Besar Mertokusumo

Mertokusumo was born in Brebes, Central Java, Dutch East Indies on 8 July 1894[1] to a prosecutor and his wife;[2] he was the first of two children. [3] He attended elementary school at a Europeesche Lagere School in Pekalongan, graduating in 1909.[1] He then attended the Rechtschool in Batavia, which he graduated in 1915;[1] there, he lived with numerous other Indonesian students under the supervision of a Dutchwoman, studying criminal law.[3] After several years as the Official Seconded (Dutch: Ambtenaar Ter Beschikking) at the Landraad (state court) in Pekalongan, he received a grant to go to Leiden, Netherlands, to study at Leiden University together with eleven others.[1][3] He graduated in 1922.[1]

After being refused equal legal status with the Dutch, Mertokusumo decided to become an advocate.[4] He later established a law firm in Tegal, not far from his family in Brebes;[5] at the time, there were few Dutch lawyers there.[6] Despite a lack of support from his family,[4] after a few years he was able to open a second branch in Semarang, attracting young lawyers to his firm with wages up to 600 gulden a month.[5]

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Mertokusumo served as the mayor of Tegal in April 1942; he was the first Native Indonesian mayor.[1] In 1944 he became the regent of Tegal Regency.[1] Towards the end of the Japanese occupation, he joined the Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence and became the Assistant Resident of Pekalongan.[1]

After independence, Mertokusumo served as secretary general of the Department of Justice.[1]

Mertokusumo died at age 86[7] on 23 February 1980.[8] He is buried in Giritama Cemetery, Bogor.[7]

American scholar of Indonesia Daniel S. Lev has called Mertokusumo Indonesia's first advocate,[9] noting that he often represented poor Indonesian defendants in the Landraad, where they would be forced to sit on the floor.[5] Lev writes that Mertokusumo "broke the ice" for Indonesian advocates.[4]

On 17 August 1992, Mertokusumo received the Bintang Mahaputra posthumously for his legal work.[7]

Mertokusumo was married to Raden Ayu Majatoen, with whom he had four children.[1]

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