The Total War Strategy: Challenges in Facing Traitor of the Nation: A Historical Approach During the Indonesian War of Independence

Abstract

The Indonesian state implements a total defense system, meaning that it involves all the people and all national resources, national facilities and infrastructure, as well as the entire territory of the country as one defense unit. This system demands awareness of the rights and obligations of every citizen to defend the state as a manifestation of its totality. Efforts to raise awareness of defending the state for every citizen are a formidable challenge, recorded in Indonesian history as inseparable from attempts to betray the nation's struggle. Based on this phenomenon, the writer is moved to reveal several historical events during the war for independence in 1945-1949 which recorded the existence of certain people and groups who became traitors to the nation. The discussion in this article uses a qualitative research method using a historical approach, in which the preparation procedure goes through four stages, namely: heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The data analysis used is historical analysis, with an emphasis on sharpness in interpreting historical facts. From the analysis conducted, it can be proven that during the war for independence in 1945-1949, the implementation of the total war strategy, which should have received the support of all the people, actually faced quite a tough challenge. This challenge was caused by the existence of certain people and groups who defected to side with the Netherlands, either by joining forces formed by the Netherlands or as spies for the Netherlands. Of course, this is very contrary to the values of state defense that must be possessed by every citizen.