Deceased health minister gets hero title
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/09/2010 12:01 PM
Former health minister Soetopo, who passed away in 1982, has been
awarded an honorary “1945 independence fighter” title, for his
role in the Indonesian struggle for independence in 1945, a top
official says.
The Health Ministry had nominated the late Soetopo, who served as
a government minister in 1950, for the Pejoang 45 (1945 independence
fighter) title, it announced in a press release on Tuesday.
A government institution in charge of the presentation such titles
will present the title at a ceremony tomorrow, in conjunction with
National Heroes Day, at the site of Soetopo’s grave in Mojokerto,
East Java.
According to the release, Soetopo once “led Indonesian doctors
in a meeting with Dutch doctors who were arrested and exiled by
Surabaya’s freedom fighters,” and called for aid during the
historical Nov. 10 battle also in Surabaya.
Soetopo had also called for the evacuation of those victims and
for the National Railway Company to ferry war victims to Malang and
Jombang in East Java.
