Untung Surapati

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Untung Surapati (1665)

Untung Suropati (1660 – December 5, 1706) was an Indonesia war fighter who led a few rebellions against the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Surapati was a Balinese who lived as a slave in Batavia, the headquarters of the VOC (now Jakarta). He then managed to flee to the mountainous area in the south of the city. In 1683, he surrendered and was enlisted in the VOC troop. In January 1684, with other Balinese soldiers, he attacks a detachment of 39 armed force from the company and kills 20 of them. He then fled to the east with his 80 men and was welcomed in Kartasura, capital of the Sultanate of Mataram, where he was installed as protégé of the Sultan Amangkurat II.

In 1686 the VOC sent Captain Tack to Kartasura to convince Amangkurat to deliver Surapati to him. Tack arrived and claimed himself as Amangkurat's soldiers who attacked Surapati's residence. In fact, this attack was a sneak raid because Amangkurat did not intend to deliver Surapati as he considered him as a precious ally. Tack was killed by Surapati's men along with 74 other Dutchs and Javanese soldiers disguised as Balinese. The rest of the VOC forces retreated to the Dutch garrison of Kartasura.

Surapati then left Kartasura for Pasuruan in East Java, where he carved out a stronghold in the land of Mataram. Amangkurat did not intend to be dispossessed and in 1690 he sent an army which was then defeated by Surapati, whose mastery of military techniques acquired from his experience in Dutch troop, which gave him an advantage over the Javanese. In 1699, the stronghold of Surapati extended over a significant part of East Java and included Madiun.

Amangkurat II died in 1703. His son succeeded him under the title of Amangkurat III. The new successor had sympathies for Surapati. But he was contested by one of his brothers, Prince Puger. In the following year, the VOC recognized Puger as new Sultan, he took the title of Pakubuwono I. It was the beginning of the First Javanese War of Succession. In 1705, a coalition formed by Javanese soldiers from different regions of the archipelago, as well as VOC armed force, marched on Kartasura. AmangkuratIII must fled, he then joined Surapati. The latter was killed in 1706 during an attack by joint forces of Pakubuwono, Madurais and VOC soldiers.

Surapati was conferred the title of "National Hero of Indonesia" by the Suharto regime in 1975.