Djawoto

Djawoto (Perfected Spelling: Jawoto; August 10, 1906 – September 24, 1992) was an Indonesian journalist and diplomat. He served as Indonesia's ambassador to China and Mongolia starting in 1964.

Teacher and journalist Djawoto became part of the Indonesian nationalist movement through the Sarekat Islam, one of the first mass organizations of native Indonesians which was at its height in the 1910s and early 1920s. He started working as a teacher in 1927. In 1945 he was included in the Education Section of the Socialist Party at the founding congress of the party. He was a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee between 1945 and 1949. Djawoto was a leading figure in the Union of Indonesian Journalists (PWI).

Ambassador In 1964 he was named ambassador to China and Mongolia by President Sukarno. He was one of six journalists that Sukarno appointed as ambassadors during the 1960s. In the early morning of April 16, 1966, Djawoto held a press conference at which he declared that he was no longer the Indonesian ambassador. In April 1966 Djawoto was granted political asylum in China. The Indonesian government withdrew his passport. He became general secretary of the Beijing-based Afro-Asian Journalists Association.

Djawoto left China and emigrated to the Netherlands in 1981. Although he had not been a Communist Party member, Djawoto was not allowed to return to Indonesia.