Dipo Negoro

(also Dipanegara). Born Nov. 11, 1785, on Java; died Jan. 8, 1855, in Makasar, on Sulawesi (Celebes). Leader of the Java Uprising of 1825-30 against the Dutch colonialists. Indonesian national hero.

Dipo Negoro was a descendant of a sultan’s family in Jog-jakarta. The insults of both the Dutch and the ruling sultan drove him to armed opposition, in which he was supported by the cruelly oppressed populace. In the protracted war that he conducted under the religious slogan of the defense of Islam, Dipo Negoro championed the cause of an independent Indonesian state. Dipo Negoro revealed an outstanding organizational talent and courage. Treacherously taken prisoner by the Dutch in 1830, he was exiled to the island of Sulawesi, where he died. In exile he wrote a history of the Java war that has been published in part.