Ismail Hasan Metareum was a politician from the United Development Party. He became the party's chairman from 1989 until 1998. He was also the vice chairman of the People's Representative Council from 1997 until 1999. He had served as the vice chairman of the People's Representative Council, vice chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, and as the second chairman of the United Development Party.
Etymology
The name Ismail was his given name. The middle name Hasan came from his father, Ben Hasan, and his last name was based on where he was born.
Early life
Ismail's grandfather, Panglima Ibrahim, was a military commander in Aceh. He was commanded by the Sultan of Aceh at that time, to attack the Dutch at that time. He also bring his son, Tengku Ben Hasan, which is the father of Ismail, to join him at the frontline. Unfortunately, due to the support of several local kingdom to the Dutch Army, Ibrahim lost the battle. The Sultan of Aceh was caught, and Ben Hasan along with several companions flee to Malaya via the Malacca Strait. In Malacca, Hasan chose to learn about Islam in a pesantren at Yan, which is organized by Tengku Tjhi'. After gaining knowledge, Hasan then returned to Aceh. In his return, Aceh was occupied by the Dutch, but Hasan was no longer in pursuit by the Dutch. Hasan then established a pesantren in Ismail. There, her wife, Hajah Hindun, give birth to Ismail Hasan Metareum on 4 April 1929. During his childhood, Ismail was taught in his father's pesantren, Meunasah Baro. He also studied in the People's School until he was 12 years old. After he finished his elementary studies, he was brought to Madrasah Sa'adah Abadiyah until he graduated in 1946 at the age of seventeen. Due to the location of his school, which was quite far from his house, Ismail left his family in 1944 to live in a pesantren located close to his school. During his studies at Sa'adah Abadiyah, the Japanese Army began occupying Aceh on March 13, 1942. The stationed Japanese troops, the Fujiwara Squad, promised to the people of Aceh that they would not violate the Sharia law. In reality, the Japanese Army forced students to dig trenches for the Japanese war causes. In Ismail's madrasah, his studies was not much disturbed by the Japanese. Ismail can continue his studies relatively smooth compared to other students at that time. One year prior to his graduation, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia on 17 August 1945. The warlords and rulers in Aceh urged their people to struggle for the independence. After his graduation, Ismail went to the Islamic Junior High School of Banda Aceh. Alongside his studies, Ismail joined the struggle for the independence, and he was appointed as the Head of the Staff Commando III of the Islamic Student Army until 1950. He also joined the Mujahiddin Warriors from 1945 until 1947, a similar organization to TPI. He graduated the school in 1949, on which the Indonesian sovereignty was recognized by the international world. In 1949, he left Banda Aceh for Jakarta. In the city, Ismail entered the General High School No. 3 in Central Jakarta. Here, Ismail was accepted as a 2nd grader, without him being as a 1st grade student first. During his studies, he frequently visited the presidential palace in Jakarta, where Sukarno give a political speech regularly every Saturday.
In the Muslim Student's Association (HMI)
Ismail became a student in the Law Faculty of the University of Indonesia in 1952. As a student that was previously active in Islamic youth movements, Ismail also observe the Muslim Student's Association, which one of the largest Muslim youth movement at that time. At first, he rejected the offer to enter the association, due to the acception of the chairman of HMI, Dahlan Ranumihardjo, to the speech of Sukarno. Sukarno was invited by Ranumihardjo to spoke about the vision of Indonesia and Islamic state. In his speech, Sukarno affronted the Islamic leaders of Masyumi, which Sukarno would later dissolve in 1960. Due to the incident, Ismail consider HMI as more oriented to nationalism, and were merely Islamic. Eventually, after given explanation by Dahlan, that he wasn't meant to accept Sukarno, Ismail became willing to enter HMI. In HMI, Ismail was chosen as the Vice Chairman of the HMI's branch in Jakarta, two years in his membership. A year later, he was chosen as the vice chairman of HMI for the 1955–1957 term, and later as the chairman of the organization until 1960. During his tenure as the chairman of HMI, Sukarno bring up the Nasakom concept, which allowed communist organization to spread. To cope with the situation, HMI united with other Islamic organizations to counter communist ideology in Indonesia. The union was in the form of the Union of Indonesian Islamic Youth Organizations, on which Ismail was active in it. To align views of Islam against communism, Ismail was also asked by the Minister of Religion at that time, Wahid Hasyim, to read out a statement rejecting communism in Islam.
Ismail entered Parmusi, which was the continuation of Masyumi, in 1967. He entered the party prior to the official approval of the party. During the first years of the party, it struggles to consolidate with the grassroots. To help the consolidation, in May 1967, Ismail met several of his friends, Omar Tusin and Hasbullah, to resolve the problem. The three then agreed to met with the former members of Masyumi in a villa on Puncak, owned by Tusin. The meeting resulted in the former members of Masyumi to support Parmusi. Ismail was later chosen as the member of the party's executive committee, representing Muslim Student's Association.
Coup
In 1970, the executives of Parmusi held a meeting in order to choose the party's representation in the General Elections Institution. The meeting was held in Central Java, with Djarnawi Hadikusuma, the chairman of the party, Ismail, and several other figures attending it. The company was surprised when they received a radio report from Jakarta, that reported that a coup to the party, led by, Jailani Naro and Imran Kadir, had overthrown the leadership of the party. Djarnawi quickly left Central Java for Jakarta, only to see that the party's headquarter had been occupied. Both parties claimed themselves as the legitimate executive of the party, but finally both agreed to hand the conflict to the government. The government appointed Mintaredja as the chairman of the party. Even though Ismail was in the other camp, he maintained good relationship with Mintaredja.
