On I Gusti Ngurah Rai (part 3)

During his life Rai often became a leader in his team during his childhood or after. Once Rai and his friend wanted to enter Pura (temple) in Samuan – not far from his village, but they were stopped by the people who had authority on the temple because they were using pants. He asked his friends to take gunny-sacks and they were used as sarong, some of Rai’s friends took kinds of towels as sarong. Of course those people were very angry for that and snapped at Rai. Due to the emotion of a teenager, Rai snapped back at them. Nobody dared to stop him entering the temple. In ± 1940s, he was a lieutenant in Prayoda Corps that belonged to the Dutch which was prepared to face the 2nd World War in Europe. In 1943 when Japan in Bali, he work in MBK (Mitsui Bushan Kaisha). The aim of MBK is to force villagers to give away their rice to Japan. This made Rai hated Japan so much. So, in 1944 Rai and some Balinese youngsters joined PETA, troop to defense the mother land. Here they fight against Japan with an underground resistance movement.

On October 1945 after the Indonesia Independence, BKR (Badan Keamanan Rakyat/People Safety Organization) was made in Bali and then it was integrated with the other organizations that concerned on how to defense the Indonesia Independence into TKR (Tentara Keamanan Rakyat/People Safety Soldier). Rai was a major in TKR. After the invasion of Denpasar on 11 April 1946 and after passing some battles in Badung and Tabanan, the crusader did a consolidation at Mundukmalang on 17 April 1946. Here, Rai decided to consolidate all organization into DPRI (Dewan Perjuangan Republik Indonesia/The Council of Republic of Indonesia’s Struggle) and Rai was chosen to lead DPRI and then he led DPRI Sunda Kecil (Bali and Nusa Tenggara).

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