Hadji Agus Salim

Hadji Agus Salim (born Oct. 8, 1884, Kota Gedang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies [now Indonesia]—died Nov. 4, 1954, Yogyakarta, Indon.) was an Indonesian nationalist and religious leader from an upper class Minangkabau family, who played a key role during the 1920s in moderating the messianic and communist element in the Muslim nationalist movement in the Dutch East Indies.

Agus Salim received a Dutch education through secondary school, after which he dealt with Dutch consular affairs in Jiddah, Arabia, where he became interested in reformist and modernist movements in Islām. In 1915 Salim joined the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Association) and soon became a leading influence in that Indonesian nationalist group. His opposition to the messianic cult that had grown up around the group’s central figure, Omar Said Tjokroaminoto, led to a de-emphasis of mystical elements in the organization.

Salim, an evolutionary socialist, played an important role in the political conflicts of the early 1920s. His opposition to the use of force in resisting colonialism made him relatively acceptable to Dutch leaders. In 1921 he was the main noncommunist spokesman in the discussions over control of the labour movement that led to the communist withdrawal from Sarekat Islam. After 1923 the organization came increasingly under Salim’s control, and he directed it away from political activity and toward the pan-Islāmic movement. During the birth of Indonesian independence, Salim served briefly in 1946–47 as vice minister of foreign affairs.