Johannes Leimena


Johannes Leimena was an Indonesian politician and physician who is a National Hero of Indonesia. He was one of the longest-serving government ministers in Indonesia, most prominently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and as Minister of Health under President Sukarno. He also served in the People's Representative Council and the Constitutional Assembly. A Christian, he was a member of the Indonesian Christian Party and served as its chairman between 1950 and 1961.
Leimena originated in Ambon, Maluku to teacher parents, and as a child moved to Cimahi and later Batavia where he pursued further studies. He became involved in Indonesian nationalist movements through the Ambonese youth group Jong Ambon, taking part in the two Youth Congresses. In addition, he participated in the Christian ecumenical movement during his time at Batavia's STOVIA, from which he graduated in 1930. He briefly worked in a Batavian hospital before moving to work at a missionary hospital in Bandung until 1941. He later became chief physician of hospitals in Purwakarta and Tangerang throughout the Japanese occupation period, during which he was briefly arrested and imprisoned.
He was appointed Deputy Health Minister, and later Health Minister, during the Indonesian National Revolution. He would retain his minister position through nine different cabinets across six years. Outside of this post, he participated in delegations in the Linggadjati, Renville, and Roem–Van Roijen Agreements, and the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference. He also became a founding member of Parkindo during this period, later elected chairman in 1950, and in various national Christian organizations. As a Health Minister, Leimena envisioned a plan to provide preventive healthcare in rural areas, which despite encountering difficulties during its 1954 implementation preceded the modern Puskesmas system. Leimena became Deputy Prime Minister in 1957 and became one of President Sukarno's closest aides. He was also distribution minister since 1957. During the 30 September Movement and the ensuing political shifts, Leimena was heavily involved, his house being attacked on the night of the incident and Leimena took part in many key meetings to advise Sukarno on the course of action. He was a witness to the signing of the Supersemar, and after Sukarno's fall, Leimena lost his position as a government minister although he was still involved in politics for some time.

Early life

Leimena was born in Ambon, Maluku, on 6 March 1905. His father Dominggus Leimena was a substitute teacher in an elementary school in Ambon, and his mother Elizabeth Sulilatu also worked as a teacher. Throughout his childhood, Leimena would live in the town of Ambon, or at his parents' origin villages elsewhere in Ambon Island. The Leimena family was descended from the local rajas at his father's home village of Ema, and like the rest of Ema, the Leimena family adhered to Christianity. When Leimena was five years old, his father died and his mother remarried, leaving Leimena to live with his aunt while his other siblings moved in with their stepfather. As a child in Ambon, he enrolled in the Dutch language Ambonsche Burgerschool.
In 1914, Leimena moved to Cimahi, West Java, following his aunt whom had been promoted to a principal of a school serving the children of Ambonese colonial troops stationed there. After nine months, before Leimena had enrolled at that school, his aunt was reassigned to Batavia. In Batavia, he initially enrolled at an ELS elementary school, but moved to the more diverse Paul Krugerschool after some time. He then continued his studies at a Christian-only MULO. After graduating MULO in 1922, his aunt ruled out enrolling at a HBS, and Leimena did not qualify for the technical Koningin Wilhelmina School. Leimena applied for jobs as a railway or postal officer, but was rejected by both, and he eventually managed to enroll at the medicine school STOVIA.
During his time at STOVIA, Leimena participated in youth organizations such as the Jong Ambon and the Christen Studenten Vereniging. Leimena became a leading figure within the former, initially advocating neutrality for Jong Ambon in the background of competition between pro-independence and pro-Dutch Ambonese organizations. He also joined the Theosophical Society, influenced by his Sumatran colleagues such as Amir Sjarifuddin and Mohammad Yamin. Leimena's nationalist views heavily developed in the mid-1920s, as he became aware of Sukarno's founding of the Indonesian National Party and the nationalist aspirations of the Perhimpoenan Indonesia student organization in the Netherlands. In 1926, Leimena took part as a committee member at the "First Youth Congress", and again in 1928's Second Youth Congress. Outside of the nationalist movements, Leimena also took part in the ecumenical movement which during his time at STOVIA was taking root in Indonesia. He graduated from STOVIA as a doctor in 1930.

Career

Dutch colonial period

After his graduation, Leimena first worked at Batavia's Centraal Burgerlijke Ziekenhuis, but he did not work there long as he moved to Bandung where he worked at the Zending Imanuel hospital until 1941. There, he had been promoted to manage the education of new nurses by 1936, and he worked with a number of clinics affiliated with the hospital from the surrounding region. During this time, due to locals' concerns about religious conversions due to treatment in a missionary hospital, Leimena initiated a referral systems whereas polyclinics led by mantri in villages around Bandung would provide preventive care.
He received a medical degree in 1939 from Batavia's Medical College, specializing in liver diseases. In 1941, after a decade of working in Bandung, he became chief physician at the Banyu Asin hospital at Purwakarta. In the aftermath of Japanese takeover of Indonesia, the hospital at Purwakarta was briefly occupied by the Japanese before Leimena could return to his work. In 1943, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Japanese military, likely either due to his links with Amir Sjarifuddin or his treatment of injured Dutch soldiers after the Battle of Kalijati. He was held for six months and suffered beatings during his incarceration. He was released after he helped in treating the illness of a Kenpeitai officer who suffered from malaria.

Revolution and RMS

When the Indonesian National Revolution broke out, Leimena had been working at a hospital in Tangerang. He accepted an offer to become a Junior Minister for Health in the Second Sjahrir Cabinet formed in 1946, under Health Minister Darma Setiawan. Leimena was first appointed as a full health minister in the First Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinet, which was formed on 3 July 1947. He retained the post for the rest of the revolution and several years after, until 1953 when the Wilopo Cabinet collapsed for a total of eight cabinets. Leimena was also a founding member of the Indonesian Christian Party, being appointed as part of the leadership committee upon Parkindo's formation in September 1947. He would later be elected as Parkindo's chairman following the party's 3rd Congress on 6–9 April 1950.
Beyond his cabinet position, Leimena agreed to chair the Pemuda Indonesia Maluku, a pro-Indonesian Ambonese organization formed by Johannes Latuharhary. While both Leimena and Latuharhary were respected, they held little control over PIM's activities. Leimena was initially based in Jakarta in the early days of the revolution, but moved alongside the rest of Sjahrir's cabinet in 1946 to Yogyakarta as Jakarta was being increasingly controlled by the Dutch. Leimena was an important member of the Indonesian negotiating team in agreements with the Dutch. He was part of the Indonesian delegation to the Linggadjati Agreement of November 1946, and the Renville Agreement of January 1948. After the Dutch Operation Kraai Leimena evaded capture and attended talks in Jakarta with representatives from the federal states of the United States of Indonesia in January 1949. During the Roem–Van Roijen Agreement, Leimena also participated in negotiations, and he further participated in the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference in Den Haag, leading Indonesia's military delegation.
When the South Maluku Republic was declared in Ambon in the aftermath of the Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty, Leimena was dispatched to Ambon to lead the Indonesian government's initial negotiating party with RMS leaders aboard the corvette Hang Tuah. While Leimena attempted to convince RMS leaders in Ambon and Saparua to come aboard Hang Tuah to negotiate, the leaders refused, wanting to negotiate on board neutral vessels while under United Nations supervision. Additionally, the RMS leaders wanted to be recognized as representatives of an independent state, a request that was refused. Leimena had initially intended to travel to Ambon aboard a KNIL aircraft, but this was overridden by the Defense Minister at that time. After further attempts at negotiation failed, tensions continued to rise between the Indonesian government and RMS, with another attempt in June endorsed by Leimena failing due to difficulty in securing transport. A last-ditch attempt at establishing contact was attempted by sending Leimena to Namlea on 27 September, reportedly giving him wide authority in the negotiations including amnesty and autonomy for the region, but the mission was interrupted by TNI's landings in Ambon the day after.

Post-war health minister

Due to underinvestment in public health during the Dutch colonial period, military takeover of health infrastructure during the Japanese occupation coupled with general malnutrition, and disruptions by the military actions during the Revolution, the Indonesian public health sector in 1949 had failed to become what had been envisioned by nationalist leaders. Leimena viewed public health as a necessity in the reconstruction of Indonesia and in socioeconomic development, and during his time as health minister he put significant efforts into preventive healthcare and hygiene in rural Indonesia. This was directly in contrast to the pre-independence Dutch health policy, which focused on healthcare in urban areas.
In 1950, the municipal government of Bandung initiated a project based on missionary hospital networks, whereas an urban central hospital would be supported by a number of smaller clinics in surrounding villages. The hospital and the clinics would be run under a singular system, directed by a head physician at the regency level. This program, dubbed the "Bandung Plan", received strong support from Leimena, and was strongly inspired by Leimena's experience at the Imanuel Hospital. Bandung Plan was initially slated to be launched across Indonesia in 1954, but encountered administrative bottlenecks and financial constraints. Another important factor with the implementation was a lack of doctors – the growing requirements dictated by a significant expansion of healthcare services encountered a declining number of doctors due to European doctors leaving Indonesia and many local doctors leaving their practice after their revolutionary careers in military or politics. Despite the aforementioned issues, the Bandung Plan became the basis of the Puskesmas system established in the late 1960s.
Three laws related to healthcare, presented to the government by Leimena's ministry, were passed in June 1951. These laws required new doctors and dentists to work for the government for three years before being allowed to open a practice, permitted the government to ban new private practices in certain areas, and authorized the government to requisition private doctor services during times of crisis. Leimena in 1952 also announced that medical practice was designated specifically for qualified doctors, hence excluding auxiliary medical personnel from opening their own practices. He also formed the Public Food Board, which advised the general public on nutrition.
Under a fellowship from the World Health Organization, Leimena travelled to Europe in 1953, where he observed the healthcare systems of Norway, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia. He further went to Egypt, India and Singapore, where he also attended lectures and discussions in addition to observing existing health services. The Norwegian system, whereas nutrition and working conditions, especially left an impression for Leimena. Leimena had concerns regarding foreign aid being used to influence Indonesian foreign policy and politics through terms and conditions, and called for unconditional aid for health services from developed countries. Leimena's first tenure as health minister came to an end on 30 July 1953, though he still served another few months as Health Minister under the Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinet.
During the last months of the Harahap cabinet, Leimena was dispatched to Geneva to negotiate regarding the West Irian issue. While the delegation managed to secure Dutch recognition of the dissolution of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union, and gained some concessions on bilateral financial and economic agreements, domestic political pressure resulted in most of the delegation being called home. Leimena, who stayed in Geneva, apparently intended to resign and reportedly said that he felt like "a fisherman who has caught something and is told to throw it back into the water". After the Harahap Cabinet's collapse, Ali Sastroamidjojo intentionally excluded all ministers who served the entire length of the Harahap cabinet, including Leimena, from his cabinet. At that time, Leimena had also been elected as a member of the People's Representative Council representing Maluku in the 1955 elections. He was then appointed into the Constitutional Assembly of Indonesia, as a deputy speaker, until he became inactive due to further appointment as minister.
Aside from his work as health minister, Leimena also participated in the newly formed Communion of Churches in Indonesia. He was elected its deputy chairman in 1950, and he remained in that position until 1964, when he instead became an honorary chairman until his death. He also founded the Indonesian Christian Student Movement in 1950.

Djuanda Cabinet and Guided Democracy

After the collapse of the Second Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet in 1957, Leimena took a position where he stated that further collapses of cabinets could only be prevented by a more inclusive government, including political parties and groups previously excluded. Within the Djuanda Cabinet which started on 9 April 1957, Leimena was initially appointed as Social Minister, but by that year as well he was relieved from that post and instead became a Deputy Prime Minister. Leimena joined the "National Council" which was formed in May 1957, and late in 1957, Leimena was also appointed into a "Committee of Seven" intended to manage undergoing issues with the Indonesian Army. Other members of the committee were Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Djuanda Kartawidjaja, Abdul Haris Nasution, Hamengkubuwono IX, and Azis Saleh. Leimena was a loyalist of Sukarno, including after Sukarno's 1959 Decree. During 1957–1959, he largely passed over the work of being Parkindo chairman to A.M. Tambunan.
After the 1959 Decree, Leimena was appointed Distribution Minister, and shortly afterwards also became Deputy First Minister. Within his capacity as Distribution Minister, he saw nutritional intake as vital in improving worker productivity and desired to achieve rice self-sufficiency for the growing population through intensification of rice cultivation in Java while expanding farmlands elsewhere. Despite his ambitious plans, coordination with the Ministries of Agriculture, Transmigration and Labor proved an issue.
Leimena was part of the Supreme Operations Command in 1962 during the West New Guinea dispute. He was given a titular rank of a vice admiral of the Indonesian Navy in 1962, and was promoted to admiral on 17 August 1964. In November 1963, following the unexpected death of Djuanda, a presidium was appointed by Sukarno to manage the cabinet, consisting of Leimena, Subandrio, and Chaerul Saleh. During the whole of the Guided Democracy period, Leimena remained a close ally of Sukarno, being skilled with handling the political elite, though he lacked the ability to organize large-scale popular support. Due to his position as Deputy First Minister, he took over presidential duties as acting president seven times on occasions.

1965 coup and Supersemar

At the time of the 30 September Movement, Leimena's house was located two houses down from Army General Abdul Haris Nasution, who was a key target for the coup organizers. Around one hundred men were involved in the early morning operations against Nasution's house, and as Leimena had three men assigned to him as personal bodyguards due to his position, the rebel soldiers wanted to prevent them from interfering in the kidnapping of Nasution. In the ensuing scuffle, one of Leimena's guards, Karel Satsuit Tubun, was killed, but no further attempts were made by rebels to enter his residence or to take Leimena into custody. For his part, Leimena, upon learning that Tubun had been killed, refused to escape the house.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, still on the morning of 1 October, Leimena was summoned by Sukarno to the Halim Airbase. After discussions there resulted in the appointment of Pranoto Reksosamudro as acting Army Chief of Staff to replace the killed Ahmad Yani, they were informed that Kostrad under Suharto was apparently preparing to attack the Halim Airbase. Following Leimena's advice, Sukarno left Halim for the Bogor Palace instead of to East Java or Bali as others suggested, fearing an imminent civil war. In following Leimena's advice, Sukarno had foiled the coup's primary objective of getting Sukarno to somewhere where he would be under the coup's control, as the Bogor Palace was a "neutral" area. Leimena had also been named by the coup plotters as part of an "Indonesian Revolution Council" in the afternoon of 1 October.
On 3 March 1966, as acting minister for higher education and culture, Leimena ordered the closure of universities, but his ordered was ignored by the army units guarding the universities. Leimena was present during a cabinet meeting on 11 March in Jakarta during which troops took up positions in front of the palace. Later in the afternoon, Leimena joined Sukarno and two other Deputy Prime Ministers in meeting with Army generals Amirmachmud, Mohammad Jusuf and Basuki Rahmat at the Bogor Palace. The outcome of that meeting was the Supersemar, which handed over considerable powers to Suharto. Leimena attended another meeting on 16 March during which Sukarno refused demands to reorganize his cabinet. Regardless, on 18 March, fifteen cabinet ministers were dismissed and arrested, but Leimena alone initially retained his position in the cabinet presidium.

New Order

During the New Order, Leimena no longer retained his ministerial position and he was instead appointed as the acting deputy speaker of the Supreme Advisory Council from 1966 until 1968. After his acting deputy speaker term has expired, he remained a member of the council until 1973. During his time in the council, he resolved several internal disputes of the DPA, on topics such as tax inequality, nationwide education, and the question of who should become acting president when the president was abroad. He was also appointed as the director of the Cikini Hospital on 11 December 1968. Leimena was one of the few politicians in this period who did not distance himself from Sukarno.
Leimena was elected into the People's Representative Council following the 1971 election, but he did not take office. After the fusion of the Indonesian Christian Party to the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1973, Leimena was appointed as the deputy chairman of the party's advisory council.

Views

Prior to Indonesia's independence, Leimena had been speaking about the differing nature between the international Christian movement and the nationalist Indonesian independence movement. Sukarno described him as having "a dominee soul, but against the colonialism-imperialism he never ceased to combat and to strive". After independence, Leimena wrote against the Darul Islam movement, and also opposed separatism and communism. This opposition to both positions partly led to Leimena's strong affinity towards Sukarno, who leaned towards a Pancasila-based state. Despite this view, Leimena found much common ground with some of the more socialist-leaning Islamic Masyumi leaders such as Mohammad Natsir and Sjafruddin Prawiranegara.

Personal life

During his time at STOVIA, Leimena was a football player, and often played in the school's football team in addition to playing under several locally famous teams at that time. Leimena met and later married his wife, Wijarsih Prawiradilaga, during his time working as a doctor in Bandung. At the time of Leimena's death, the couple had four sons and four daughters.
His family noted Leimena's tendency for simple clothing, and that Leimena would consistently be dressing in similar white-colored attire. Sukarno in his autobiography noted how Leimena, while in diplomatic missions during the Indonesian Revolution, lacked formal clothes and had to borrow sets of a suit and tie from colleagues.

Death

Leimena died in Jakarta on 29 March 1977, at around 07:30a.m. He had previously been suffering from an illness during a recent trip to Europe, when he was forced to return to Indonesia on a wheelchair. After his funeral service, he received a military funeral at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

Awards

Indonesia

Guerrilla Star

Star of the Republic of Indonesia, 2nd Class

Development Medal

Independence Medal

Civil Service Long Service Medals, 1st Class

Foreign


Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes

Order of 23 August, 2nd Class

Order of the Yugoslav Flag, 1st Class

Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
Source:

Legacy

Sukarno's comments about Leimena placed him as an honest politician and a skilled diplomat. In 2010, 33 years after his death, Leimena was awarded the title of National Hero of Indonesia by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
A public hospital in Ambon, RSUP dr Johannes Leimena, was named after him in 2019. A statue of Leimena, inaugurated in 2012, is also present in Ambon. The, operated by the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, had been founded in 2004, having been previously known as the Leimena Academy.

Writings