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Hamid Algadri or Hamid Al-Gadri (, ; 1912-1998) was an Indonesian independence fighter and was meritorious in negotiating the Linggadjati Agreement, Renville Agreement, Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference (Konferensi Meja Bundar, KMB) and one of the members of parliament in the founding days of the Republic of Indonesia.
He received his basic education from ELS, which he continued to middle school (MULO) 1928 - 1933, and AMS (High school) majoring in Classical Western civilizations from 1933 to 1936. In 1930 Hamid affiliated himself in Jong Islamieten Bond (JIB) in Surabaya, a youth organization initiated by nationalist activists such as Agus Salim. He moved to Batavia in 1936 and became student in the Recht Hoge School (RHS, law school) in Batavia, but was unable to finish because the University was closed during Japanese occupation in 1942. After Indonesian Independence and with the initiative of Prof. Djokosoetono (the first Dean of the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia and co-founder of Indonesian Police Academy), he was able to earn his master in de rechten (MR, Master in Law) in 1952. He was the first Arab-Indonesian who entered the university. At the university, Hamid was active in youth organizations within or outside campus, such as at Perhimpunan Pelajar-Pelajar Indonesia (PPPI, Indonesian Student Association ), Indonesia Muda (Young Indonesia), Studenten Islam Studie Club, Unitas Studiosorum Indonesisensis and Baperpi (Badan Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia, Indonesian Student Association Board ). His youth career was such as being an editor of USI magazine and as vice president of Baperpi.
While still as student, Hamid joined the Arab Union of Indonesia (Persatuan Arab Indonesia or PAI) which was established in 1934 by AR Baswedan.
When Sjahrir became head of KNIP, Hamid who was in Pasuruan was summoned and given the task to work in Jakarta. At that time Soedjatmoko, Soedarpo, Soebadio Sastrosatomo were called de jongens van Sjahrir (the children of Sjahrir). Hamid Algadri was also included in it and became member of the working committee of KNIP. During this period (1945 - 1949) he was also a high ranking official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Executive secretary of the Ministry of Information under Minister Mohammad Natsir, and editor of Sikap, a political magazine of PSI.
At a young age in Jakarta, Hamid lived on 13 Serang street. Hamid was chosen as one of the advisors to the Indonesian delegation during the negotiations of the Renville Agreement and Linggadjati Agreement. When the Dutch military aggression (Operation Product) broke out on 21 July 1947, Hamid along with other members of the Republican delegation in Jakarta were arrested, but with the intervention of Willem Schermerhorn, the chairman of the General Commission of the Netherlands, they were released immediately. After the Renville Agreement was signed in January 1948, the Dutch began to establish smaller states such as East Sumatra, State of Madura, Pasundan and State of East Indonesia (NIT) to oppose the creation of united Indonesian republic. Hamid and Ali Budiardjo then co-founded the plebiscite movement for Indonesia to campaign to the west to win supports of western countries. The movement tried to thwart the establishment of the State of Pasundan, but was not successful.
He also participated in the Indonesian delegation as an adviser to the Round Table Conference (RTC) in The Hague in 1949. The RTC produced an agreement for transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to Indonesia in late December 1949. At the time Hamid was member of parliament in the Foreign Affairs Commission, and had frequent official visits to various countries in Asia and Europe. He was member of delegation to the United Nations, United Kingdom and Pakistan.
In 1952, Habib Bourguiba and Tayeb Salim of Neo Destour of Tunisia came to Indonesia to ask for help gaining independence from France. Then in 1956, Lakhdar Brahimi and Muhammad Ben Yahya, from Algeria came asking for similar help. At that time Hamid was the Committee Chairman of the Foreign Affairs in the Indonesian parliament. He was officially given the responsibility to assist both groups, and he eventually became Secretary General of Algeria and Tunisia Aid Committee. Tunisia and Algeria asked for moral and material supports for their struggle from political parties. Indonesia, through Hamid's leadership, helped them by providing offices, cars, and a monthly allowance for their representatives in Jakarta, and by arranging that some foreign exchange from the sale of rubber were sent to them. Indonesia also sent an experienced guerrilla fighter, General Suwarto, to Algeria.
After the 1955 general election, he became chairman of the faction of the Socialist Party of Indonesia (PSI) in the Constituent Assembly in 1958, which convened in Bandung to write a new constitution. He voiced the disagreement of the PSI for the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia and after the talk failed to agreement of the proposed changes, the Constitutional Assembly agreed to back to 1945 constitution as an alternative way to overcome the crisis. On July 5, 1959, President Sukarno decreed the return to 1945 constitution and declared the dissolution of The Constitutional Assembly.
Hamid died of natural cause at Medistra hospital, Jakarta on January 25, 1998. He was buried in a simple ceremony led by then Minister of Foreign Affair Ali Alatas. His wife, Zena, died in 2020 at the age of 96.
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