Biografi Mohammad Hatta Dalam Bahasa Inggris:

Mohammad Hatta or often called Bung Hatta was the first Vice President of
Indonesia. Mohammad Hatta was born in Bukit tinggi, West Sumatera on August
12th, 1902. His father is Haji Mohammad Djamil and his mother is Siti Saleha. His
father died when he was eight months old. Hatta married to Rahmi Hatta on
November 18th, 1945. The couple had three children named Meutia Farida Hatta,
Gemala Rabi’ah Hatta, and Halida Nuriah Hatta.

Hatta started his education at a private school named Sekolah Melayu. Then he went
to ELS (European Language School). He continued his school to MULO (Meer
Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs). Hatta began to show his interested in politics and
national movement since he was sixteen years old. He joined Jong Sumatranen Bond
and he was chosen as the treasurer.

In 1919, Hatta went to Hogere Burgerschool (HBS) in Batavia (Jakarta). He finished

his study with distinction in 1921 and he was allowed to continue his study to
Rotterdam School of Commerce in Netherlands. He took economics as his major and
got a doctorandus degree. He then continued to pursue his doctorate degree, but he
didn’t finish his thesis because politics had taken over his life.

In Netherlands Hatta joined the Indische Vereeniging. In 1922, Indische Vereeniging

changed its named to Indonesische Vereeniging (Perhimpoenan Indonesia). Hatta
was the treasurer from 1922-1925 and then he became the chairman from 1926-1930.
Perhimpoenan Indonesia then changed from a student organization to political
organization that demand for Indonesia’s Independence. It expressed its voice
through a magazine called Indonesia Merdeka of which Hatta was the editor.

Hatta attended congresses all over Europe to gain more support from other nations,
he always as the chairman of Indonesia delegation. By the middle of 1927,
Perhimpoenan Indonesia’s activites had alarmed the Dutch authorities. On June
1927, Dutch authorities put Hatta and four other Indonesian activists in jail. In 1929,
Hatta and other Perhimpoenan Indonesia activists were released.

On August 1932, after returning to Indonesia, Hatta became the chairman of the new
PNI. On February 1934, the Dutch Colonial government arrested PNI leaders from its
Jakarta branch (including Hatta) and Bandung branch. They were prisoned for a
year. In 1935, it was decided that Hatta and the other PNI leaders would be exiled to
Boven Digoel Papua. In 1936, Hatta and Sutan Syahrir were transfered to Bandaneira
in Maluku. There, they joined other nationalists such as Iwa Kusumasumantri and
Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo.

In 1942, Hatta and Syahrir were transferred to Sukabumi, West Java. In the same
year, the Dutch Colonial Government surrendered. However, because of World War
II was under way, the Empire of Japan came to Indonesia to fulfil their imperial
ambitions in East Asia and South East Asia. On March 1942, Hatta and Syahrir were
transferred to Jakarta.

In July 1942, Hatta was reunited with Sukarno. In a secret meeting at Hatta’s Jakarta
home, Sukarno, Hatta and Syahrir agreed to organise the revolutionary resistance to
achieve independence from Japan. In a speech on December 1942, Hatta said that
Indonesia already free from the Dutch Colonial Government, but Indonesia was free
only to be colonized by another power, he would rather to see Indonesia drown to the
bottom of the ocean.

As the tide of the war began to turn against the Japanese, the Japanese Occupational
government in Indonesia began to lose its control of Indonesia. On August 1945,
Japanese finally approved Indonesian Independence. August 16th, 1945, the
Indonesian youths kidnapped Sukarno and Hatta to Rengasdengklok to force both of
them to declare Independence of Indonesia.

Finally, August 17th, 1945, at Sukarno’s residence, Indonesia’s Independence was

proclaimed in a short statement on a paper signed by Sukarno and Hatta. On August
18th, 1945 Hatta was selected as Indonesia’s first Vice President to accompany
Sukarno as the President of Indonesia. Hatta died on March 14th, 1980 and he was
buried in Tanah Kusir public cemetary, Jakarta.