Soetardjo Petition
The Soetardjo Petition of 1936 was a motion of the Volksraad of the Dutch East Indies, instigated by the legislator Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, which was submitted as a petition to Queen Wilhelmina and the Estates General of the Netherlands. The document expressed the desire of Indonesians, within a period of ten years, to be independent under Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution as part of a Dutch commonwealth under the Dutch Crown.
The petition, which was passed by a majority of the Volksraad, had six signatories, including Soetardjo himself, Sayyid Ismail Alatas, I. J. Kasimo, Ko Kwat Tiong Sia, Sam Ratulangi and Datoek Toemoenggoeng.
On November 16, 1938, the petition was rejected because it was considered that the Indonesians were not yet ready for independence, even within the Dutch commonwealth. This rejection encouraged the nationalist movement in Indonesia to be more radical. It led to the formation of the GAPI in 1939.
