Sutan Sjahrir

Prime Minister of Indonesia

5 March 1909 Padang Pandjang, Dutch East Indies

9 April 1966(1966-04-09) (57) Zurich, Switzerland

14 November 1945 – 3 July 1947

Sutan Sjahrir (5 March 1909 – 9 April 1966) was an Indonesian revolutionary independence leader and prime minister, described as an idealistic Indonesian intellectual. He became the first prime minister of Indonesia in 1945, after a career as a key Indonesian nationalist organizer in the 1930s and 1940s. From there, Sutan worked hard as Prime Minister to ensure Indonesia was living up to its name. He was considered an idealist and an intellectual who despite his political interest, put his country first before his own needs. Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not support the Japanese and worked to gain independence for Indonesia. Born to a Minangkabau family, he studied at the University of Amsterdam and later becoming a law student at Leiden University. He became involved in Socialist politics, and Indonesia's struggle for independence, becoming a close associate of the older independence activist Mohammad Hatta, future vice-president of Indonesia. Sutan Sjahrir was imprisoned by Sukarno in 1963, and then released by Sukarno in 1965 so he could seek medical treatment. Sjahrir went to Zurich, Switzerland, where he then died after a stroke at age 56.