After the Old Republic captured Jakarta, the then capital city of the Indoneisan States, The Nederlandse Overheid retreated across Java, into south-western Sumatra. A city in that area, populated almost completely by Dutch supporters of the Nederlandse Overheid, housed the Overheid soldiers and politicians. They claimed that this city was the new Capital of the Indonesian States, and that the Old republic had not destroyed the rightful government, the Overheid. The Old Republic then sent soldiers to take over the city. They quickly captured the jungles by the city, and then demanded that the Nederlandse Overheid surrender. They refused.