Prime Minister Sutan Syahrir

Prime Minister Sutan Syahrir.

Sutan Syahrir was an Indonesian intellectual, activist and independence leader who became the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia in 1945.

Sutan Syahrir was committed to finding a peaceful path to Indonesian independence, and on 26 November 1945 he broadcast an address to his ‘friends in Australia’ to thank them for their support in Indonesia’s struggle to uphold independence, after Dutch forces attempted to reassert power over the archipelago at the end of World War II.

In the speech, he thanked Australian dock workers who refused to load arms and munitions onto Dutch ships bound for Indonesia and the protesters who held rallies in support of Indonesian independence.