REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's first vice president Mohammad Hatta (1902 - 1980) had written 800 papers in the form of articles, lectures, speeches, essays, and papers. During that time, Hatta wrote it in various languages, namely Indonesian, Dutch, English, and a few writings in French.
"Hatta was an Indonesian scientist and intellectual who was productive in writing. He wrote from the age of 16 (1918) to 77 (1979)," Ismid Hadad, from the Indonesian Association for Economic and Social Knowledge Development (Bineksos), said here on Tuesday.
Hadad noted that Hatta's writings contained various ideas and in-depth thoughts about several topics on economics and finance, philosophy and culture, science and religion, as well as politics and statehood. Some of Hatta's writings were produced at the time before the Indonesian independence, both when he was abroad and in exile.
Hatta's works are recollected and published in 10 volumes with a title of Bung Hatta's Complete Work.
One of Hatta's daughters, Meutia Hatta, remarked that Hatta's monumental work "Ke Arah Indonesia Merdeka" (literally means Towards Free Indonesia) was written in 1932. In this work, he shared his ideas about nationality. According to Hatta, independence was a prerequisite for equality and brotherhood. In the article, he emphasized that in the concept of nationality, people hold power to control the state.