Sutan Sjahrir (5 March 1909 – 9 April 1966), an avant garde and idealistic Indonesian intellectual, was a revolutionary independence leader. He became the first prime minister of Indonesia in 1945, after a career as a key Indonesian nationalist organizer in the 1930s and 1940s.

Although Sjahrir was one of the most significant Indonesian politicians of his time, he did not engage in politics through a sense of vocation nor out of interest, but rather through a sense of duty to his country and compatriates and commitment to his democratic ideals. Described as an omnivorous intellectual Sjahrir had education at the heart of his passion.

"I really find teaching the greatest work there is, for helping young people to shape themselves is one of the noblest tasks of society." Sutan Sjahrir.

Sjahrir was a close associate of the older statesman Mohammad Hatta, a key leader of the Indonesian revolution and leader of the Indonesian underground resistance during the Japanese occupation. When in his fifties his relationship with Soekarno deteriorated Sjahrir was gaoled. He died in exile, his name discredited and erased from Indonesian textbooks. In the 21st century Sjahrir was re-discovered as one of the greatest Indonesian intellectuals and statesmen.

Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (February 11, 1908 – July 17, 1994), was born in Natal, North Sumatra. His family came from Minangkabau who migration in 19th century. He was a founder and editor of Poedjangga Baroe. He became one of Indonesian literature's guiding lights in its formative years, particularly in the time around independence. Sutan Takdir believed that Indonesia could learn from the values of western civilization and remained a great exponent of modernism throughout his life. A renaissance man himself - the authors of tens book on a range of subjects - he was working on a novel at the time of his death in 1994. The famous novel, Layar Terkembang, showed him as a progressive author. He died in Jakarta on July 17, 1994.

Alisjahbana was born on 11 February 1908.

His first novel, Tak Putus Dirundung Malang (Misfortune without End) was published by Balai Pustaka in 1929.

Together with Amir Hamzah and Armijn Pane, they founded and edited a journal that contained the best work of prewar writers, called Poedjangga Baroe (The New Writer), and the journal was first published in 1933. In 1953, he edited Konfrontasi (Confrontation) as a substitute for Poedjangga Baroe.