Abdul Kahar Muzakkar (24 March 1921 – 3 February 1965) was the leader of an Islamic movement in South Sulawesi from 1950 till his death in 1965.

He led his group of men in a guerrilla warfare against the Indonesian central government, and was finally killed by the army in the jungle.

Born on 24 March 1921 in the Kingdom of Luwu, a smaller principality on the northern end of the Gulf of Bone,[1] Abdul Kahar Muzakkar was formerly known as Ladomeng.

[2] According to sources, Kahar was average as a student, and that his strength lay not in formal education, but in creativity and talent in dealing with problems.

In 1943, Kahar was sentenced by the Hadat (governing council) of the kingdom of Luwu to ripaopangitana [literally, to put someone or something face downward on the land], or simply to treat someone as dead.

[3] There were varied accounts for the reason for such a sentence, all indicating that Kahar had alienated and angered the ruling powers in Luwu, particularly in his position as an activist of Hizbul Wathan.

[citation needed] After his exile in 1943, Kahar moved to Java and set up a merchandise company known as Semangat Muda (Spirit of Youth).

After leaving KRIS due to internal conflicts, Kahar was tasked by General Sudirman to prepare for the formation of a republican army in Sulawesi.

He was promoted to the rank of 'acting' lieutenant-colonel, and was put in charge of coordinating the guerrilla units in Sulawesi, Kalimantan, the Moluccas and Nusa Tenggara.

[6] Even before the appointment of Kahar as the commander of KGS, he had sent 2 of his staff officers, Saleh Sjahban and Bahar Mattaliu, to South Sulawesi to establish contact with the guerrilla forces there in April 1949.

After the formal recognition of Indonesia's independence by the Dutch, Kahar suddenly found himself an unemployed officer when the KGS was disbanded.

At the same time, fighting broke out between the newly established army command in South Sulawesi and KGSS, when the latter demanded to be part of the TNI.

The military commander of East Indonesia, Kawilarang, rejected the guerrillas' demands in a meeting with Kahar on 1 July 1950.

[3] Kahar became the leader of the movement, with his presence further encouraging the men, who looked up to him for his record as a soldier with the highest rank from Sulawesi.

[6] Though essentially enemies of the Republic, there were moments when KGSS assisted the Republican Army, notably in ensuring them a safe landing-place during the Andi Abdul Azis' rebellion and fighting against the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) However, during one of these assists, an incident occurred which cemented the hatred of the Sulawesi population against the Javanese, and by extension, the central government.

Kahar only replied on 20 January 1952, accepting the invitation to make Sulawesi part of the Islamic State of Indonesia.

"[2] On 27 February 1952, Kartosuwirjo replied to Kahar's letter, appointing the latter as the commander of Division IV, Hasanudin of the Indonesian Islamic Army.

[7] On 7 August 1953, Kahar formally proclaimed South Sulawesi as part of the West Java Darul Islam at a gathering in Makalua.

In 1955, Kahar, in the name of the East Indonesia DI, called to the Muslim community, ulema, and Islamic political parties to understand the content of the term jihad.

He founded a youth organization, Pemuda Islam Jihad, whilst his wife, Susana Corry van Stenus, instituted a woman's fighter corps called Laskar Wanita.

Moreover, Kahar was always surrounded by 2 platoons of armed bodyguards, and he carried a rifle, not a grenade, as was mentioned in the radio news and newspapers which reported on his death.

[citation needed] All these witness accounts point not to the death of Kahar, but to a mere disappearance, a view that was supported by his followers.

"[8] Another version that claims to refute Kahar's death draws on the Sulawesi tradition of a tomanurung (one who descends from heaven) who comes to earth to serve the ruler by protecting the general population from corrupt, authoritarian and abusive leaders.

These suggestions of Kahar as a tomanurung are usually accompanied by accounts of him living in exile, where he was both engaged in strategic work and at the same time practicing Sufi meditation.

This new identity of Kahar, many believed, was Syamsuri Abdul Madjid also known as Syekh Imam Muhammad Al Mahdi Abdullah.

Mansur's version of events at the time of Kahar's supposed death, though gotten third-hand and thus less reliable, had been the one that has galvanised the movement's followers.

A core group of contemporary Kahar's loyalists includes a number of members of NGOs who are involved in a varied field of activities ranging from cooperatives, legal practice and farming, to youth training, and professionals employed in Sulawesi as teachers, lecturers, lawyers, consultants and engineers.

In addition to evoking stories of his escape or his tomanurung status, contemporary staff members of the movement also institutionalise their stance on Kahar's death through the use of slogans attributed to him such as 'Javanese colonialism' and 'Majapahitism'.

[11] In contemporary time, Kahar's movement had been institutionalized in the form of two branch organizations, the Komite Persiapan Pelaksanaan Syariat Islam (Organizing Committee for the Preparation for the Application of Islamic Law; KPPSI) which was founded by Kahar's son Abdul Aziz 2000, and Pusat Amanat Referendum Rakyat Sulawesi (Center for Trusteeship of the Sulawesi People's Referendum; PARAS) which was also established in 2000.

Several reasons for this had been brought forth, such that Kahar saw a need to 'Islamize' his DI community in South Sulawesi, and that he wrote for a general audience to help outsiders understand the nature of formalist Islamism.