Career
After the party was labeled subversive by colonial court of law in 1913, he and his fellow Intellectual Property leaders were exiled to the Netherlands. Unlike other Javanese nationalist leaders, Tjipto"s belief in democracy remained strong until the end of this life and in his view the traditional character of feudal Javanese civilization had to change. He considered western education and its subsequent social and cultural dislocation as indispensable in creating a revolutionary atmosphere.
He disagreed with Budi Utomo"s emphasis on the reinvigoration of traditional Javanese civilization.
In a 1916 debate he stated: “The psyche of the Javanese people needs to be changed to such an extent that a change of language, or more cynically a killing of a language becomes urgent. Only in this way will it be possible to build another language on its ruins and also another civilization."
Tjipto married his Indo (Eurasian) wife Marie Vogel in 1920.
When the three Intellectual Property leaders returned to the Dutch East Indies his two compagnons eventually took the path of education, while Tjipto always remained politically active. Tjipto then became his main political mentor and turned him into a convinced radical nationalist.
"In some ways this close relationship between Tjipto and Sukarno was not surprising.
Both were highly intelligent men and extremely sensitive to the reality of the colonial situation, an injustice they took as a personal insult."
Both men were relentless and uncompromising independence fighters professing a deep concern with the plight of the poor peasant. As early as 1910 Tjipto had devoted his unstinting services to the Javanese people during an outbreak of the plague. Tjipto co-founded the "National Party of Indonesia" (PNI), chaired by Sukarno.
Soon thereafter he attempted to foment revolt among the Indonesians serving in the KNIL and was exiled again in 1927, this time to Banda.
On Banda he was later joined by other leading revolutionaries like Hatta and Sjahrir. However, during his 11-year-long exile he was unable to further any significant political activity.
He died in 1943 and was buried in Ambarawa. After Indonesian independence the "Centrale Burgerlijke Ziekeninrichting Salemba" was renamed the "Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital".