Because of continued grievances toward the central government in Java due to, among other things, the lack of regional autonomy, on 2 March 1957, Ventje Sumual declared the Universal Struggle Charter or "Piagam Perjuangan Semesta (Permesta)". The movement's center was Manado and Minahasa in North Sulawesi where Kawilarang was from. The movement allied itself with a separate movement based in Sumatra called the "Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia" or "Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (PRRI)". Kawilarang had been monitoring the situation from Washington and had concluded that the central government in Java and its mismanagement was to blame for the regional crisis. In March 1958, he informed the Indonesian ambassador to the US, Murkoto, that he would be leaving for North Sulawesi. He left his post on 22 March 1958.