The Soetardjo Petition was a petition

Petition

A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....

 from some progressive Indonesians

Indonesians

Indonesians may be:*any nation or ethnic group of Indonesia**see Demographics of Indonesia**see Overseas Indonesians**see Ethnic groups in Indonesia**see Native Indonesians...

, which in 1936 was submitted to the Indonesian People's Council (Volksraad) of the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

. The name comes from the name of the petitioner, Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo.

The document expressed the desire of Indonesians to, within a period of ten years, be independent under Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution.

On November 16 1938 the petition was rejected because it was considered that the Indonesians were not yet ready for independence, even within the Dutch commonwealth. This rejection encouraged the nationalist movement in Indonesia to be more radical. It led to the formation of the GAPI in 1939.

Further reading

• Soerjono and Ben Anderson (1980) On Musso's Return Indonesia, Vol. 29, (Apr., 1980), pp. 59-90
• Kartohadikusumo, Setiadi, 1990 Soetardjo : pembuat "petisi Soetardjo" dan perjuangannya Setiadi Kartohadikusumo Pustaka Sinar Harapan, Jakarta ISBN 9794160903