J. F. Keulemans was a Dutch businessman and civil servant who served as head of the Department of Cultural Affairs (Dep. van Cult. Zaken) of the Negara Sumatera Timur (N.S.T.) from its establishment on 20 February 1948 until his honourable discharge on 1 May 1950. Before the Second World War he had been a businessman (zakenman) in Atjeh.
Career in the N.S.T.
Upon the founding of the Negara Sumatera Timur on 20 February 1948, Keulemans was placed in charge of the Department of Cultural Affairs, which encompassed Education, Indonesian Culture, Public Health (Volksgezondheid), and Social Affairs. The Dutch-language newspaper Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra described him as “een harde werker, een door en door intègre en humaan bewindsman, een organisator en bouwer” (“a hard worker, a thoroughly upright and humane administrator, an organiser and builder”).
After Japan’s capitulation, Keulemans had on 6 November 1946 participated as secretary in the leadership of the Medan branch of the Red Cross (Rode Kruis). During the ensuing eighteen months he accomplished an enormous amount of work for the organisation. Among his published outputs were the annual reports for the years 1946 and 1947.
Departure
When it became clear that the Negara Sumatera Timur would be dissolved and absorbed into the unitary Republic of Indonesia — a process in which the pre-war residencies of Atjeh, Tapanuli, and East Sumatra (Oost-Sumatra) were to form the autonomous province of North Sumatra (Nd.-Sumatra) — Keulemans, who felt no affinity for Indonesian citizenship (warganegaraschap), requested and was granted honourable discharge effective 1 May 1950. He departed for the Netherlands on 9 May 1950 aboard the Cuanza with his wife.
He was succeeded as acting head of the department by Tengku M. Bahar, a member of the College of Delegates of the Provisional Council of the N.S.T.
Source
Oostkust van Sumatra-Instituut Mededeling No. 37: Deli-Figuren uit de jaren 1950 t/m 1952, compiled by Ir. F. J. J. Dootjes (Amsterdam, 1953).