35 Facts About Agus Salim

Haji Agus Salim was an Indonesian journalist, diplomat, and statesman.

Agus Salim served as Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1947 and 1949.

Agus Salim was born Masjhoedoelhaq Salim on 8 October 1884, in the village of Koto Gadang, a suburb of Fort de Kock.

Agus Salim's father, Sultan Mohammad Salim, was a colonial prosecutor and judge whose highest rank was chief judge for the indigenous court in Tanjung Pinang.

Agus Salim continued his studies at the Hogere Burgerschool in Batavia and graduated with the highest score in the whole Dutch East Indies.

Agus Salim returned to the Indies in 1911 and pursued a career in journalism, contributing pieces for magazines and publications like Hindia Baroe, Fadjar Asia, and Moestika.

Agus Salim would later serve as an editor in Neratja, a newspaper aligned with the Sarekat Islam, where he was an active member.

Agus Salim became one of the most vocal advocates of the growing Indonesian nationalist movement, in the period known as the National Awakening.

Agus Salim was occasionally accused by those leftists of being too close to the Dutch colonial government.

In 1927 Bintang Timoer published allegations that Agus Salim had joined Sarekat Islam and other meetings in the 1910s delivered reports to government officials and then used government money to criticize communists in Neratja.

Agus Salim responded that he needed money to continue his activities and that everyone profited from the government in some way or other.

Later, after the breakup of the Sarekat Islam, Agus Salim co-founded the Islamic Union Party, which later became the PSII.

In 1921, Agus Salim was appointed to the Volksraad, the Indies' mainly symbolic and advisory quasi-legislature, representing Sarekat Islam.

Agus Salim left the chamber in 1924, frustrated by the chamber's powerlessness, and derided it as a mere komedi omong.

At the 1927 convention of the national Islamic organization Jong Islamieten Bond in Surakarta, Agus Salim ripped apart the curtained divider between men's and women's seating area and proceeded to deliver his speech titled.

Allan Akbar, a historian, conceded that Agus Salim had been asked for a favour by Datuak Tumangguang, a prominent Minangkabau advisor to the colonial government, to covertly enter Sarekat Islam, especially to investigate the relationship between Tjokroaminoto and the Germans.

For six weeks, Agus Salim investigated the Sarekat from within, but in a strange twist of history, decided to join the organization of his own will.

Unlike most of the future Republican leaders, Agus Salim was never arrested nor exiled, probably owing to his vast connections with the colonial bureaucracy or his rumored services for the colonial intelligence services.

In 1943, the Japanese military government asked Agus Salim, a renowned polyglot who spoke nine languages, to compile a military dictionary for the use of Pembela Tanah Air, the newly formed volunteer militia prepared for an impending invasion of the Allied forces.

Agus Salim found his way back to politics, being appointed to advise the Indonesian leaders who are in charge of the Pusat Tenaga Rakyat, an intellectual body set up by Japanese government to mobilize popular support for war efforts.

Agus Salim was appointed to the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence in March 1945.

Agus Salim was highly influential in the early drafting of the Constitution and was seen as a respected mediator during heated confrontations.

Agus Salim did not join the first Indonesian cabinet; Sukarno, now President of the Republic, appointed him to the newly created Supreme Advisory Council.

Agus Salim remained in that position until March 1946, when he was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister under Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir of the Socialist Party.

Agus Salim reprised that role in the third Sjahrir Cabinet before being promoted to Foreign Minister in the first Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinet in July 1947; Amir, like Sjahrir, is a Socialist.

Agus Salim led the Indonesian delegation at the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi from March to April 1947.

Agus Salim remained in charge of foreign affairs in the first Hatta Cabinet, while officially serving ad interim.

Alongside Sjahrir and Sukarno, Agus Salim was first exiled to Berastagi in North Sumatera before being transferred to Parapat.

Hatta, the United States' inaugural premier and foreign minister, appointed Agus Salim to be a special advisor on foreign affairs.

Agus Salim's lectures were later compiled and published as Pesan-Pesan Islam: Rangkaian Kuliah Musim Semi 1953 di Cornell University, Amerika Serikat.

Chalid Agus Salim, Agus Salim's younger brother, was a communist who became a Catholic pastor during his years of exile in Boven Digoel.

Emil Agus Salim, a prominent economist and minister in the Suharto administration, is a nephew.

Informally bestowed the honorific title of the "Grand Old Man", Agus Salim was reported to be fluent in at least nine languages.

Agus Salim was best remembered for his sharp wit and debating skills.

At one point Agus Salim had said ekonomi, the Malayized word for economy, and Bergmeyer challenged him to state the original Malay for the word.