October 28, 1928

Youth Pledge

Second Youth Congress adopts the Youth Pledge and hears “Indonesia Raya”

Indonesia's future anthem entered the room not as a mass chorus but through one man's violin.

Three venues over two days

On 28 October 1928, the second day of the Second Youth Congress, delegates met in the morning at the Oost-Java Bioscoop in Batavia to discuss national education, and later at the Indonesische Clubgebouw at Kramat 106 to discuss nationalism, democracy and scouting.

The congress had opened the day before and used three venues in all; it was not a single meeting held only at Kramat 106. That house belonged to Sie Kong Lian and had been rented by medical and law students as lodging and study space since 1908.

The Perhimpunan Pelajar-Pelajar Indonesia, an interregional student association, had organised the congress to overcome regional divisions.

One homeland, one nation, one language

At the final session, congress chair Sugondo Djojopuspito read a resolution formulated by the secretary, Mohammad Yamin, affirming one homeland, one nation and a unifying language: Indonesia.

The adopted text did not promise independence. It asked Indonesian nationalist associations — nine were named in the decision — to adopt its principles, and called for it to be published in newspapers and read out at association meetings.

The document remembered as an oath, Sumpah Pemuda, was formally titled the Decision of the Congress.

Played, not adopted

Before the congress closed, Wage Rudolf Supratman performed his composition "Indonesia Raya" on the violin.

It was performed, not adopted there as a national anthem; participant testimony cited by scholarship rejects the later adoption story. "Indonesia Raya" became the national anthem when Indonesia proclaimed independence in 1945.

Nor did the congress immediately unify the population of the Dutch East Indies. Scholarship finds continuing secular–Islamic disagreements among youth movements, and wider acceptance of the national symbols only later in the 1930s.

Sources

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How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date and resolution are well documented. Some later accounts disagree about whether anyone quietly sang during Supratman's performance, but the official museum account securely states that he played the song on violin.
The label Sumpah Pemuda, or Youth Pledge, became attached to a document formally titled the Decision of the Congress; modern wording and punctuation sometimes differ from the 1928 text.