Muhammad Mangundiprojo

Major General Muhammad Mangundiprojo was a 20th-century Indonesian soldier, revolutionary, and civil servant. Born in Sragen Regency on the island of Java, Mangundiprojo joined a nationalist group during the Second World War. He later fought against the return of Dutch colonial authority to Indonesia, and later went on to become a politician. He died in Bandar Lampung in 1988.

Mangundiprojo died in Bandar Lampung in 1988. In 2014, he was posthumously named as a National Hero of Indonesia.

After the war of Independence, Mangundiprojo joined the Indonesian civil service. He served as the Regent of Ponorogo from 1951 to 1955.

With the world war II over, the Dutch government sought to regain control over its former colony in Indonesia, which had declared itself independent from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945.

During World War II, the Japanese army invaded and occupied Java in 1942. The Japanese dismantled much of the island's colonial infrastructure and chose to support nationalist movements which would oppose the return of Dutch authorities. On such effort was PETA, a volunteer army unit which Mangundiprojo joined in 1944. Before being deployed, he received a military education Surabaya; he was then given command of a unit in the Sidoarjo Regency in East Java. When the war ended in 1945, many of the PETA units were disarmed. However, many soldiers and officers, including Mangundiprojo, maintained their military training and discipline.

During his formative years, Mangundiprojo chose to pursue the career of becoming a civil servant in the Dutch colonial government. In 1926, he graduated from a Dutch-operated university on Java and planned to join the Municipal Police. However, he instead became a prosecutor in the Jombang Regency.

Muhammad Mangundiprojo was born on 5 January 1905 in the Javanese province (which are referred to as regencies) of Sragen. At the time, Java and many other provinces constituted the Dutch East Indies, a colonial possession ruled by the Netherlands. Mangoendiprodjo's family had a history of fighting against the Dutch; his great grandfather had served the Sultanate of Demak and had fought alongside Diponegoro, a 19th-century Javanese noble whom had opposed Dutch rule in the Java War.