SDHF Newsletter No.287 Ceremony Offering Flower to Gen. Sudirman Statue

A Ceremony Offering Flowers to the Statue of General Sudirman

September 7, 2020

On August 17, 2020, a Flower Offering Ceremony to the Statue of General Sudirman of Indonesia was performed in the presence of the Acting Ambassador of Indonesia and Mr. Watanabe Koichi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense, on the premises of the Ministry of Defense.
Ms. KATSURAGI Nami, Chairperson of the Executive Committee for the Ceremony of Offering Flowers to the Statue of General Sudirman gave the following speech:
URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/essay-article/1586/
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Sudirman_e.pdf
In 2011, the Indonesian government presented to the Japanese Ministry of Defense a statue of General Sudirman. The Hatoyama cabinet that time did not bother to pay respect to the statue.
Mr. Kase Hideaki, chairman of the “Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact”, found out and organized a team of volunteers to hold a Flower Offering Ceremony to the Statue. This year is the sixth time such a ceremony occurred.
On August 17, 1945, Indonesia declared independence under the leadership of Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta. However, the Netherland denied independence and sent its army along with the British army, to Indonesia. The Indonesian republic army, with the assistance of 2,000 Japanese ex-Imperial soldiers, fought a four-year and five month long war of independence. The first commander was General Sudirman. The war took nearly 800, 000 Indonesians.
During this war for independence against the Dutch and British, the Allies conducted the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, labeling Japan an “aggressor” and executing 7 Japanese leaders for “crime against peace”.
Ms. Katsurragi’s words should be interpreted within this context.
“I can never forget the impact I felt when I saw this statue for the first time. I felt as if General Sudirman was standing there, scowling at the Memorial Hall, which was a part of the former Imperial Japanese Army Academy auditorium where the Tokyo Trial took place, …. “

Questions are welcome.

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Acting Chairman
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact