict known to the West as the Java War and to Indonesians as Diponegoro’s War (1825–30). During those five years Diponegoro’s military accomplishments severely crippled the Dutch and earned for him a prominent place in the Indonesian nationalist pantheon of heroes.

The sultanate of Jogjakarta was created February 13, 1755, by a Dutch treaty that dismembered the once-powerful Javanese kingdom of Mataram. Although Diponegoro was the eldest son of the third ruler of Jogjakarta, Sultan Amangku Buwono III, he was passed over for the succession in 1814 on the death of his father in favour of a son whose mother was of higher rank, but he was promised the throne should his half brother predecease him. He was a deeply religious person who throughout that period lived in meditative seclusion, and historians disagree on whether he wanted the throne or whether he spurned it in favour of a contemplative life.

There is no doubt, however, that during the 1820s Diponegoro came into conflict with Dutch officials and by 1825 emerged as the leader of disaffected aristocrats in the Jogjakarta region. The Java War itself was triggered by a series of draconian land reforms that undercut the economic position of the Javanese aristocrats.

There were mystical overtones to the conflict as well, drawn from traditional Javanese and from Muslim sources. Diponegoro clearly was cast in the role of the Javanese ratu adil (“just prince”) come to save his people, but the struggle was also seen as a Muslim jihād (“holy war”) against the infidel Dutch. The outbreak of the war was accompanied by reports of revelations and prophecies and miraculous events.

Diponegoro had a strong following in the Jogjakarta region and launched a guerrilla war that was quite successful for nearly three years. In late 1828, however, Dutch forces won a major victory that proved the turning point in the war. Under Gen. H. Merkus de Kock, the Dutch proceeded to develop a system of small, mutually protecting outposts linked by good roads that enabled them to quell the natives’ guerrilla warfare. In 1830 Diponegoro agreed to meet with Dutch representatives for peace negotiations, but during the meeting he was arrested. He died in exile.