n 1918, the Dutch authorities in the Dutch East Indies established a partly-elected

People's Council, the Volksraad, which for the first time gave Indonesian
nationalists a voice. Meanwhile, Indonesian students studying in the Netherlands
formed the Perhimpoenan Indonesia, or Indonesian Association. Among its leaders
were future Indonesian vice-president Mohammad Hatta and future prime minister
Sutan Sjahrir. In September 1927, Hatta and other members were arrested for
inciting resistance to Dutch authority in the East Indies, but thanks to a rousing
defense speech by Hatta, they were acquitted.[6][7] Back in the East Indies, in
1927, nationalist and future Indonesian president Sukarno turned his study club
into the Indonesian Nationalist Association, which in May 1928 became the
Indonesian National Party (PNI). The party aimed to achieve Indonesian independence
through mass-based non-cooperation with the authorities. In October 1928, the
representatives at a Youth Congress held in Batavia, the capital, adopted the
ideals of one motherland, Indonesia; one nation, the nation of Indonesia; and one
language, the Indonesian language. This expression of national unity was a reaction
to the older generation, which tended to identify with their region or ethnicity,
and subsequently became known as the Youth Pledge.[8][9][10]