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the Indonesians resisted the Japanese, in the shape of sabotage uprisings and of other form of opposition. Thousands of nationalists fought for this with their lives. Others underwent tortures. Yet others lived like hunted animals. Witness what happened at Blitar, Tasikmalaja, and Indramajoe, in Sumatra, in West-Borneo and in many other places. Other nationalists who worked in the open along constitutional lines in order to strengthen national consciousness were forced into working with the Japanese. They had no option but to march and to goose- step and to shout out war cries in the approved Japanese manner because they served in the regiments raised by the Japanese for their own purpose.
The nationalists who worked with the Japanese never for a minute, in spite of their enforced presence in the totalitarian camp, forsook the nationalistic ideals which had for years and years been their guiding lights. This is evidenced by the constitution they framed for the Republic of Indonesia and, although it was worked out during the time of the Japanese occupation, the entire document is entirely democratic in form and spirit.
On the 17th of August 1945 the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed, and it marked the culmination of the political desire of the Indonesian people to attain sovereignty for their nation. Like an irresistible tidal wave, it carried every Indonesian along with it. Meanwhile the Japanese had begun negotiations for their surrender to the Allies.
