On 19 December 1948, Dutch troops attacked and occupied Yogyakarta, capturing virtually the entire Republican leadership, including Sukarno, Hatta, Syahrir, and many others. The captives were quickly exiled to various locations, and the three mentioned above ended up on Bangka island. After the attack, Syafruddin Prawiranegara led a defiant Emergency Government from his base in Sumatra. For the time being, Sultan Hamengku Buwono and the Pakualam were left alone in their palaces.

As soon as the attack became known, an urgent cabinet meeting considered the options. Because many ministers were out of Yogyakarta, the numbers attending were small. Prime Minister Hatta was in Kaliurang, where, although recovering from a minor illness, he had been conducting talks with the UN Committee of Good Offices representatives, especially the Australian representative Critchley, and Hamengku Buwono, who was also slightly ill, volunteered to fetch him. At this stage Sukarno was still assuming that he and Hatta should take to the hills and try to evade capture.

Accompanied by Sutan Syahrir, Hamengku Buwono stopped at the Kepatihan building to tell Honggowongso to prepare a refuge for the Central Government in the Gunung Kidul area, as previously planned. They drove towards Kaliurang but encountered Hatta in Pakem Street (now Jalan Kaliurang) in the city, which was already under heavy Dutch bombardment, after which they returned to the presidential palace at about 11 a.m. By the time they had returned, the cabinet meeting had apparently already concluded.

Col Simatupang had counselled the leadership to retreat to Wonosari, but Sukarno changed his mind and decided to allow himself to be captured by the Dutch. One reason for this was that the leaders would need to be guarded by at least one battalion of soldiers, and the TNI could not spare so many. If the leaders stayed in Yogyakarta, they could also remain in contact with the GOC representatives as long as possible. Another rationale was that it would be much easier for the Dutch to assassinate the Republican leaders in some remote region, than if they were captured in the centre of the capital before many witnesses.