Anak Agung Bagus Suteja


Anak Agung Bagus Suteja was the first governor of Bali, appointed by President Sukarno in 1958, when Bali became a province.He was the son of the last Raja of Jembrana, Anak Agung Bagus Negara.
Anak Agung Bagus Suteja was influenced by nationalist ideas from his school years. After August 1945 he was actively involved with the Republicans in the Indonesian Revolution that strove to expel the Dutch. The Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him in 1948–49. After Indonesian independence he was appointed regional head of Bali by President Sukarno. As an administrator he was known as an incorruptible leftist idealist. Known as a "favoured son" of Sukarno, he was appointed governor when Bali when became a province of its own in 1958. He tried to stay above politics, but was sympathetic towards the Communist Party of Indonesia. After the coup events in Jakarta in 1965, Suteja was summoned to Jakarta for consultations, and replaced as governor in December that year. On 29 July 1966, four fully-armed soldiers came to his house in Senayan, South Jakarta saying they were taking him to meet with an infantry colonel. He said goodbye to his family, and was never seen again. His political opponent, the Indonesian National Party, subsequently claimed that Suteja had opted for nyupat, or voluntary execution, in a effort to end the violence then sweeping Bali, and was stabbed to death outside Jakarta.