On August 17, 1945, Indonesia proclaimed itself a republic. This was two days after Japan, which had been occupying the country since 1942, capitulated at the end of World War II. The proclamation was made in the city of Yogyakarta, in the province of Central Java, by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who were respectively the president and vice president of the new republic.
The Indonesian Republic was not recognized by the international community, which looked instead to the Dutch government-in-exile …