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Rotary Club of Yogyakarta,
the First Club of Indonesia
Rotary International
District 3400 Part of our section on
Rotary in Asia
Yogyakarta, (sometimes spelt Djokjakarta,is the smallest province of Indonesia (excluding Jakarta).
It is located on the island of Java. It is the only province in Indonesia that is still formally
governed by a pre-colonial Sultanate: the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.
The history of the Rotary Club of Yogyakarta is a checkered one with scanty
and conflicting history.
There is no doubt that it was one of the earliest
Rotary Clubs in South East Asia, having been initiated by
Dutchman G. Jh. Westenenk
and chartered on 26 August 1927.
Its formation was quickly followed by Rotary Club of
Surabaya in 1928, and the Rotary Club of Jakarta 1930.
With the Japanese invasion of Indonesia in 1942, the
Rotary Club of Yogyakarta and 25 other clubs were forced to abandon with
their official deregistration taking effect on 31 December 1943.
On 14 June 1946, Rotary returned to Indonesia with the
formation of the Rotary Club of Bandung, but mention of Yogyakarta cannot be
found in any records on the internet or from any of our diligent Rotarians
in Indonesia.
In 1961 more cancellations of Rotary in Indonesia
occurred when the Government of the time prohibited all such associations
which had their base beyond the sea.
This prohibition continued until 1970 when Rotary was
again allowed to recommence and re-register its association with Rotary
International. In this era, the first Rotary club to be reformed was the
Rotary Club of Jakarta on 7 December 1970, followed by the Rotary Club of
Surabaya on 6 August 1971 and Rotary Club of Malang on 1 December 1971.
At the time of editing this history, some elements of
Indonesian society are again, attempting to force the Government to ban
Rotary Clubs throughout the country.
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