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The article profiles Indonesian nationalist Gatot Mangkupraja, who was politically active throughout his adult life. It highlights the role of Mangkupraja on the formation of Pembela Tanah Air, Defenders of the Homeland (PETA). It also mentions the memoir of Mangkupraja entitled "The PETA and My Relations With the Japanese: A Correction of Soekarno's Autobiography" that presents his claims on his pleadings to the Japanese authorities to allow Indonesians to form their own defense force.

The article discusses the conventional historiography of Indonesia, during the Second World War equated with the Japanese occupation from 1939-1942. According to the author, there is an argument that was a prelude to these conditions, including the changes in the global economic structure and the countermeasures made by the state authorities. Thus, the author stresses that the gradually deepening economic isolation that necessitated state intervention was the problem.