Wilopo


Wilopo was the seventh Prime Minister of Indonesia. His cabinet is known as the Wilopo Cabinet.

Biography

Wilopo was born in Purworejo, Central Java on 21 October 1908. As a child, he studied at Taman Siswa, later becoming a teacher there.
Wilopo's first government position was as the Junior Minister of Labour during the First and Second Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinets from 3 July 1947 to 29 January 1948. After a brief hiatus, he became the Minister of Labour during the Republic of the United States of Indonesia Cabinet from 20 December 1949 to 6 September 1950; he was later the Minister of Trade and Industry during the Sukiman Cabinet.
After completing his tenure as Minister of Trade and Industry, on 19 March 1952, Wilopo was told to choose a cabinet to lead. Three days after giving his list to President Sukarno, on 1 April he and his cabinet took power; it was essentially a coalition of necessity between the Masyumi and National parties. During his time as prime minister he also spent 26 days as Foreign Minister, from 3 to 29 April, making him the shortest serving Indonesian foreign minister as of 2011. As prime minister, he was initially able to draw support from the army by unhesitatingly accepting Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono IX as defence minister. After fourteen months, the cabinet collapsed; the collapse was blamed on land issues.
From 1955 to 1959, Wilopo served as the Speaker of the Constitutional Assembly of Indonesia. He later became head of the Commission of Four, a part of the Corruption Eradication Team, with his service beginning in June 1970. Despite finding "corruption everywhere", no actions were taken by the government.
Wilopo died in Jakarta in 1981.

Views

, an Australian scholar on Indonesian politics, notes that Wilopo was widely considered fair-minded and sympathetic to the plight of the working classes, working carefully towards his goals. As he did not prioritize party loyalty, he was known as being able to cooperate with anyone.