Daswati House, Historical Relic Formation of Lampung Province

Photo Source: Lampost

INDEPHEDIA.com - Daswati House (Autonomous Area Level) is one of the heritage buildings from the formation of Lampung Province.

It was at the house located at Tulangbawang Street Number 175 A (now Number 11) Enggal, Bandarlampung City that the formation of the Lampung Province was formulated which then "separated itself" from the South Sumatra Province.

Lampung Discourse Becomes a Province

It is known, the Province of South Sumatra which was founded on September 12, 1950 initially covered areas in Southern Sumatra (Sumbagsel).

As for the South Sumatra region, namely South Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung and the Bangka Belitung Islands.

Prior to the division, Lampung, including other South Sumatra regions, was still in the form of a residency which was affiliated with the Province of South Sumatra, centered in Palembang.

Because they find it difficult to take care of many things, especially administration and government, regional residency leaders, a number of community leaders and administrators of political parties in Lampung have discussed turning Lampung into a province or a level I region (Dati I).

Various efforts were made by figures in Lampung to "separate themselves" from South Sumatra Province, one of which was making a petition for the South Sumatra Provincial Government.

Unfortunately, the petition made in 1962 did not receive a response from the South Sumatra Provincial Government.

Establishment of the Daswati I Lampung Struggle Committee

It didn't stop there, according to what was planned, a number of Lampung figures held a meeting on February 28, 1963.

The meeting, which was held at Radja Sjah Alam's house, resulted in the formation of a committee for the struggle of Daswati I Lampung, which consisted of 12 figures.

The names of the Daswati I Lampung struggle committee include Komarudin (adviser) and Radja Sjah Alam (PNI) as chairman.

Then, Nasjir Rachman (Murba) as secretary, Mustafa Sengaji (PBII) as treasurer and H. Achmad Ibrahim (Kapt TNI AD) as initiator.

Furthermore, Basir Amin (Murba), Change Pandjaitan (Parkindo), Sabda Panjinagara (Parkindo), M. Husni Gani (NU), M.A Pane (PKI) and FX. G. Adi Warsito (Catholic Party).

Meanwhile, Achmad Zaini acted as a liaison between the Dati I (Level I Region) government of South Sumatra and the Central Government in Jakarta.

On March 7, 1963, at the struggle building 45, the already formed Daswati I Lampung struggle committee began holding its first meeting.

Subsequent meetings were held by the committee at the house of a Lampung community leader, Ibrahim.

Ibrahim's house -- which is now known as the Daswati House --- was later used as the office of the Daswati I Lampung struggle committee.

Received President Soekarno's approval

To convey Lampung's desire to secede from the Province of South Sumatra, the committee for the struggle of Daswati I Lampung on 18 May 1963 went to the Bogor Palace to meet the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Sukarno.

After going through deliberations, on the condition that the people of Lampung provide assistance in the construction of highways in Sumatra, President Soekarno agreed that Lampung would become a province.

The government handover ceremony from South Sumatra Province to Lampung Province as well as the inauguration of the Governor of Lampung I, Kusno Dhanupoyo, was held on March 18, 1964.

The handover of the government and the inauguration of the first Governor of Lampung was witnessed by the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri), Eny Karim.

Kusno Danupoyo, the first governor of Lampung (1964–1966 period) was an Indonesian freedom fighter in Gorontalo, Sulawesi.

In 1966, he resigned as Governor of Lampung, and after that became a Member of the Indonesian Parliament for the 1968–1976 period.

In his career, Kusno was also a member of the DPRD for the 1976–1980 period and the chairman of the Lampung Provincial DPRD for the 1968–1970 period. (*)