Constitution of Indonesia
constitution of the Republic of Indonesia
The 1945 Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945, lit. 'Basic Law of State of the Republic of Indonesia Year 1945', commonly abbreviated as UUD 1945 or UUD '45) is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia.
The constitution was written in June–August 1945, in the final months of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies at the end of World War II. It was abrogated by the Federal Constitution of 1949 and the Provisional Constitution of 1950, but restored by President Sukarno's 1959 Decree.
The 1945 Constitution sets forth the Pancasila, the five nationalist principles, as the embodiment of basic principles of an independent Indonesian state. It provides for a limited separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. The governmental system has been described as "presidential with parliamentary characteristics." Following major upheavals in 1998 and the resignation of President Suharto, several political reforms were set in motion, via amendments to the Constitution, which resulted in changes to all branches of government as well as additional human rights provisions.
History
The writing
The Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies in 1942, defeated the Dutch colonial regime, and occupied it for the duration of World War II. Soon after, the territory then fell under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group (南方軍, Nanpō gun), based in Saigon, Vietnam. The Japanese divided the territory into three military government regions, based on the largest islands: Sumatra was under the Japanese 25th Army, Java under the Japanese 16th Army and East Indonesia (the eastern islands), including part of Borneo (Sarawak and Sabah were under the Japanese 38th Army) was under the Imperial Japanese Navy. As the Japanese military position became increasingly untenable, especially after their defeat at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, more and more native Indonesians were appointed to official positions in the occupation administration.
On 1 March 1945, the 16th Army established the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (Indonesian: Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan (BPUPK)), for Java. The 25th Army later established a BPUPK for Sumatra.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Constitution of Indonesia” is constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Constitution, Indonesia and constitution, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “constitution of the Republic of Indonesia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q49373. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1945, 1949, 1950 and 1959.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Constitution of Indonesia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Constitution of Indonesia primary sources, Constitution of Indonesia archive and Constitution research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Constitution of Indonesia”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Constitution of Indonesia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.