AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Marking the gateway into Jember, the Patung Perjuangan is a roadside monument of two Indonesian freedom fighters, Lt. Col. M. Sroedji and dr. Soebandi, who fell in 1949 while resisting the returning Dutch. Standing at the end of the Jl. Hayam Wuruk double-way in Kaliwates, it is one of the first things travellers see entering the 'City of Tobacco' from the Surabaya side.↗↗
Also known locally as Patung Dwi Tunggal or Patung Pahlawan, the sculpture is less a polished tourist site than a piece of civic memory: a quiet, accessible tribute set into the flow of daily traffic, best appreciated if you pause to read the story written into its two figures.↗
Two heroes at the city gate
The monument is dedicated to two Jember independence fighters: Lieutenant Colonel (Letkol) M. Sroedji, who led thousands of troops and became a prime target of the Dutch, and Letkol dr. Soebandi, a physician and his close friend. Both belonged to the Damarwulan Division and died together on 8 February 1949 at Desa Karang Kedawung, in today's Mumbulsari district, when the Dutch ambushed their war-weary column after a near two-month guerrilla trek through forests and over mountains.
