Yamato Hotel incident

[2] After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence and the issuance of the Sukarno government edict on 31 August 1945 which stipulated that from 1 September 1945 the national flag, Sang Merah Putih, would be flown throughout Indonesia, the flag-raising movement expanded to all corners of Surabaya.

[4][5] A group of Dutch people under the leadership of W. V. C. Ploegman on the evening of 19 September 1945, at 21.00, raised the Dutch flag, without the consent of the Surabaya Residency Government (which was pro-Jakarta), on the top level of the Yamato Hotel, on the north side of it, to mark the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina, in an open defiance of the 1 September order from the capital.

As a representative of Indonesia, he conferred with Ploegman and his friends and requested that the Dutch flag be immediately lowered from the Yamato Hotel building.

Hariyono, who had been with Sudirman, returned to the hotel and became involved in climbing the flagpole and together with Kusno Wibowo managed to lower the Dutch flag, tear off the blue part, and hoist it to the top of the pole again.

Eventually Major General D.C. Hawthorn (the commander of the 23rd British Indian Division) asked President Sukarno for help to defuse the situation and call a ceasefire.

[6] The ceasefire failed and coupled with the death of Brigadier General Mallaby, resulted in the issuance of the 10 November ultimatum by the British, which sparked, in the history of the Indonesian National Revolution, a chain of events that led to the historic Republican resistance in the Battle of Surabaya.