Republic of Indonesia

D

The Consolidation of Dutch Control

Britain occupied Java briefly (1811-1816) during the Napoleonic Wars. Both the British and later the Dutch tried to centralize and reform Java’s administration. The Dutch wavered between opening the area to individual enterprise and reverting to a monopoly system. From 1825 to 1830 the Javanese prince Diponegoro led a guerrilla revolt against the Dutch. The wars, which left as many as 200,000 dead, cost the Dutch huge sums of money and they ultimately decided for a government monopoly. The Dutch annexed large areas of central Java and in 1830 introduced the Culture System, under which peasants had to devote part of their land (officially one-fifth, but usually far more) to cultivating government-designated export crops instead of rice. Extremely profitable for the Dutch, the system was blamed for widespread famine in parts of Java in the 1840s and 1850s.

As the Dutch penetrated Javanese society more deeply, they also expanded their control to other regions. By 1837 they had imposed their rule over parts of the Sumatran interior, and in 1858 they annexed the northeastern coastal principalities. Dutch rule beyond Java, however, was sometimes indirect.

In the mid-19th century Dutch liberals campaigned against the Culture System, and by the 1870s some of the system’s harshest aspects were removed. The new Liberal Policy gave farmers more freedom to grow crops they wanted. Oil, tin, and rubber later began to replace coffee, sugar, and tobacco as the main exports to Europe. These products came largely from outside Java, and the Dutch took control of the islands where they were produced. In the late 19th century the Dutch were engaged in a 30-year war with Aceh and Bali, which ended in 1908 in the former and 1909 in the latter. By this time, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and most of Borneo had also been brought under firmer Dutch control.

E

The Growth of Nationalism

At the beginning of the 20th century the Dutch introduced the Ethical Policy, under which farming and limited health and educational services for Indonesians were developed. Railways, roads, and interisland shipping were also expanded. The policy helped create two new social elements: a few Western-educated Indonesians and a smaller group of Indonesian entrepreneurs, who began to compete with a predominantly Chinese commercial class. The newly educated and somewhat prosperous Indonesians grew resentful of the colonial structure that denied them a role commensurate with their education and abilities.

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The first important vehicle for the anti-Dutch nationalist movement was the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union), established in 1912. Growing out of a protective association for batik merchants, the Sarekat Islam by 1918 claimed a membership of more than 2 million people throughout the archipelago. The Dutch were initially conciliatory toward Sarekat Islam, and in 1916 they established the Volksraad (People’s Council). In the Volksraad, selected representatives of major population groups could deliberate and offer advice to the government. After World War I (1914-1918), however, and especially after an abortive Communist-led insurrection in 1926 and 1927, the Dutch government adopted a more repressive policy.

In the 1920s the Indonesian nationalist movement was headed by leaders who were not primarily Muslim, notably Sukarno, an advocate of complete independence who founded the Indonesian Nationalist Party (Partai Nasional Indonesia, or PNI) in 1927. Despite the Dutch arrests and exiles of Sukarno (1929-1931, 1933-1942), Muhammad Hatta (1934-1942), and other nationalist leaders and the banning of the PNI and other noncooperating parties, the nationalist movement maintained its momentum. Only after Germany overran The Netherlands during World War II (1939-1945), however, did the Dutch even hint at a postwar transfer of political authority.

F

The Japanese Occupation

In 1942 the Japanese invaded and occupied Indonesia. Anxious to mobilize Indonesian support behind their regime, the Japanese gave Sukarno and his associates symbolic political freedom. The Japanese regime was repressive, however, because they had strategic concerns about Indonesian resources, particularly petroleum, and because they feared Allied counterattacks. They forced tens of thousands of people into conscripted labor and many did not survive.

In September 1943 the Japanese established militias in Java, Bali, and Sumatra, giving thousands of young men military training and forming the nucleus of the postwar independence army. In October 1944, in order to muster support against anticipated Allied attacks, the Japanese promised eventual Indonesian independence and subsequently offered limited self-government. Throughout most of the occupation, however, Japan’s harsh behavior and the growing economic hardships alienated Indonesians.

G

The Postwar Struggle for Independence

On August 17, 1945, two days after Japan surrendered to the Allies, Sukarno and Hatta declared an independent Republic of Indonesia and were selected as its president and vice president. By the time British troops landed on the islands in late September, a functioning republican administration was already established in many parts of Java and Sumatra. The British withdrew in November 1946 and persuaded the Dutch and the young republic to sign the Linggajati Agreement, which recognized the authority of the republic in Java and Sumatra and specified plans for a federal Indonesia.

In July 1947, however, the Dutch launched attacks, claiming that Indonesians had violated the agreement. The attacks extended Dutch control to about two-thirds of Java and to many of the large estates and oil fields on Sumatra. Several members of the UN protested the Dutch attacks, prompting the creation of a UN Good Offices Commission. The commission oversaw the signing of the Renville Agreement between the two sides in 1948. The agreement recognized Dutch control of the areas it had taken in 1947 but promised those areas a vote to determine their future. Meanwhile, the Dutch had blockaded the republican territory, inflicting intense economic hardship and building support among Indonesians for fighting the Dutch instead of negotiating with them. The popular sentiment was one cause for a failed Communist-led uprising in September 1948 at Madiun against the republic’s leadership.

In December 1948 the Dutch defied a UN cease-fire and again attacked the republic. The republic’s capital, Yogyakarta, was captured and most of its top leaders, including Sukarno and Hatta, were arrested and exiled. The Dutch were initially successful, but guerrilla resistance and pressure from the international community gradually motivated the Dutch to accommodate the Indonesians. In 1949 at a conference in The Hague, The Netherlands agreed to transfer sovereignty over all of Indonesia, except West Irian (now Papua), to the federal Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RUSI) by the end of that year.

H

The Sukarno Regime

In August 1950 the Unitary State of Indonesia replaced the RUSI. The government’s first task was to create a viable state from Indonesia’s many people and cultures; but it also had to quell sporadic uprisings of Muslim groups in West Java and Aceh as well as Dutch-led antirepublican movements in Sulawesi and the Moluccas. The nationwide elections of late 1955 gave none of parliament’s parties a majority, and only one party, the Masjumi, had a significant following outside Java. Both before and after the elections the government was criticized for being factional, corrupt, ineffective, and for maintaining few ties to the regions it was supposed to represent.

In 1956 President Sukarno called for reforming the party system and replacing liberal democracy with what he eventually called “Guided Democracy,” which would give the president wider government authority. It took Sukarno three years to implement Guided Democracy. In the meantime, the outer islanders grew increasingly resentful of the central government. They were especially upset over the small funding they received for economic development, despite contributing a large share of Indonesia’s export earnings. These and other factors prompted military coups on Sumatra and Sulawesi from December 1956 to March 1957, all of which were eventually put down. On February 15, 1958, army dissidents in Sumatra, supported by counterparts in Sulawesi and by several leaders of Masjumi, proclaimed the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia. The rebels received covert aid from the United States and Taiwan but the forces of the central government soon defeated them. Guerrilla actions continued, however, until 1961.

In 1959, with his Guided Democracy in place, Sukarno pursued an active foreign policy. He demanded The Netherlands surrender West Irian (which, following a brief period of UN administration, was finally turned over to Indonesia in 1963), and he opposed the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. Domestically, the economic decline continued and both the army and the Communists (Partai Komunis Indonesia, or PKI) increased their power, with tension growing between the two groups.