PETA (Indonesia)

PETA (Indonesian "Pembela Tanah Air" - Defenders of the Fatherland) was an Indonesian volunteer army established on 3 October 1943 in Indonesia by the occupying Japanese to assist Japanese forces oppose a possible invasion by the Allies. By the end of the war, there were a total of 69 battalions ("daidan") in Java (around 37,000 men) and Sumatra (approximately 20,000 men). On 18 August 1945, the day after the Indonesian Declaration of Independence, the Japanese ordered the PETA "daidan" to surrender and hand over their weapons, which most of them did. Indonesia's President Sukarno agreed with the dissolution rather than turning the organization into the beginnings of a national army as he feared allegations of collaboration had he allowed a Japanese-created militia to continue in existence. Ricklefs (1981), p194 ] Sunhaussen (1982), pp2-4 ] Bachtiar(1988), p12 ] .

References

* Bachtiar, Harsja W. (1988), "Siapa Dia?: Perwira Tinggi Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (Who is S/He?: Senior Officers of the Indonesian Army)", Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, ISBN 979-428-100-X
* Sunhaussen, Ulf (1982) "The Road to Power: Indonesian Military Politics 1945-1967" Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19 582521 7
* Ricklefs, M.C. (1981) "A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300." MacMillan, ISBN 0 333 24380

Notes