Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati (new spelling: Cokorda Gde Raka Sukawati), (15 January 1899 in Ubud, Gianyar, Bali – 1967) was the only President of the State of East Indonesia from 1946 to its disestablishment in 1950. He served from 1946 until the dissolution of the East Indonesian State in 1950. His title, Tjokorda Gde, signalled that Soekawati belonged to the highest ksatria (one of the four noble castes in Bali). He had two wives, the first a Balinese, Gusti Agung Niang Putu, who gave him a son named Tjokorda Ngurah Wim Sukawati. In 1933, he married a French woman named Gilbert Vincent, who gave him two children.
Biography
Early life and education
Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati was born on 15 January 1899 in the city of Ubud on the island of Bali, then part of the Dutch East Indies and now part of the Gianyar district of the Indonesian province of Bali. Balinese by ethnicity, he belonged to the Balinese caste of ksatria, corresponding to the Indian kshatriyas, as indicated by the component "Tjokorda" in his name. Sukawati family from the beginning of the XIX century ruled Ubud, the principality of Gianyar; the latter, in turn, depended on the Dutch administration. Sukawati's father, Tjokorda Gede Sukawati, was the ruler of Ubud at the time of his son's birth.
In his young years, Soekawati attended a school for Indonesian officials. In 1918, as a candidate Indonesian civil servant, he was an official Indonesian candidate appointed by the Bandung auditors. At the end of the same year he was mantri police (a title for native officials) to Denpasar. In 1919, he had political ambitions and was promoted to Punggawa (district) of his birthplace Ubud. In 1924 he was elected member of the Volksraad, which he held until 1927. Then, in the same year, he was a member of the board of delegates of the Volksraad. At the end of 1931 At the end of 1931, he abdicated in favor of his younger brother, Tjokorda Gde Agung Soekawati, and went to study in Europe. At the end of 1931 he left for Europe on a study assignment and first acted as head of the Balinese section of the Dutch exhibition at the international colonial exhibition in Paris. He then went to the Netherlands for his actual study assignment, which included the study of cooperative systems in agriculture and livestock breeding, about which he submitted a report on his return to the Indies in 1932. Until 1931 Sukawati remained a member of the board of delegates and until the Japanese invasion he remained a member of the Volksraad.
Political activities
After his return in 1932, he took a seat on various committees, such as the Agrarian Committee - where he, together with Prof. Logemann, dealt with the problem of Indonesian fundamental rights, among other things. Moreover, after his return from Europe, he was made available as a resident of Bali and Lombok and was also charged with the administration of justice in Boeleleng-Bandoeng and Karangaseni. A year after the Japanese capitulation, he started his political career. In July 1946, he was delegated to Malino , where he was chairman of the contact committee. At this conference he was also elected as a member of the advisory board for Borneo and East Indonesia. At the Denpasar Conference, he again chaired the General Committee. At the end of August 1946, he stayed in the Netherlands for a short time, together with the sultan of Pontianak, Syarif Hamid II, to give information about the Conference of Malino.