Tan Malaka, Ibrahim Datuk

Tan Malaka, Ibrahim Datuk

(born 1894—died April 16, 1949, Blitar, Java, Indon.) Indonesian communist leader. A schoolteacher, he became a communist after returning from Europe in 1919. He was exiled by the Dutch for trying to incite a general strike in 1922 but returned to Java in 1944 and, competing with Sukarno for control of the Indonesian nationalist movement, created a coalition that briefly came to power in 1946. He was imprisoned later that year on charges of attempting a coup. In 1948, while the Dutch and Indonesians were at war, he proclaimed himself head of Indonesia. Forced to flee the invading Dutch, within a few months he was captured and executed by Sukarno's supporters.