R. Syamsudin

Raden Samsoeddin (1 January 1908 – 15 October 1950) was an Indonesian lawyer and politician. He was active during the late colonial and early independence period, being a member of the Volksraad and the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence during the early 1940s, along with serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information during the late 1940s. He was also the first Indonesian mayor of Sukabumi between 1944 and 1946 and the first Ambassador to Pakistan.

Originating from Sukabumi, Samsoeddin studied as a lawyer and received his master's degree from Leiden University before returning to Indonesia. He practiced law and was active in the colonial government and politics during the late Dutch period, before joining various Japanese-sponsored organizations during the occupation, notably the 3A propaganda movement which he co-founded and led in 1942. He then joined the Masyumi party after Indonesian independence, and was appointed minister in several cabinets until shortly before his death in October 1950. Early life Samsoeddin was born on 1 January 1908 in Sukabumi to native colonial official Ahmad Djoewaini and Djoewaini's third wife RE Djoewitaningrat.

Samsoeddin continued his studies at the colonial capital of Batavia, studying law for two years there at the Rechtshoogeschool. During this time, he joined the Indonesian nationalist movement and worked at the newspaper Berita Oemoem. On one occasion in December 1931, he gave a speech in Surabaya on agricultural policy, specifically opposing the granting of land ownership to Indo people. He then went to the Netherlands, studying law at Leiden University and receiving his Master of Laws (Mr.) degree in 1935. He also served as an advisor to a private bank and the labor union PKVI, and continued to work at Berita Oemoem. The propaganda movement's name and slogan largely came from Samsoeddin. He was the first native Indonesian to serve as mayor in Sukabumi. He was also a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee as a Masyumi representative, and he was appointed to a 47-man Working Committee of the body in March 1947. After a brief period as a guerilla in the southern parts of Sukabumi Regency, he joined the Indonesian government in Yogyakarta following the Dutch military offensive of 1947 and the following Renville Agreement. In his position as Information Minister, Samsoeddin called for Chinese Indonesians to refrain from supporting the Dutch. After his ministerial tenure, he was appointed as the first Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan by Presidential Decree No. 75 of 1950 in February 1950. He presented his credentials to the Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi on 8 April 1950, bringing his wife and two children with him in the assignment.

Death

By October 1950, Samsoeddin was suffering from a liver illness, and he died on 15 October at the Salemba Hospital in Jakarta. After a funeral at Sukabumi's Great Mosque, he was buried in Sukabumi's Ciandam Public Cemetery. Sukabumi's public hospital (opened in 1920) would be renamed in his honor, along with a street in front of Sukabumi's city hall. He would be posthumously awarded the Star of Mahaputera, 3rd class in 1996 by President Suharto.