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they didnt have the technology or the knowledge for medicines to cure diseases so many died young

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Indonesia is a group of islands located in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific Ocean. The capital is Jakarta. It is the fourth most populated country in the world. The country is highly diverse, and has many languages and dialects. •Early European countries went to

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took over because Indonesia had many resources they needed

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Indonesia is a group of islands located in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific Ocean. The capital is Jakarta. It is the fourth most populated country in the world. The country is highly diverse, and has many languages and dialects. •Early European countries went to

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4th most populated. extremely diverse. capital is jakarta

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Indonesia is a group of islands located in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific Ocean. The capital is Jakarta. It is the fourth most populated country in the world. The country is highly diverse, and has many languages and dialects. •Early European countries went to

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Growth and impact of the Dutch East India Company

Regardless of whether Europeans constituted the primary historical force in 17th-century Indonesia, their presence undoubtedly initiated changes that in the long run were to be of enormous importance. The VOC itself represented a new type of power in the region: it formed a single organization, traded across a vast area, possessed superior military force, and, in time, employed a bureaucracy of servants to look after its concerns in the East Indies. In sum, it could impose its will upon other rulers and force them to accept its trading conditions. Under the governor-generalship of Jan Pieterszoon Coen and his successors, particularly Anthony van Diemen (1636-45) and Joan Maetsuyker (1653-78), the company laid the foundations of the Dutch commercial empire and became the paramount power of the archipelago.

During the 17th century the VOC went far toward establishing commercial control in the Indonesian islands. It captured Malacca from the Portuguese (1641), confined the British-after a period of fierce rivalry-to a factory at Bencoolen (now Bengkulu), in southwestern Sumatra, and established a network of factories in the eastern islands. Though it may have wished to limit its activities to trade, the company was soon drawn into local politics in Java and elsewhere, and, in becoming the arbiter in dynastic disputes and in conflicts between rival rulers, it inevitably emerged as the main political entity in the archipelago.

In the 1620s Sultan Agung, ruler of the central Javanese kingdom of Mataram and representative of the old and highly sophisticated Javanese civilization, sought to extend his power over Bantam (near present-day Banten) in western Java. This brought him into conflict with the Dutch, and he laid siege to the Dutch fortress at Batavia. Although Agung's forces were eventually compelled to withdraw, the result of the confrontation was inconclusive and left both the Dutch and the Javanese warily respectful of each other's strength. Dutch intervention in Javanese affairs increased in the later 17th and early 18th centuries, however, owing to internal dissensions within Mataram and a series of wars of succession between pretenders to the throne. In return for its services in 1674 to Amangkurat I, Sultan Agung's successor, and then to Amangkurat II shortly afterward, the VOC received the cession of the Preanger regions of western Java.

This was the first of a series of major territorial advances. In 1704 Dutch forces assisted in replacing Amangkurat III with his uncle, Pakubuwono I, in return for which further territory was ceded. In this way almost all of Java gradually came under Dutch control, and by 1755 only a remnant of the kingdom of Mataram remained. This was divided into two principalities, Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta) and Surakarta (Solo), which survived until the end of Dutch rule. In an attempt to control the pepper trade in Sumatra, the VOC established footholds in western Sumatra and in Jambi and Palembang over the course of the 17th century, and it interfered in local conflicts in support of rulers who favoured it. The main Dutch expansion in Sumatra did not take place until the 19th century, however.

In acquiring territorial responsibilities, the company did not at first establish a close administrative system of its own in the areas that were under its direct control. In effect, the VOC replaced the sovereign of the royal court and, in so doing, inherited the existing structure of authority. An indigenous aristocracy administered the collection of tribute on behalf of the company, and only gradually was this system converted into a formalized bureaucracy. The VOC, like the royal court before it, drew revenue in the form of produce from the peasantry within its domain.

To implement its commercial monopoly, the VOC established company factories for the collection of produce, pressured individual rulers to do business solely with the company, controlled the sources of supply of particular products (clove production, for example, was limited to Ambon, nutmeg and mace to the Banda Islands), and, in the 18th century, pushed through a system of forced deliveries and contingencies. Contingencies constituted a form of tax payable in kind in areas under the direct control of the company; forced deliveries consisted of produce that local cultivators were compelled to grow and sell to the company at a set price. There was little difference between the devices. In theory, forced deliveries were thought of as a form of trade in which goods were exchanged, but they were, in fact, as the British scholar J.S. Furnivall described it, "tribute disguised as trade," while contingencies were "tribute undisguised." In effect, the whole system of company trade was designed to extract produce from the East Indies for disposal in a European market-but without stimulating any fundamental technological change in the area's economy. The profits belonged to the company, not to the producers. The indigenous traders of the region were pushed aside by the VOC as it gained control of more and more of the export trade of the archipelago. The growth of Batavia resulted, for example, in the decline of the north coast ports of Java, through which much of the spice trade had been channeled since before the 15th century. In this way the traditional pattern of trade was checked and distorted.

During the 18th century the VOC ran into financial difficulties from a variety of causes: the breach of the company's monopoly by smuggling, the growing administrative costs as the company came to shoulder greater responsibilities of government, and the corruption of the company's servants. Further complicating matters, the Netherlands (at the time, the Dutch Republic) succumbed to France during the French revolutionary wars and was restructured and renamed the Batavian Republic in 1795. In 1799 the (Dutch) government of the republic terminated the affairs of the Dutch East India Company.

The French and the British in Java, 1806-15

The fall of the Netherlands to France and the dissolution of the company led in due course to significant changes in the administration of the East Indies. Under Napoleon I the Batavian Republic became the Commonwealth of Batavia and then the Kingdom of Holland, with one of Napoleon's marshals, Herman Willem Daendels, serving as governor-general. Daendels strengthened Javanese defenses, raised new forces, built new roads within Java, and improved the internal administration of the island. He attempted to formalize the position of the Javanese regents, subordinating them to Dutch prefects and emphasizing their character as civil servants of a central government rather than as semi-independent local rulers.

In 1811 Java fell to a British East India Company force under Baron Minto, governor-general of India, who, after the surrender, appointed Thomas Stamford Raffles lieutenant governor. Raffles approached his task with the conviction that British administrative principles, modeled in part on those developed in Bengal, could liberate the Javanese from the tyranny of Dutch methods; he believed that liberal economic principles and the cessation of compulsory cultivation could simultaneously expand Javanese agricultural production, improve revenue, and make the island a market for British goods. Along with his liberalism, Raffles brought to his task a respect for Javanese society. Before his appointment he had been a student of Malay literature and culture, and during his period in Batavia (Jakarta) he encouraged the study of the society he found about him. Raffles rediscovered the ruins of the great Buddhist temple Borobudur in central Java and published his History of Java in 1817, a year after his return to England.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London

Raffles carried further the administrative centralization begun by Daendels and planned to group the regencies of Java into 16 residencies. By declaring all lands the property of the government and by requiring cultivators to pay a land rent for its use, he proposed to end the compulsory production system. This, he believed, would free the peasants from servility to their "feudal" rulers and from the burden of forced deliveries to the Dutch and allow them to expand their production under the stimulus of ordinary economic motives. Raffles oversimplified the complexities of traditional land tenure, however. He misread the position of the regents, whom he at first mistakenly believed to be a class of feudal landholders rather than an official aristocracy. (The regents, in fact, had no proprietary rights in the land of their subjects.) But despite a series of adjustments in his original plan, Raffles was unable to devise an effective means of applying his theories before the return of Java to Dutch hands as part of the general settlement following the defeat of Napoleon.

Dutch rule from 1815 to c. 1920

Before the 19th century, Indonesian societies had experienced considerable pressure from Europeans, but they had not been consumed by Western influences. The political order of Mataram had been eroded, and the first steps had been taken toward administrative centralization in Java. In the outer islands, local rulers had been forced to submit in some measure to the will of the Dutch headquartered in Batavia (Jakarta). The trading patterns of the archipelago had been changed and constricted. Nevertheless, these were superficial developments when seen against the continuing coherence and stability of Indonesian societies. They were superficial, also, compared with the Western impact still to come.

When the Dutch returned to Indonesia in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, their main concern was to make the colony self-supporting. During the interregnum, both exports and revenue had declined sharply, despite Raffles's hopes for his land-rent system. The costs of government in Java were rising as a result of the growing complexity of administration. In restoring their authority, the Dutch retained the main outlines of the British system of residencies, regencies, and lower administrative divisions, though they did not, at first, follow exactly the attempts of Daendels and Raffles to turn the regents into salaried officials, specifically responsible to the residents. Rather, they saw the local regent as the "younger brother" of the Dutch resident. This difference in theory was perhaps of slight practical effect, since the tendency in lower levels of territorial administration continued in the direction of an increasingly centralized control. Several factors contributed to the trend: one was the need to deal with a series of disturbances, primarily in Java and western Sumatra but also on a smaller scale in Celebes, Borneo, and the Moluccas; a second was the new economic policy, adopted in 1830, which increased the economic responsibilities of local officials.

The Java War of 1825-30 precipitated from a number of causes. In part, it was the product of the disappointed ambitions of its leader, Prince Diponegoro, who had been passed over for the succession to the throne of Yogyakarta. It was also attributable, however, to growing resentment among the aristocratic landholders of Yogyakarta, whose contracts for the lease of their lands to Europeans had been canceled by the governor-general. There was support too from Islamic leaders, as well as other hidden factors-such as the expectation of the coming of a messianic Just Ruler, who would restore the harmony of the kingdom-that undoubtedly added to the climate of discontent. From this agitated atmosphere erupted a revolt that, through the skillful use of guerrilla tactics, continued to challenge Dutch authority for five years, until the Dutch seized Diponegoro during truce negotiations and exiled him to Celebes.

About the same time, the Dutch in western Sumatra were drawn into the so-called Padri War (named for Pedir, a town in Aceh through which Muslim pilgrims usually returned home from Mecca). Basically, the war was a religious struggle in Minangkabau country between revivalist Islamic leaders (called Padris) and the local adat ("customary law") leaders, who were supported by the Dutch. Under Tuanku Imam Bonjol, the Padri forces resisted Dutch pressure from the early 1820s until 1837. For the Dutch the effect of this involvement was inevitably a strengthening of administrative commitment in western Sumatra.

The formation in 1824 of the Netherlands Trading Society (Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij; NHM)-a company embracing all merchants engaged in the East Indies trade and supported by the government of The Netherlands with the king as its chief shareholder-did not produce the hoped-for commercial expansion. In 1830, however, a newly appointed governor-general, Johannes van den Bosch, devised a new method by which the government could tap the resources of the archipelago. This was the so-called Culture System, or Cultivation System ( Cultuurstelsel).

The Culture System provided that a village set aside a fifth of its cultivable land for the production of export crops. These crops were to be delivered to the government as land rent. Land rent, then, was the measure of the amount to be produced by each village. If a village, through the growing of export crops on a fifth of its land, returned an amount in excess of the land rent for which it had been assessed, it would be free of land rent and would be reimbursed to the extent of the excess; on the other hand, if a village produced less than the assessed amount of land rent, it would have to make up the difference.

From the government's point of view, the Culture System was an overwhelming success. Exports soared, rising from 13 million guldens (the Dutch currency) in 1830 to 74 million a decade later. The products were disposed of through the Netherlands Trading Society, and between 1840 and 1880 their sale brought to the Dutch treasury an annual average of 18 million guldens, approximately a third of the Dutch budget.

The effects of the system for the Javanese were, however, of more dubious value. Though its founder believed that, by stimulating agricultural production, the Culture System would ultimately benefit the people of Java as well as the home government, it later came to be considered both by Dutch critics and by outside observers a particularly harsh and burdensome policy. Van den Bosch's expectations were not entirely false, however. The policy did extend village production in certain areas, and the population of Java increased from 6 million to 9.5 million during the full operation of the system. The range of exports from Java was broadened, and indigo and sugar were the first items to be made the subject of compulsory cultivation; coffee, tea, tobacco, and pepper were subsequently added. Nevertheless, the system placed a heavy burden on the cultivators and tended to amplify social and economic inequities within rural society. Dominant peasants, members of a rural elite, were able to manipulate the system to their advantage. And while the Culture System brought the islands of the archipelago into contact with a wider overseas market, the East Indies government stood between producer and market, and the annual surplus added to Dutch, not Javanese, prosperity. The system did nothing to stimulate technological change or economic development for the Javanese people. An increasing commercial role was played not by the indigenous population but by Chinese immigrants, who fit into colonial rule as a separate caste, engaged in tax collection, moneylending, and small trading.

There were other consequences. The Culture System accentuated the differences between Java and the outer islands, and in Java it led to a considerable tightening of the administrative system. The regent became the kingpin of the system, responsible to the resident for the delivery of crops from his regency. Secure in the knowledge that they were backed by Dutch power, regents in some cases imposed additional burdens upon their subjects-a development that received trenchant criticism in the novel Max Havelaar (1860), written under the pseudonym Multatuli by the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker, a former official of the East Indies government. But the long-term effect of the new functions imposed on regents was to reduce their independence and to hasten the process, started by Daendels, by which a loosely structured administrative aristocracy was gradually converted into a salaried civil service. Regents were no longer able to draw their revenues from their subjects, and the lines of authority were clearly demarcated. Regents, aided by a junior Dutch official (the controleur), became clearly responsible to the Dutch residents above. By 1860 the administrative divisions of Java had been firmly established, and the service that staffed them had acquired the character it was essentially to preserve for the remainder of the colonial period.

In the 1860s the Culture System came under attack not only from humanitarian quarters but also from private business interests in The Netherlands. The latter appealed to liberal economic principles in support of their right to share in the riches of the East Indies; their pressure was effective. Although the Culture System was not abolished and continued for a number of years to make its contribution to the Dutch treasury, the decision was taken to encourage also the entry of private investment. The Liberal Policy, as it was called, was effectively inaugurated in 1870 by the adoption of an agrarian law that provided that European investors could acquire land under long-term leasehold, either from Indonesian landholders or, in the case of unoccupied land, from the government. Certain safeguards were provided for the Indonesian landholders: the provision that Europeans lease rather than purchase land was intended to prevent the alienation of Indonesian land, and the government was charged also with preventing Europeans from leasing land that was needed for the subsistence of village populations.

Within this framework Dutch capital began to flow to the East Indies on a scale that was to transform the character of the Indonesian economy and society. During the next 60 years there was a 10-fold increase in the value of exports (from 107 million guldens to 1.16 billion). There was a change also in kinds of products exported. Such exports as coffee, sugar, tea, and tobacco continued to expand, but such industrial raw materials as rubber, copra, tin, and oil soon came to dominate the export economy. These remarkable developments were in large measure the product of a totally different system of production. Under the company, during the interregnum, and, later, under the Dutch crown working through the Culture System, export crops were grown by Indonesian cultivators on their own land. Under the Liberal Policy, however, the new crops were the subject of estate production. Much economic expansion took place in Sumatra rather than Java, and Sumatra's east-coast residency became the seat of a vast new plantation economy. The estates were company-owned, and the economic developments of the late 19th century were indeed the product of corporate, rather than individual, enterprise.

Dutch territorial expansion

Rapid economic development was accompanied by territorial expansion. Although the Dutch had established their control effectively over Java by the mid-18th century and had gradually expanded their original holdings in Sumatra over the course of the 19th, their control over the rest of the archipelago was patchy and incomplete. It was exercised, in the main, through agreements with local rulers rather than through direct control over territory. In the closing years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, rapid moves were made to round out the Dutch empire and extend it effectively over the whole of the East Indies.

In northern Sumatra, warfare with the people of Aceh that lasted with varying degrees of intensity from 1873 to 1908 brought the northern tip of Sumatra under Dutch control. In Celebes and the Moluccas, where the Dutch had long exercised a general authority, a new instrument-the Short Declaration (in contrast to the earlier Long Contract)-bound local rulers to accept the control of Batavia. Dutch authority was extended in this way over Bone and Luwu in the Celebes, over central Borneo, over Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands, and over Ternate, Ceram, and Buru in the Moluccas. Footholds were established also over parts of western New Guinea. Communications were developed-roads and railways in Java and Sumatra and expanded shipping services to link Java to the outer islands-to serve the needs of the new plantation economy. Between 1870 and 1910 the Dutch had thus effectively completed the process of converting the East Indies into a unified colonial dependency and, indeed, of laying the foundations of the future Indonesian republic.

The " new imperialism" of the late 19th century may be seen as part of a worldwide movement whereby the industrial countries of western Europe partitioned among themselves the hitherto undeveloped areas of the globe. In Africa, in the South Pacific, and in Burma (Myanmar), Indochina, and Malaya, as well as in Indonesia, a new "forward movement" was taking place that stood in dramatic contrast to the earlier patterns of commercial empire. If the European presence created a veritable watershed in Indonesian history, it is to be discerned about 1870 (as opposed to 1511, which marked the establishment of a European base in the archipelago).

The social impact of these developments upon Indonesian society was tremendous. The economic and political expansion brought a new Dutch population to the East Indies: civil servants to staff the growing services of government, managers to run the new estates, and clerks to staff the import-export houses and other businesses. These new Dutch communities came to form European enclaves within the major cities, and their presence underscored the social divisions in what was increasingly a caste society divided along racial lines. The Dutch, however, were not merely a community of expatriates who were eager to retire as soon as possible to The Netherlands. Many of them regarded the East Indies as their home. Their sense of belonging was very different, for example, from that of the British in India, and it was to give an added bitterness to the later struggle to retain the colony after World War II.

From the Indonesian point of view, the growing cities became the home of a new urban way of life and stimulated social change. A new elite emerged under the influence of the expanding Western impact. So did a new class of unskilled and semiskilled workers who found employment as domestic servants or as labourers in the light industries that began to develop. Rural society, though more sheltered, was also altered by the currents of change. Although agrarian law and the later labour legislation had provisions to protect existing customary rights over land and to guarantee fairness of contracts for labourers, the mere fact of contract employment on the estates affected the village society from which workers were drawn and played its part in hastening the growth of a disoriented population, divorced increasingly from the shelter of traditional village society but not absorbed into the new urban culture.

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Indonesia - Growth and impact of the Dutch East India Company

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Indonesia - Growth and impact of the Dutch East India Company: Regardless of whether Europeans constituted the primary historical force in 17th-century Indonesia, their presence undoubtedly initiated changes that in the long run were to be of enormous importance.

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During the course of the 18th century the Dutch United East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC) had established itself as the dominating economic and political power on Java after the crumbling and collapse of the Mataram empire. This Dutch trading company had been a major power in Asian trade since the early 1600s, but started to develop an interest to interfere in indigenous politics on the island of Java in the 18th century as that would improve their hold on the local economy.

However, mismanagement, corruption and fierce competition from the English East India Company resulted in the slow demise of the VOC towards the end of the 18th century. In 1796 the VOC went bankrupt and was nationalized by the Dutch state. As a consequence its possessions in the archipelago passed into the hands of the Dutch crown in 1800. However, when the French occupied Holland between 1806 and 1815 these possessions were transferred to the British. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo it was decided that most parts of the archipelago would return to the Dutch.
Architects of the Dutch Colonial State in Indonesia
Two names stand out as being architects of the new Dutch colonial state in Indonesia. Firstly, Herman Willem Daendels, Governor-General from 1808 to 1811 during the French occupation of Holland and, secondly, British Lieutenant Sir Stamford Raffles, Governor-General from 1811 to 1816 during the British occupation of Java. Daendels reorganized the central and regional colonial administration by dividing Java into districts (also known as residencies), each one headed by an European civil servant - called the resident - who was directly subordinate - and had to report - to the Governor-General in Batavia. These residents were responsible for a wide range of matters in their residency, varying from legal matters to the organization of agriculture.

Raffles continued the reorganizations of his predecessor (Daendels) by reforming the judicial, police and administrative system of Java. He introduced the land-tax which meant that Javanese peasants had to pay tax, approximately the value of two-fifths of their annual harvests, to the authorities. Raffles also had a sincere interest in the cultures and languages of Java. In 1817 he published his The History of Java, one of the first academic works on the topic of Java. However, his administrative reorganizations meant an increasing intervention in Java's society and economy by foreigners, which is reflected by the growing number of middle ranked European officials working in the residencies. Between 1825 and 1890 this number increased from 73 to 190.

The Dutch system of rule in colonial Java was both direct and dualistic. Alongside the Dutch hierarchy, there existed an indigenous one which functioned as an intermediary between the Javanese peasants and the European civil service. The top of this indigenous structure consisted of the Javanese aristocracy, previously the officials that ran the Mataram administration. Now, however, they had to execute the will of the Dutch center.

The increasing Dutch dominance over Java did not come without resistance. When the Dutch colonial authorities decided to build a road on the land of prince Diponegoro (who was appointed as guardian of the throne of Yogyakarta after the sudden death of his half-brother), he rebelled, supported by a majority of the Javanese population in Central Java and turned it into a jihad war. This war lasted from 1825 to 1830 and resulted in the deaths of approximately 215,000 people, mostly on Javanese side. However, when the Java War was over - and prince Diponegoro captured - the Dutch were more dominant on Java than ever before.
The Cultivation System in Java
Competing British traders, the Napoleonic wars in Europe and the Java War implied a big financial burden on the Dutch kingdom's budget. It was decided that Java should become a major source of revenue for the Dutch and therefore Governor-General Van den Bosch ushered in the era of the Cultivation System in 1830. This system meant a Dutch monopoly on the cultivation of export crops on Java.

Moreover, it were the Dutch who decided what kind of crops (and in what quantity) had to be delivered by the Javanese peasants. Generally it meant that Javanese peasants had to hand over one-fifth of their harvests to the Dutch. In return the peasants received an arbitrarily fixed compensation in cash which basically had no relation to the value of the crop on the world market. The Dutch and Javanese officials received a bonus when their residency delivered more crops than on previous occasions, therefore stimulating top-down intervention and oppression. On top of this compulsory cultivation of crops and traditional corvee-labor services, Raffles' land tax still applied as well. The Cultivation System turned out to be a financial success. Between 1832 and 1852 around 19 percent of total Dutch state income was generated from the Javanese colony. Between 1860 and 1866 this figure reached around 33 percent.

Initially, the Cultivation System was not dominated by the Dutch authorities only. Javanese power holders and private European as well as Chinese entrepreneurs joined in as well. However, after 1850 - when the Cultivation System was reorganized - the Dutch colonial state became the dominant player. But these reorganizations also opened doors for private parties to start exploiting Java. A process of privatization commenced in which the colonial state gradually transferred export production to Western entrepreneurs.
The Liberal Period of Colonial Indonesia
More and more voices were heard in the Netherlands that rejected the Cultivation System and supported a more liberal approach for foreign enterprises. This rejection of the Cultivation System was both for humane and for economic motives. Around 1870 Dutch liberals had won their battle in Dutch parliament and successfully eliminated some of the characteristic features of the Cultivation System, such as the cultivation percentages and the compulsory use of land and labour for export crops.

These liberals paved the way for the introduction of a new period in Indonesian history, known as the Liberal Period (circa 1870 to 1900). This period is marked by a huge influence of private capitalism on colonial policy in the Dutch Indies. The colonial state now more or less played the role of supervisor in relations between Western enterprises and the rural Javanese population. But - although liberals claimed that the benefits of economic growth would trickle down to the local level - Javanese farmers suffering from hunger, famine and epidemics were just as common as under the Cultivation System.

The 19th century is also known as the century in which the Dutch made substantial geographical expansion in the archipelago. Driven by the New Imperialism-mentality, European nations were competing for colonies outside the European continent for both economic motives and status. One important motive for the Dutch to expand its territory in the archipelago - apart from financial benefit - was to prevent other European countries from taking parts of this region. The most famous and prolonged battle during this period of Dutch expansion was the Aceh War that started in 1873 and lasted until 1913, resulting in the deaths of more than 100,000 people. The Dutch would, however, never have full control over Aceh. But the political integration of Java and the Outer Islands into a single colonial polity had largely been achieved by the start of the 20th century.
The Ethical Policy and Indonesian Nationalism
When the borderlines of the Dutch Indies began to take the shape of present-day Indonesia, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina made an announcement in her annual speech in 1901 informing that a new policy, the Ethical Policy, would be launched. The Ethical Policy (acknowledging that the Dutch had a debt of honour towards the Indonesians) was aimed at raising the living standards of the native population. The means to accomplish this was direct state intervention in (economic) life, promoted under the slogan 'irrigation, education and emigration'. This new approach would, however, not prove to be a significant success in raising the living standards of Indonesians.

This Dutch Ethical Policy implied one profound and far-reaching side effect. Its educational component contributed significantly to the awakening of Pan-Indonesian nationalism by providing Indonesians the intellectual tools to organize and articulate their objections to colonial rule. The Ethical Policy provided a small Indonesian elite with Western political ideas of freedom and democracy. For the first time the native people of the Archipelago began to develop a national consciousness as 'Indonesians'.

In 1908 students in Batavia founded the association Budi Utomo, the first native political society. This event is often regarded as the birth of Indonesian nationalism. It established a political tradition in which cooperation between the young Indonesian elite and the Dutch colonial authorities was expected to lead to acquiring some degree of independence.

The next chapter in the development of Indonesian nationalism was the founding of the first mass-based political party, the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union) in 1911. Initially, it was formed to support the indigenous entrepreneurs against the dominating Chinese in the local economy but it expanded its scope and developed a popular political consciousness with subversive tendencies.

Other important movements that led to the unfolding of indigenous political thinking in the Dutch-Indies were the Muhammadiyah, an Islamic reformist socio-religious movement founded in 1912 and the Indonesian Association of Social Democrats, a communist movement founded in 1914 that spread Marxist ideas through the Dutch Indies. Internal disunity in the latter would later lead to the formation of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1920.

Initially, the Dutch colonial authorities permitted the establishment of indigenous political movements but when Indonesian ideologies radicalized in the 1920s (as seen in the communist uprisings in West Java and West Sumatra in 1926 and 1927) the Dutch authorities changed course. A relative tolerant regime was replaced by a repressive one in which every suspected act of subversive behaviour was suppressed. This repressive regime in fact only worsened the situation by radicalizing the entire Indonesian nationalist movement. Part of these nationalists established the Indonesian Nationalist Party ( Partai Nasional Indonesia, abbreviated PNI) in 1927 as a reaction to the repressive regime. Its goal was full independence for Indonesia.

Another important occasion for Indonesian nationalism was the declaration of the Youth Pledge in 1928. At this congress of youth organizations three ideals were proclaimed, to wit one motherland, one nation and one language. The main aim of this congress was to stimulate the feeling of unity between the young Indonesians. On this congress the future national anthem ( Indonesia Raya) was played and the future national flag ( merah-putih) was shown for the first time. The colonial authorities reacted with another act of suppression. Young national leaders, such as Soekarno (who would become Indonesia's first president in 1945) and Mohammad Hatta (Indonesia's first vice president) were arrested and exiled.
Japanese Invasion of the Dutch Indies
The Dutch were powerful enough to curb Indonesian nationalism by arresting its leaders and suppressing the nationalist organizations but never were they able to eliminate nationalist sentiment. The Indonesians, on the other hand, did not have the power to compete with the colonial rulers and therefore needed outside help to eliminate the colonial system.

In March 1942 the Japanese, fueled by their desire for oil, provided such help by occupying the Dutch Indies. Although initially welcomed as liberators by the Indonesian population, Indonesians would soon experience the hardship of the Japanese rule: scarcity of food, clothing and medicines as well as forced labour under harsh conditions. The scarcity of food was mainly caused by administrative incompetence, turning Java into an island of hunger. Indonesians working as forced labourers (called romusha) were stationed to work on labour-intensive construction projects on Java.

When the Japanese took over, Dutch officials were thrown in internment camps and were replaced by Indonesians to administer government tasks. The Japanese educated, trained and armed many young Indonesians and gave their nationalist leaders a political voice. This enabled the nationalists to prepare for a future independent Indonesian nation. In the final months before Japan's surrender, effectively ending World War II, the Japanese gave full support to the Indonesian nationalist movement. Political, economic and social dismantling of the Dutch colonial state meant that a new era was about to emerge. On 17 August 1945 Soekarno and Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia, eight days after the Nagasaki atomic bombing and two days after Japan lost the war. Click here to read an overview of Soekarno's Old Order
Different Perceptions of Indonesia's Colonial Period
There basically exist three "histories", or more accurately, three versions of Indonesia's colonial period:

1) Indonesian version
2) Dutch version
3) Academic version

It should be emphasized, however, that within each of these three groups - Indonesians, the Dutch, and academics (in this case mainly historians), - there exists plenty of variety. But we can discern three broad versions.

What separates the Indonesian and Dutch versions from the academic version is clear: the Indonesian and Dutch versions are colored by specific sentiments and/or political interests, while the academic version aims to deliver an objective and accurate version, not based on sentiments but on evidence (sources). The reader may now wonder which version he/she read just now? Well, the overview of Indonesia's colonial period that is presented above is a synopsis of the academic version. However, it is interesting to provide some information about the Indonesian and Dutch versions. With these versions we mean the general consensus and views that are shared by the people (this includes the ordinary people but also government officials, and those who wrote the history books for the younger generations, etc.) in each nation.

Obviously, the Indonesian and Dutch versions have a lot in common. However, due to both sides' involvement in this colonial history there exist some differences that can be attributed to sentiments and political interests.
Indonesian Perceptions
For example, when you talk to an Indonesian individual about the colonial period (whether the individual is highly educated or uneducated) he/she will say that Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for three and a half centuries. What is wrong with this statement? First of all, it supposes that Indonesia already was a unified nation in the late 1500s or early 1600s. However, in reality the country we now know as Indonesia was a patchwork of independent indigenous kingdoms that lacked a feeling of brotherhood or nationalist sentiment or any other sense of unity. In fact, wars between these kingdoms - either inter or intra island - were the rule rather than the exception.

Secondly, the whole area we now know as Indonesia was not conquered by the Dutch around the same time and then possessed for 3.5 centuries. On the contrary, it took centuries of gradual political expansion before the region was under Dutch control (and in several parts Dutch control was very superficial, such as Aceh). In fact, only around the 1930s the Dutch more-or-less possessed the whole area that we now know as Indonesia. Some parts indeed were colonized for 3.5 centuries (for example Batavia/Jakarta and parts of the Moluccas), other parts were dominated by the Dutch for some two centuries (such as most of Java) but most other parts of this huge archipelago were gradually conquered over the course of the 19th and early 20th century, and in many regions natives never saw a Dutch person.

So, why does there exist the view that (the whole of) Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for three and half centuries? The answer is politics. As becomes clear from the synopsis above, Indonesian nationalism was driven by the realization among the young and diverse people of the archipelago (whatever their ethnic, cultural or religious background was) that they had one common enemy: the Dutch colonial power. Having this enemy is basically what unified the native people of Indonesia. This also explains why - after the enemy was completely gone in 1949 - there emerged a prolonged and chaotic period in Indonesian politics and society between 1949 and 1967. With the enemy gone, all the underlying differences between the people of Indonesia came to the surface resulting in rebellions, calls for separatism, and impossible decision-making on the political level. Only when a new authoritarian regime, Suharto's New Order, took control, chaos disappeared (and, again, at the expense of human rights).

After Independence from the Dutch, the Indonesian government needed to keep the Indonesian nation unified. One smart strategy was by creating this common 3.5 century colonial history that was shared by all people in the Indonesian nation. If the Indonesian people would realize that they did not have the same history it would jeopardize the unity of Indonesia, especially in the fragile 1940s and 1950s.

In recent years, there start to become more and more Indonesians who are aware of this issue and argue that without the colonial period there would - most likely - not have developed a single Indonesian nation but more likely there would have been various separate nation states in line with the distribution of the old native kingdoms and empires in the Archipelago.
Dutch Perceptions
The Dutch also have plenty of reason to portray a colonial history that is different from reality. The Netherlands of the last couple of decades is a country that emphasizes the importance of human rights and this does not exactly match its 'rich' colonial history. Therefore, the violent nature of its colonial history is often not mentioned. Instead, the VOC period forms a source of national pride to the Dutch knowing that - despite being this tiny European country - it became the world's richest country in the 17th century (Dutch Golden Age), not only in terms of trade and military but also in terms of art and science.

An interesting example is when former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende became annoyed during a discussion with the Dutch House of Representatives in 2006. Responding to the House's pessimistic views of the Dutch economic future, Balkenende said "let us be optimistic, let us be positive again, that VOC mentality, looking beyond borders." It is an example of selective memory that signals the sense of pride that stems from the VOC period. It is fair to mention that this statement of Balkenende met criticism in the Netherlands.

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples that illustrate that the Dutch are in fact aware of the violent history (including slavery) that were key to turn the Netherlands into one of the world's most advanced nations. For example, statues in the Netherlands that glorify people from the VOC period and the government-led colonial period - such as Jan Pieterszoon Coen and J.B. van Heutsz - have either been removed or are criticized by the local Dutch population.

Another interesting case is the apology that was made by Dutch ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan in 2013. He apologized for the "excesses committed by Dutch forces" between 1945 and 1949, the first ever general apology. However, the Dutch government has never apologized for all violent events that occurred before 1945.

In conclusion, it seems that both Indonesian and Dutch perceptions are slowly moving toward the academic version because high emotions (whether resentment or pride) gradually wane as time goes by, while Indonesia's domestic political situation is stable and therefore there is less need to create one common history throughout the archipelago.
Sources:
* M.C. Ricklefs: A History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200
* H. Dick, e.a.: The Emergence of a National Economy. An Economic History of Indonesia, 1800-2000
* E. Locher-Scholten & P. Rietbergen, e.a.: Hof en handel: Aziatische vorsten en de VOC 1620-1720
* D. Henley e.a.: Environment, Trade and Society in Southeast Asia
* J. Touwen: Extremes in the Archipelago: Trade and Economic Development in the Outer Islands of Indonesia, 1900-1942
* H. Jonge & N. Kaptein e.a.: Transcending Borders: Arabs, Politics, Trade and Islam in Southeast Asia

Poll Indonesia Investments:

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Indonesia Colonial History - Dutch Occupation - Dutch East Indies | Indonesia Investments

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During the course of the 18th century the Dutch United East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC) had established itself as the dominating economic and political power on Java after the crumbling and collapse of the Mataram empire.

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VOC went bankrupt and possessions went to indonesia and it took a long slow expansion to make indonesia a territory

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VOC went bankrupt and possessions went to indonesia and it took a long slow expansion to make indonesia a territory

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During the course of the 18th century the Dutch United East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC) had established itself as the dominating economic and political power on Java after the crumbling and collapse of the Mataram empire. This Dutch trading company had been a major power in Asian trade since the early 1600s, but started to develop an interest to interfere in indigenous politics on the island of Java in the 18th century as that would improve their hold on the local economy.

However, mismanagement, corruption and fierce competition from the English East India Company resulted in the slow demise of the VOC towards the end of the 18th century. In 1796 the VOC went bankrupt and was nationalized by the Dutch state. As a consequence its possessions in the archipelago passed into the hands of the Dutch crown in 1800. However, when the French occupied Holland between 1806 and 1815 these possessions were transferred to the British. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo it was decided that most parts of the archipelago would return to the Dutch.
Architects of the Dutch Colonial State in Indonesia
Two names stand out as being architects of the new Dutch colonial state in Indonesia. Firstly, Herman Willem Daendels, Governor-General from 1808 to 1811 during the French occupation of Holland and, secondly, British Lieutenant Sir Stamford Raffles, Governor-General from 1811 to 1816 during the British occupation of Java. Daendels reorganized the central and regional colonial administration by dividing Java into districts (also known as residencies), each one headed by an European civil servant - called the resident - who was directly subordinate - and had to report - to the Governor-General in Batavia. These residents were responsible for a wide range of matters in their residency, varying from legal matters to the organization of agriculture.

Raffles continued the reorganizations of his predecessor (Daendels) by reforming the judicial, police and administrative system of Java. He introduced the land-tax which meant that Javanese peasants had to pay tax, approximately the value of two-fifths of their annual harvests, to the authorities. Raffles also had a sincere interest in the cultures and languages of Java. In 1817 he published his The History of Java, one of the first academic works on the topic of Java. However, his administrative reorganizations meant an increasing intervention in Java's society and economy by foreigners, which is reflected by the growing number of middle ranked European officials working in the residencies. Between 1825 and 1890 this number increased from 73 to 190.

The Dutch system of rule in colonial Java was both direct and dualistic. Alongside the Dutch hierarchy, there existed an indigenous one which functioned as an intermediary between the Javanese peasants and the European civil service. The top of this indigenous structure consisted of the Javanese aristocracy, previously the officials that ran the Mataram administration. Now, however, they had to execute the will of the Dutch center.

The increasing Dutch dominance over Java did not come without resistance. When the Dutch colonial authorities decided to build a road on the land of prince Diponegoro (who was appointed as guardian of the throne of Yogyakarta after the sudden death of his half-brother), he rebelled, supported by a majority of the Javanese population in Central Java and turned it into a jihad war. This war lasted from 1825 to 1830 and resulted in the deaths of approximately 215,000 people, mostly on Javanese side. However, when the Java War was over - and prince Diponegoro captured - the Dutch were more dominant on Java than ever before.
The Cultivation System in Java
Competing British traders, the Napoleonic wars in Europe and the Java War implied a big financial burden on the Dutch kingdom's budget. It was decided that Java should become a major source of revenue for the Dutch and therefore Governor-General Van den Bosch ushered in the era of the Cultivation System in 1830. This system meant a Dutch monopoly on the cultivation of export crops on Java.

Moreover, it were the Dutch who decided what kind of crops (and in what quantity) had to be delivered by the Javanese peasants. Generally it meant that Javanese peasants had to hand over one-fifth of their harvests to the Dutch. In return the peasants received an arbitrarily fixed compensation in cash which basically had no relation to the value of the crop on the world market. The Dutch and Javanese officials received a bonus when their residency delivered more crops than on previous occasions, therefore stimulating top-down intervention and oppression. On top of this compulsory cultivation of crops and traditional corvee-labor services, Raffles' land tax still applied as well. The Cultivation System turned out to be a financial success. Between 1832 and 1852 around 19 percent of total Dutch state income was generated from the Javanese colony. Between 1860 and 1866 this figure reached around 33 percent.

Initially, the Cultivation System was not dominated by the Dutch authorities only. Javanese power holders and private European as well as Chinese entrepreneurs joined in as well. However, after 1850 - when the Cultivation System was reorganized - the Dutch colonial state became the dominant player. But these reorganizations also opened doors for private parties to start exploiting Java. A process of privatization commenced in which the colonial state gradually transferred export production to Western entrepreneurs.
The Liberal Period of Colonial Indonesia
More and more voices were heard in the Netherlands that rejected the Cultivation System and supported a more liberal approach for foreign enterprises. This rejection of the Cultivation System was both for humane and for economic motives. Around 1870 Dutch liberals had won their battle in Dutch parliament and successfully eliminated some of the characteristic features of the Cultivation System, such as the cultivation percentages and the compulsory use of land and labour for export crops.

These liberals paved the way for the introduction of a new period in Indonesian history, known as the Liberal Period (circa 1870 to 1900). This period is marked by a huge influence of private capitalism on colonial policy in the Dutch Indies. The colonial state now more or less played the role of supervisor in relations between Western enterprises and the rural Javanese population. But - although liberals claimed that the benefits of economic growth would trickle down to the local level - Javanese farmers suffering from hunger, famine and epidemics were just as common as under the Cultivation System.

The 19th century is also known as the century in which the Dutch made substantial geographical expansion in the archipelago. Driven by the New Imperialism-mentality, European nations were competing for colonies outside the European continent for both economic motives and status. One important motive for the Dutch to expand its territory in the archipelago - apart from financial benefit - was to prevent other European countries from taking parts of this region. The most famous and prolonged battle during this period of Dutch expansion was the Aceh War that started in 1873 and lasted until 1913, resulting in the deaths of more than 100,000 people. The Dutch would, however, never have full control over Aceh. But the political integration of Java and the Outer Islands into a single colonial polity had largely been achieved by the start of the 20th century.
The Ethical Policy and Indonesian Nationalism
When the borderlines of the Dutch Indies began to take the shape of present-day Indonesia, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina made an announcement in her annual speech in 1901 informing that a new policy, the Ethical Policy, would be launched. The Ethical Policy (acknowledging that the Dutch had a debt of honour towards the Indonesians) was aimed at raising the living standards of the native population. The means to accomplish this was direct state intervention in (economic) life, promoted under the slogan 'irrigation, education and emigration'. This new approach would, however, not prove to be a significant success in raising the living standards of Indonesians.

This Dutch Ethical Policy implied one profound and far-reaching side effect. Its educational component contributed significantly to the awakening of Pan-Indonesian nationalism by providing Indonesians the intellectual tools to organize and articulate their objections to colonial rule. The Ethical Policy provided a small Indonesian elite with Western political ideas of freedom and democracy. For the first time the native people of the Archipelago began to develop a national consciousness as 'Indonesians'.

In 1908 students in Batavia founded the association Budi Utomo, the first native political society. This event is often regarded as the birth of Indonesian nationalism. It established a political tradition in which cooperation between the young Indonesian elite and the Dutch colonial authorities was expected to lead to acquiring some degree of independence.

The next chapter in the development of Indonesian nationalism was the founding of the first mass-based political party, the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union) in 1911. Initially, it was formed to support the indigenous entrepreneurs against the dominating Chinese in the local economy but it expanded its scope and developed a popular political consciousness with subversive tendencies.

Other important movements that led to the unfolding of indigenous political thinking in the Dutch-Indies were the Muhammadiyah, an Islamic reformist socio-religious movement founded in 1912 and the Indonesian Association of Social Democrats, a communist movement founded in 1914 that spread Marxist ideas through the Dutch Indies. Internal disunity in the latter would later lead to the formation of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1920.

Initially, the Dutch colonial authorities permitted the establishment of indigenous political movements but when Indonesian ideologies radicalized in the 1920s (as seen in the communist uprisings in West Java and West Sumatra in 1926 and 1927) the Dutch authorities changed course. A relative tolerant regime was replaced by a repressive one in which every suspected act of subversive behaviour was suppressed. This repressive regime in fact only worsened the situation by radicalizing the entire Indonesian nationalist movement. Part of these nationalists established the Indonesian Nationalist Party ( Partai Nasional Indonesia, abbreviated PNI) in 1927 as a reaction to the repressive regime. Its goal was full independence for Indonesia.

Another important occasion for Indonesian nationalism was the declaration of the Youth Pledge in 1928. At this congress of youth organizations three ideals were proclaimed, to wit one motherland, one nation and one language. The main aim of this congress was to stimulate the feeling of unity between the young Indonesians. On this congress the future national anthem ( Indonesia Raya) was played and the future national flag ( merah-putih) was shown for the first time. The colonial authorities reacted with another act of suppression. Young national leaders, such as Soekarno (who would become Indonesia's first president in 1945) and Mohammad Hatta (Indonesia's first vice president) were arrested and exiled.
Japanese Invasion of the Dutch Indies
The Dutch were powerful enough to curb Indonesian nationalism by arresting its leaders and suppressing the nationalist organizations but never were they able to eliminate nationalist sentiment. The Indonesians, on the other hand, did not have the power to compete with the colonial rulers and therefore needed outside help to eliminate the colonial system.

In March 1942 the Japanese, fueled by their desire for oil, provided such help by occupying the Dutch Indies. Although initially welcomed as liberators by the Indonesian population, Indonesians would soon experience the hardship of the Japanese rule: scarcity of food, clothing and medicines as well as forced labour under harsh conditions. The scarcity of food was mainly caused by administrative incompetence, turning Java into an island of hunger. Indonesians working as forced labourers (called romusha) were stationed to work on labour-intensive construction projects on Java.

When the Japanese took over, Dutch officials were thrown in internment camps and were replaced by Indonesians to administer government tasks. The Japanese educated, trained and armed many young Indonesians and gave their nationalist leaders a political voice. This enabled the nationalists to prepare for a future independent Indonesian nation. In the final months before Japan's surrender, effectively ending World War II, the Japanese gave full support to the Indonesian nationalist movement. Political, economic and social dismantling of the Dutch colonial state meant that a new era was about to emerge. On 17 August 1945 Soekarno and Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia, eight days after the Nagasaki atomic bombing and two days after Japan lost the war. Click here to read an overview of Soekarno's Old Order
Different Perceptions of Indonesia's Colonial Period
There basically exist three "histories", or more accurately, three versions of Indonesia's colonial period:

1) Indonesian version
2) Dutch version
3) Academic version

It should be emphasized, however, that within each of these three groups - Indonesians, the Dutch, and academics (in this case mainly historians), - there exists plenty of variety. But we can discern three broad versions.

What separates the Indonesian and Dutch versions from the academic version is clear: the Indonesian and Dutch versions are colored by specific sentiments and/or political interests, while the academic version aims to deliver an objective and accurate version, not based on sentiments but on evidence (sources). The reader may now wonder which version he/she read just now? Well, the overview of Indonesia's colonial period that is presented above is a synopsis of the academic version. However, it is interesting to provide some information about the Indonesian and Dutch versions. With these versions we mean the general consensus and views that are shared by the people (this includes the ordinary people but also government officials, and those who wrote the history books for the younger generations, etc.) in each nation.

Obviously, the Indonesian and Dutch versions have a lot in common. However, due to both sides' involvement in this colonial history there exist some differences that can be attributed to sentiments and political interests.
Indonesian Perceptions
For example, when you talk to an Indonesian individual about the colonial period (whether the individual is highly educated or uneducated) he/she will say that Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for three and a half centuries. What is wrong with this statement? First of all, it supposes that Indonesia already was a unified nation in the late 1500s or early 1600s. However, in reality the country we now know as Indonesia was a patchwork of independent indigenous kingdoms that lacked a feeling of brotherhood or nationalist sentiment or any other sense of unity. In fact, wars between these kingdoms - either inter or intra island - were the rule rather than the exception.

Secondly, the whole area we now know as Indonesia was not conquered by the Dutch around the same time and then possessed for 3.5 centuries. On the contrary, it took centuries of gradual political expansion before the region was under Dutch control (and in several parts Dutch control was very superficial, such as Aceh). In fact, only around the 1930s the Dutch more-or-less possessed the whole area that we now know as Indonesia. Some parts indeed were colonized for 3.5 centuries (for example Batavia/Jakarta and parts of the Moluccas), other parts were dominated by the Dutch for some two centuries (such as most of Java) but most other parts of this huge archipelago were gradually conquered over the course of the 19th and early 20th century, and in many regions natives never saw a Dutch person.

So, why does there exist the view that (the whole of) Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for three and half centuries? The answer is politics. As becomes clear from the synopsis above, Indonesian nationalism was driven by the realization among the young and diverse people of the archipelago (whatever their ethnic, cultural or religious background was) that they had one common enemy: the Dutch colonial power. Having this enemy is basically what unified the native people of Indonesia. This also explains why - after the enemy was completely gone in 1949 - there emerged a prolonged and chaotic period in Indonesian politics and society between 1949 and 1967. With the enemy gone, all the underlying differences between the people of Indonesia came to the surface resulting in rebellions, calls for separatism, and impossible decision-making on the political level. Only when a new authoritarian regime, Suharto's New Order, took control, chaos disappeared (and, again, at the expense of human rights).

After Independence from the Dutch, the Indonesian government needed to keep the Indonesian nation unified. One smart strategy was by creating this common 3.5 century colonial history that was shared by all people in the Indonesian nation. If the Indonesian people would realize that they did not have the same history it would jeopardize the unity of Indonesia, especially in the fragile 1940s and 1950s.

In recent years, there start to become more and more Indonesians who are aware of this issue and argue that without the colonial period there would - most likely - not have developed a single Indonesian nation but more likely there would have been various separate nation states in line with the distribution of the old native kingdoms and empires in the Archipelago.
Dutch Perceptions
The Dutch also have plenty of reason to portray a colonial history that is different from reality. The Netherlands of the last couple of decades is a country that emphasizes the importance of human rights and this does not exactly match its 'rich' colonial history. Therefore, the violent nature of its colonial history is often not mentioned. Instead, the VOC period forms a source of national pride to the Dutch knowing that - despite being this tiny European country - it became the world's richest country in the 17th century (Dutch Golden Age), not only in terms of trade and military but also in terms of art and science.

An interesting example is when former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende became annoyed during a discussion with the Dutch House of Representatives in 2006. Responding to the House's pessimistic views of the Dutch economic future, Balkenende said "let us be optimistic, let us be positive again, that VOC mentality, looking beyond borders." It is an example of selective memory that signals the sense of pride that stems from the VOC period. It is fair to mention that this statement of Balkenende met criticism in the Netherlands.

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples that illustrate that the Dutch are in fact aware of the violent history (including slavery) that were key to turn the Netherlands into one of the world's most advanced nations. For example, statues in the Netherlands that glorify people from the VOC period and the government-led colonial period - such as Jan Pieterszoon Coen and J.B. van Heutsz - have either been removed or are criticized by the local Dutch population.

Another interesting case is the apology that was made by Dutch ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan in 2013. He apologized for the "excesses committed by Dutch forces" between 1945 and 1949, the first ever general apology. However, the Dutch government has never apologized for all violent events that occurred before 1945.

In conclusion, it seems that both Indonesian and Dutch perceptions are slowly moving toward the academic version because high emotions (whether resentment or pride) gradually wane as time goes by, while Indonesia's domestic political situation is stable and therefore there is less need to create one common history throughout the archipelago.
Sources:
* M.C. Ricklefs: A History of Modern Indonesia since c.1200
* H. Dick, e.a.: The Emergence of a National Economy. An Economic History of Indonesia, 1800-2000
* E. Locher-Scholten & P. Rietbergen, e.a.: Hof en handel: Aziatische vorsten en de VOC 1620-1720
* D. Henley e.a.: Environment, Trade and Society in Southeast Asia
* J. Touwen: Extremes in the Archipelago: Trade and Economic Development in the Outer Islands of Indonesia, 1900-1942
* H. Jonge & N. Kaptein e.a.: Transcending Borders: Arabs, Politics, Trade and Islam in Southeast Asia

Poll Indonesia Investments:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Indonesia Colonial History - Dutch Occupation - Dutch East Indies | Indonesia Investments

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the course of the 18th century the Dutch United East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC) had established itself as the dominating economic and political power on Java after the crumbling and collapse of the Mataram empire.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

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By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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16 AD porteguese came to indonesia, huge demand for spices, nutmeg ginger cinnamon cloves and mace

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16 AD porteguese came to indonesia, huge demand for spices, nutmeg ginger cinnamon cloves and mace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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13 AD to 14 AD hindu kingdom became very strong aka majapahit empire in 1292 and became dominate. early 15 AD went into rapid decline

# data[].attributes.subject
13 AD to 14 AD hindu kingdom became very strong aka majapahit empire in 1292 and became dominate. early 15 AD went into rapid decline

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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13 AD sriwijaya empire broke into separate states

# data[].attributes.subject
13 AD sriwijaya empire broke into separate states

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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7 AD to 13 AD maritime empire controlled western java and part of malay peninsula

# data[].attributes.subject
7 AD to 13 AD maritime empire controlled western java and part of malay peninsula

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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400 BC hinduism and budhism became popular and trading with china and india

# data[].attributes.subject
400 BC hinduism and budhism became popular and trading with china and india

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

# data[].attributes.headline
700 BC bronze and iron and kingdoms rose

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700 BC bronze and iron and kingdoms rose

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…

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2500 BC is when agricultural became popular. taro bananas millet and rice

# data[].attributes.subject
2500 BC is when agricultural became popular. taro bananas millet and rice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Indonesia - Local Histories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tim Lambert Ancient Indonesia The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish,… Cont…