Today, Jakarta is Indonesia's capital and largest city. Located on an estuary of the Ciliwung River, on the northwestern part of Java, the area has long sustained human settlement.
The name changes of this historically significant city reflect the way empires, conquest, colonisation, and self-determination have shaped this vast archipelago of islands in what European mariners sometimes referred to as "the seven seas".
The city was called Sunda Kelapa during the Kingdom of the Sunda period and Jayakarta, Djajakarta or Jacatra during the short period of the Banten Sultanate.
Historical evidence from Jakarta dates back to the 4th century CE, when it was a Hindu settlement and port. The city was later claimed by the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanegara, the Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, the Muslim Sultanate of Banten.
Jayakarta was destroyed by Dutch adventurers and replaced by a purpose built colonial centre and outpost that was named Batavia. The Dutch East Indies administration by the VOC built up the vast area of the Indonesian archipelago before it was taken during World War II by the Empire of Japan. The modern city of Jakarta became the capital city of a newly independent Indonesia after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War.
Dutch 'capitalist' venturers in search of pepper and spice
Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution centre for various exotic commodities in northern Europe. After 1591, however, the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fuggers and Welsers, and Spanish and Italian firms, that used Hamburg as the northern staple port to distribute their goods, thereby cutting Dutch merchants out of the trade.
At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to increase supply to satisfy growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a sharp rise in pepper prices.
Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution centre in northern Europe before the Dutch Revolt that had led to the formation of the Dutch Republic. After 1591, however, the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fuggers and Welsers, and Spanish and Italian firms, that used Hamburg as the northern staple port to distribute their goods, thereby cutting Dutch merchants out of the trade.
At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to increase supply to satisfy growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a sharp rise in pepper prices.
However, a turn of events in 1580 resulted in the Portuguese crown uniting, in a personal union, with the Spanish crown, with which the Dutch Republic was at war. The Portuguese Empire therefore became an appropriate target for Dutch military incursions.
These factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves, and the creation of an opportunity for an expedition following the acquisition of first hand knowledge of the "secret" Portuguese trade routes and practices.
In 1592 the cartographer Petrus Plancius published a series of charts showing, in exact detail, the route to the Indies.
Soon after these charts were published, three Amsterdam merchants, Jan Jansz Carel, Hendrick Hudde, and Reynier Pauw, began meeting in secret, plotting an expedition to Indonesia. As part of their preparations, they sent Pauw's cousin, Cornelis de Houtman, to Lisbon, posing as a merchant. His job was to confirm Plancius' charts and see if he could find any more information on the East Indies. Then, in September 1592, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten returned from an extended stay in Goa, India, and soon after, in collaboration with the traveler Bernardus Paludanus, he published an account of his journeys that included a large amount of information on the East Indies that confirmed all of Plancius' charts and added more besides. In early 1594, de Houtman returned from Lisbon, and the Amsterdam merchants now had all of the information they needed, and so they set about raising capital to fund the expedition.
They recruited six other merchants and with them formed the Far-distance Company: Pieter Hasselaer, Jan Poppen, Hendrick Buick, Dirk van Os, Syvert Sem, and Arend ten Grootenhuys. The Company was able to raise 290,000 guilders, and used it to build and equip four ships: the Mauritius, Amsterdam, Hollandia, and the Duyfken.
In June 1596, the fleet reached Bantam, but were received poorly due to the machinations of the Portuguese, who persuaded the Bantamese to raise their prices to absurdly high levels. They were also denied access to water, and when some of them went to Sumatra to get more, a number of men, including de Houtman, were captured and held until ransomed.
De Houtman, by this time, was the de facto leader of the expedition, most of his opponents having been either killed or disgraced by this time. After being ransomed, he bombarded the city with cannon fire and raided several spice-carrying ships coming into Bantam from Banda and Borneo. Outraged, the Bantamese, sent men throughout the surrounding islands, warning them about the Dutch. At Sidayu, near Surabaya, the ships were boarded by natives and twelve men were killed in the ensuing battle, including the skipper of the Amsterdam. Soon after, at Madura, when the royal family sailed out to meet to Dutch, the Amsterdam opened fire, killing the prince, the priest, and many others.
Houtman's expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and, incidentally, killing a local ruler in Madura. Around half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year of 1597, but with enough spices on board to make a considerable profit. Although the expedition did not bring back as much as expected - 245 bags of pepper, 45 tons of nutmeg, and 30 bales of mace - spice prices had become so inflated that the expedition was still profitable. Even though this pioneering expedition for the Dutch merchants involved suffered from bad leadership, it was still instrumental in opening up the East Indies to the Dutch.
In 1598, an increasing number of fleets were sent out by competing merchant groups from around the Netherlands. Some fleets were lost, but most were successful, with some voyages producing high profits. In March 1599, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck was the first Dutch fleet to reach the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku, the source of pepper, cutting out the Javanese middlemen. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and the expedition made a 400 percent profit.
In 1600, the Dutch joined forces with the Muslim Hituese on Ambon Island in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch were given the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu. Dutch control of Ambon was achieved when the Portuguese surrendered their fort in Ambon to the Dutch-Hituese alliance. In 1613, the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from their Solor fort, but a subsequent Portuguese attack led to a second change of hands; following this second reoccupation, the Dutch once again captured Solor, in 1636.
East of Solor, on the island of Timor, Dutch advances were halted by an autonomous and powerful group of Portuguese Eurasians called the Topasses. They remained in control of the Sandalwood trade and their resistance lasted throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, causing Portuguese Timor to remain under the Portuguese sphere of control.
These early expeditions led to the formation of The Dutch East India Company, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC.
The VOC - a megacorporation? and the first corporate Logo?
During this period, it was customary for a company to be set up only for the duration of a single voyage and to be liquidated upon the return of the fleet. Investment in these expeditions was a very high-risk venture, not only because of the usual dangers of piracy, disease and shipwreck, but also because the interplay of inelastic demand and relatively elastic supply of spices could make prices tumble at just the wrong moment, thereby ruining prospects of profitability. To manage such risk the forming of a cartel to control supply would seem logical. The English had been the first to adopt this approach, by bundling their resources into a monopoly enterprise, the English East India Company in 1600, thereby threatening their Dutch competitors with ruin.
VOC - a megacorporation?
The VOC turned out to be an historical megacorporation, founded by a government-directed amalgamation of several rival Dutch trading companies (the so-called voorcompagnieën or pre-companies).
It was originally established, on 20 March 1602, as a chartered company to trade with India and Indianized Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. So, the creation of a single "United East Indies Company" that was also granted monopoly over the Asian trade was to lead to a time in the seventeenth century, when this Dutch corporation was able to monopolize the trade in nutmeg, mace, and cloves and to sell these spices in Europe and India at fourteen to seventeen times the price they paid in Indonesia.
While Dutch profits soared, the local economy of the Spice Islands was destroyed. With a capital of 6,440,200 guilders, the charter of the new company empowered it to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties with Asian rulers. It provided for a venture that would continue for 21 years, with a financial accounting only at the end of each decade.
What is a megacorporation?
Megacorporation, mega-corporation, or megacorp, a term popularized by William Gibson, derives from the combination of the prefix mega- with the word corporation. It has become widespread in cyberpunk literature. It refers to a corporation (normally fictional) that is a massive conglomerate (usually private), holding monopolistic or near-monopolistic control over multiple markets (thus exhibiting both a horizontal and a vertical monopoly).
Megacorps are so powerful that they can ignore the law, possess their own heavily armed (often military-sized) private armies, be the operator of a privatized police force, hold "sovereign" territory, and even act as outright governments. They often exercise a large degree of control over their employees, taking the idea of "corporate culture" to an extreme. Such organizations as a staple of science fiction long predate cyberpunk, appearing in the works of writers such as Philip K. Dick in the Sci-Fi classic; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968; subsequently translated into cinema; Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049.
The VOC - Republic or Empire? - Facts and Fictions
The shipyard of the United East India Company (VOC) in Amsterdam (1726 engraving by Joseph Mulder). The shipbuilding district of Zaan, near Amsterdam, became one of the world's earliest known industrialized areas, with around 900 wind-powered sawmills at the end of the 17th century. By the early seventeenth century Dutch shipyards were producing a large number of ships to a standard design, allowing extensive division of labour, a specialization which further reduced unit costs.
The megacorps of cyberpunk literature has a precedent in the facts of the history of the VOC over a period lasting nearly 200 years. It is relevant to consider the VOC as an early example of the multinational/transnational corporation in its modern sense, rather than the way the Company has been often been more softly labelled as a trading company (a company of merchants) or a shipping company.
In fact, the VOC was a proto-conglomerate company, diversifying into multiple commercial and industrial activities such as international trade (especially intra-Asian trade), shipbuilding, production and trade of East Indian spices, Formosan sugarcane, and South African wine. The Company was also a transcontinental employer and an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment at the dawn of modern capitalism.
In the early 1600s, by widely issuing bonds and shares of stock to the general public, the VOC became the world's first formally listed public company, the first corporation to be listed on an official stock exchange. The VOC was, it is considered widely, highly influential in the rise of corporate-led globalization in the early modern period.
The VOC and the founding of Batavia
Jayakarta in 1605 prior the establishment of Batavia
In 1603 the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten, West Java, and in 1611 another was established at Jayakarta.
In 1610, Prince Jayawikarta granted permission to Dutch merchants to build a wooden godown and houses on the east bank of the Ciliwung River, opposite to Jayakarta. This outpost was established in 1611.
As Dutch power increased, Jayawikarta allowed the British to erect houses on the west bank of the Ciliwung River, as well as a fort close to his customs office post, to keep the forces balanced.
In December 1618, the tense relationship between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch escalated, and Jayawikarta's soldiers besieged the Dutch fortress, containing the godowns Nassau and Mauritius. A British fleet of 15 ships arrived under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval commander and former governor of the Colony of Virginia. After a sea battle, the newly appointed Dutch governor, Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1618), escaped to the Moluccas to seek support (The Dutch had already overtaken the first of the Portuguese forts there in 1605). Meanwhile, the commander of the Dutch garrison, Pieter van den Broecke, along with five other men, was arrested during negotiations, as Jayawikarta believed that he had been deceived by the Dutch. Later, Jayawikarta and the British entered into a friendship agreement.
The Dutch army was on the verge of surrendering to the British when, in 1619, Banten sent a group of soldiers to summon Prince Jayawikarta. Jayawikarta's friendship agreement with the British was without prior approval from the Bantenese authorities. The conflict between Banten and Prince Jayawikarta, as well as the tense relationship between Banten and the British, presented a new opportunity for the Dutch.
VOC headquarters were located in Ambon during the tenures of the first three Governors General (1610–1619), but it was not a satisfactory location. Although it was at the centre of the spice production areas, it was far from the Asian trade routes and other VOC areas of activity ranging from Africa to India to Japan.
A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought. The Straits of Malacca were strategic but had become dangerous following the Portuguese conquest, and the first permanent VOC settlement in Banten was controlled by a powerful local ruler and subject to stiff competition from Chinese and English traders.
Coen returned from the Moluccas with reinforcements on 28 May 1619 and razed Jayakarta to the ground on 30 May 1619, and thereby expelling its population. The Dutch established a closer relationship between Jayakarta and Banten, the administrative centre, and then assumed control of the port at Jayakarta, and which, over time, became the Dutch centre of power for the entire region.
The area that was to become Batavia, and under Dutch control in 1619, was initially an expansion the original Dutch fort along with new building on the ruined area that had been Jayakarta.
On 2 July 1619, Coen decided to expand the original fort into a larger fortress. Coen sent the draft of the Kasteel van Batavia to the Netherlands on 7 October 1619. This new castle was much larger than the previous castle, with two northern bastions protecting the castle from attack from the sea. The Dutch fortress garrison included hired soldiers from Japan, Germany, Scotland, Denmark and Belgium.
Settlement expansion? An occupation?
The godowns (warehouses) of Nassau and Mauritius were expanded with the erection of a new fort extension to the east on March 12, 1619, overseen by Commander Van Raay.
Coen wished to name the new settlement "Nieuw-Hoorn" (after his birthplace, Hoorn), but was prevented from doing so by the board of the East India Company, the Heeren XVII.
"Batavia" was chosen to become the new name for the fort and settlement, with the official naming ceremony taking place on January 18, 1621.
The name refers to the Germanic tribe of the Batavi — the inhabitant of Batavian region during Roman period, which at that time was believed that the tribe's members were the ancestors of the Dutch people. Jayakarta was then called "Batavia" for more than 300 years.
From the ashes of Jayakarta the Dutch established Batavia as the VOC headquarters. In the 1620s almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands was driven away, starved to death, or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations. These plantations were used to grow cloves and nutmeg for export.
Coen hoped to settle large numbers of Dutch colonists in the East Indies, but implementation of this policy never materialised, mainly because very few Dutch were willing to emigrate to Asia.
Batavia was founded as a trade and administrative center of the Dutch East India Company; it was never intended to be a settlement for the Dutch people. Coen founded Batavia as a trading company, whereby a city's inhabitants would take care of the production and supply of food. As a result, there was no migration of Dutch families and, instead, a mixed society was formed. As the VOC preferred to maintain complete control over its business, a large number of slaves were employed. Batavia became an unattractive location for people who wanted to establish their own businesses.
The Javanese people were prohibited from settling in Batavia from the time of its foundation in 1619, as the Dutch feared an insurrection. Coen asked Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe, a skipper for the Dutch East India Company, to bring 1000 Chinese people to Batavia from Macao, but only a small proportion of the 1000 survived the trip.
In 1621, another attempt was initiated and 15,000 people were deported from the Banda Islands to Batavia, but only 600 survived the trip.
From the beginning of its establishment, Batavia was planned following a well-defined layout. In 1619, three trenches were dug to the east of the Ciliwung river, forming the first Dutch-made canals of Batavia. The first church and town hall were built c.1622 on the east bank of the river.
The coconut-tree-lined Tijgersgracht of Batavia, the longest and the most pleasant canal of Batavia until its modification in 1632
Around 1627, the three canals were connected with each other with a new canal the Tijgersgracht (present Jalan Pos Kota - Jalan Lada). The coconut-tree lined Tijgersgracht is among the most pleasant canals in the walled city of Batavia. A contemporary observer writes: "Among the Grachts, the Tygersgracht is the most stately and most pleasant, both for the goodliness of its buildings, and the ornamentation of its streets, which afford a very agreeable shadow to those who pass along the street". The Prinsestraat (present Jalan Cengkeh), which in the beginning formed the street that leads to the Castle, were established as an urban center, connecting the Castle south gate with the City Hall, forming an impressive vista on the seat of government.
This eastern settlement of Batavia was protected by a long canal to the east of the settlement, forming a link between the castle moat and the Ciliwung river bend. This canal was not parallel with Tijgersgracht but slightly angled. The overall construction of the canal took more than 160,000 reals, and these were paid not by the Company, but mainly by the Chinese and other Europeans; partly because the Company had spent for the strengthening of the Castle (which was done by slaves and prisoners). This short-lived outer canal would be redesigned few years after the Siege of Batavia.
To the east of Batavia, Sultan Agung, king of the Mataram Sultanate (1613–1645) attained control of most of Java by defeating Surabaya in 1625. On August 27, 1628, Agung launched the Siege of Batavia. In his first attempt, he suffered heavy losses, retreated, and launched a second offensive in 1629. This also failed; the Dutch fleet destroyed his supplies and ships, located in the harbors of Cirebon and Tegal. Mataram troops, starving and decimated by illness, retreated again. Sultan Agung then pursued his conquering ambitions in an eastward direction and attacked Blitar, Panarukan and the Kingdom of Blambangan in Eastern Java, a vassal of the Balinese kingdom of Gelgel.
Following the siege, it was decided that Batavia would need a stronger defense system. Based on the military defensive engineering ideas by Simon Stevin, a Flemish mathematician and military engineer, governor-general Jacques Specx (1629-1632) designed a moat and city wall that surrounded the city; extensions of the city walls appeared to the west of Batavia and the city became completely enclosed. The city section within the defense lines was structured according to a grid plan, criss-crossed with canals that straightened the flow of the Ciliwung river. This area corresponds to present day Jakarta Old Town.
City hall of Batavia in 1682
In 1656, due to a conflict with Banten, the Javanese were not allowed to reside within the city walls and consequently settled outside Batavia. Only the Chinese people and the Mardijkers were allowed to settle within the walled city of Batavia. In 1659, a temporary peace with Banten enabled the city to grow and, during this period, more bamboo shacks appeared in Batavia.
From 1667, bamboo houses, as well as the keeping of livestock, were banned within the city. Within Batavia's walls, the wealthy Dutch built tall houses and canals. As the city grew, the area outside the walls became an attraction for many people and suburbs began to develop outside the city walls.
The area outside the walls was considered unsafe for the non-native inhabitants of Batavia. The marsh area around Batavia could only be fully cultivated when a new peace treaty was signed with Banten in 1684 and country houses were subsequently established outside the city walls. The Chinese people began with the cultivation of sugarcane and tuak, with coffee a later addition.
This large-scale cultivation caused a significant and destructive impact on the environment, in addition to the coastal erosion in the taking place in the northern area of Batavia. Maintenance of the canal was extensive due to frequent closures and the continuous dredging that was required.
Dutch Batavia in 1681, built in what is now North Jakarta
Batavia was founded as the trade and administrative center of the Dutch East India Company; it was never intended to be a settlement for the Dutch people. Coen founded Batavia for trade, with city's inhabitants taking care of the production and supply of food. As a result, there was no migration of intact Dutch families and there were few Dutch women in Batavia.
As the VOC preferred to maintain complete control over its business, a large number of slaves were employed. Batavia became an unattractive location for any entrepreneurial groups or individuals who preferred to establish their own businesses.
Dutch and mestizo men might travel but mestizo women were forced to remain in Batavia!
A so-called "mixed society" was formed, as relationships between Dutch men and Asian women did not usually result in marriage, and the women did not have the right of going with men who returned to the Dutch Republic. This societal pattern created a mixed group of mestizo descendants in Batavia. The sons of this mixed group often traveled to Europe to study, while the daughters were forced to remain in Batavia, with the latter often marrying Dutch East India Company (VOC) officials at a very young age.
The women in Batavia developed into an important feature of the social network of Batavia; they were accustomed to dealing with slaves and spoke the same language, mostly Portuguese and Malay. Eventually, many of these women effectively became widows, as their husbands left Batavia to return to the Netherlands, and their children were often removed as well.
Gerrit van Honthorst (1625), punning visually on the lute in this brothel scene
These women were known as "snaar" which means"strings", perhaps in the context of music and musical instruments, and the characteristic of Dutch art and literature to make full play of allegory, metaphor, pun and double entendre. Words rarely represent just one thing. The Flemish for lute – luit – also meant vagina, and in Dutch art the instrument is often carried by prostitutes.Most of Batavia's residents were of Asian descent. Thousands of slaves were brought from India and Arakan and, later, slaves were brought from Bali and Sulawesi.
To avoid unrest and a possible uprising, a decision was made to free the Javanese people from slavery.
Chinese people made up the largest group in Batavia, with most of them merchants and labourers. The Chinese people were the most decisive group in the development of Batavia.
There was also a large group of freed slaves, usually Portuguese-speaking Asian Christians, who had been under the rule of the Portuguese. This group were often made prisoners by the VOC during numerous conflicts with the Portuguese, and used as hostages if necessary.
The Forgotten Mardijkers of Batavia
In 1699 the population of Batavia consisted of 3679 Chinese, 2407 Mardjikers or Portuguese Eurasians, 1,783 Dutch, 670 Dutch Eurasians and the original inhabitants or Orang Betawi.
These Portuguese Eurasians had been brought to Batavia as slaves or indentured labour after the Dutch East India Company (VOC) captured Malacca and Galle from the Portuguese in 1640. They became a vital part of the VOC workforce as labourers, artisans, clerks and soldiers.
However, the presence of Christian slaves in Batavia became an ethical dilemma for the Dutch Reform Church and in 1661 they were freed and granted land outside Batavia on the condition that they convert from Catholicism and they became known as the Mardijkers or Freedmen.
The Mardijkers were granted land at Kampong Tugu (Toegoe) which is now near the port area of Tanjung Priok. At that time 150 Mardijkers moved to this area and after three centuries there is still a community living there. They have retained their original identity over this time and their land contains their own church, graveyard, schools, community centre and cultural centre.
Portuguese was the dominant language in Batavia until the late 18th century, when the language was slowly replaced with Dutch and Malay. Additionally, there were also Malays, as well as Muslim and Hindu merchants from India.
Segregation of ethnic groups
Initially, these different ethnic groups lived alongside each other; however, in 1688, complete segregation was imposed upon the indigenous population. Each ethnic group was forced to live in its own established village outside the city wall. There were Javanese villages for Javanese people, Moluccan villages for the Moluccans, and so on.
Tagging people
Each person was tagged to identify them with their own ethnic group; later, this identity tag was replaced with a parchment. Reporting was compulsory for intermarriage that involved different ethnic groups.
The Jakarta History Museum is housed in the original town hall of 17th-century Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies and centre of the Asian spice trade
Within Batavia's walls, the wealthy Dutch built tall houses and canals.
Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, with the increasing population numbers creating a burden upon the city.
In the 18th century, more than 60% of Batavia's population consisted of slaves working for the VOC. The slaves were mostly engaged to undertake housework, while working and living conditions were generally reasonable.
Laws were enacted that protected slaves against overly cruel actions from their masters; for example, Christian slaves were given freedom after the death of their masters, while some slaves were allowed to own a store and make money to buy their freedom.
Though from the beginning of the VOC establishment Batavia became the political and administrative center of the Dutch East Indies as well as the major port in Southeast Asian trade, the population of the city proper remained relatively small. In the early 1800s, estimates of its population were still smaller than that of Surabaya.
The Massacre of 10,000 Chinese
Engraving of the massacre of Chinese people in Batavia on October 9, 1740
The Batavian hinterland's sugar industry deteriorated in the 1730s. There were numerous unemployed people and growing social disorder. In 1739, 10,574 registered Chinese were living in the Ommelanden. Tensions grew as the colonial government attempted to restrict Chinese immigration by implementing deportations to Ceylon and South Africa. The Chinese became worried that they were to be thrown overboard to drown and riots erupted.
10,000 Chinese were massacred between 9 October 1740 and 22 October. During the following year, the few remaining Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok, outside the city walls.
From Revolutionary Global War to a Colonial Empire
From its inception in 1602, the VOC was not only a commercial enterprise but also effectively an instrument of war in the young Dutch Republic's revolutionary global war against the powerful Spanish Empire and Iberian Union (1579–1648). Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory. To guarantee its supply it established positions in many countries and became an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment. In its foreign colonies the VOC possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies. With increasing importance of foreign posts, the company is often considered the world's first true transnational corporation.
Socio-economic changes in Europe, the shift in power balance, and less successful financial management resulted in a slow decline of the VOC between 1720 and 1799.
The Batavian Republic and end of the VOC
The short lived Batavian Republic (Dutch: Bataafse Republiek; French: République Batave) was the successor of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and was proclaimed on 19 January 1795, and ended on 5 June 1806, with Napoleon insisting on the accession of his brother, Louis I, to the throne of Holland.
From October 1801 onward, it was known as the Batavian Commonwealth (Dutch: Bataafs Gemenebest). Both names refer to the Germanic tribe of the Batavi, representing both the Dutch ancestry and their ancient quest for liberty in their nationalistic lore.
In early 1795, intervention by French revolutionary forces led to the downfall of the old Dutch Republic. The new Republic enjoyed widespread support from the Dutch population and was the product of a genuine popular revolution. Nevertheless, it clearly was founded with the armed support of the revolutionary French Republic. The Batavian Republic became a client state, the first of the "sister-republics" and later part of the French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, and its politics were deeply influenced by the French who supported no fewer than three coups d'état to bring the different political factions to power that France favoured at different moments in its own political development. Nevertheless, the process of creating a written Dutch constitution was mainly driven by internal political factors, not by French influence, until Napoleon forced the Dutch government to accept his brother as monarch.
It was in this fluid political context in Europe that the VOC company was first nationalised by the new Batavian Republic in 1796, and finally dissolved in 1799. All assets were taken over by the government with VOC territories becoming Dutch government colonies.
After the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) went bankrupt and dissolved, and the Batavian Republic had nationalized its debts and possessions, and expanding all of the VOC's territorial claims into a fully-fledged colony named the Dutch East Indies, Batavia was transformed from the site of the company's regional headquarters into the capital of the colony.
Louis Bonaparte made Daendels colonel-general in 1806 and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in 1807. After a long voyage, he arrived in the city of Batavia on 5 January 1808 and relieved the former Governor General, Albertus Henricus Wiese.
On arrival he decided to quit the by-then dilapidated and unhealthy Old Town. A new town center was subsequently built further to the south by buying the estate of Weltevreden.
Batavia thereby became a city with two centers: Kota as the hub of business, where the offices and warehouses of shipping and trading companies were located; while Weltevreden became the new home for the government, military, and shops.
Batavia in 1840, showing the growth of the city to the south of old Batavia
These two centers were connected by the Molenvliet Canal and a road (now Gajah Mada Road) that ran alongside the waterway.
Ruas Jalan Molenvliet 1940
The British interregnum 1811-1816
Daendels was replaced by Stamford Raffles in 1811. Raffles – who was employed by the British East India company as Secretary to the Governor of Malacca, decided to take over the government in Batavia to prevent the French from stepping in completely and take over the Dutch administration. Napoleon had nominated Daendels who had worked closely with the French during his varied political career, and was deemed unreliably pro-French during this globalised context of the ongoing Napoleonic Wars.
In 1815, Raffles left for England shortly before the island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the Napoleonic Wars, under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. Raffles had been removed from his post by the East India Company ahead of the handover and officially replaced by John Fendall on account of the poor financial performance of the colony during his administration and allegations of financial impropriety on his own part.
He sailed to England in early 1816 to clear his name and, en route, visited Napoleon, who was in exile at St. Helena, but found him unpleasant and unimpressive.
The Dutch return to rule
In 1816, the Dutch returned to rule the Dutch East Indies. Europeans were brought to the archipelago to establish colony on the unused land around the archipelago, causing wars in Java and Sumatra. A large numbers of military was brought into the Dutch Indies to suppress unrest, especially on Sumatra. The military was there also to extend the influence of Dutch government to outside Java. Despite this, the Dutch actually never conquered the whole archipelago.
There were still slaves in Batavia until the abolition of slavery in 1853. As before, slaves tended to be housed in dwellings at the back of the garden of the main house. Slaves were employed by the master and were paid, given free food and lodging. The female slave/employees, known as "baboe", did the cooking and took care of the children.
The development of Batavia as an administrative centre for the Dutch colony continued to involve a shift toward the area of Weltevreden from Oud Batavia to the south. A new style of architecture emerged, known as Indies Empire style. White-plastered villas with a grand porch at the front were established especially around the Koningsplein and Weltevreden. Overall, this newer part of Batavia had the characteristics of a country-side suburban estate rather than the built-up and canaled cityscape of Oud Batavia.
Old Batavia and Kota Tua Jakarta
Kota Tua Jakarta ("Jakarta Old Town"), officially known as Kota Tua, is a neighborhood comprising the original downtown area of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as Oud Batavia (Dutch "Old Batavia"), Benedenstad (Dutch "Lower City", contrasting it with Weltevreden, de Bovenstad ("Upper City")), or Kota Lama (Indonesian "Old Town").
The site contains Dutch-style structures mostly dated from 17th century, when the port city served as the Asian headquarter of VOC during the heyday of spice trade. It spans 1.3 square kilometres within North Jakarta and West Jakarta (Kelurahan Pinangsia, Taman Sari and Kelurahan Roa Malaka, Tambora).
The largely Chinese downtown area of Glodok is a part of Kota Tua.
A street in Old Batavia in 1890, depicting 17th century housing before the development of a business district.
Modernity and Batavia as"De Koningin van het Oosten", or "Queen of the East"
Unlike the first part of the 19th-century, the latter half of the century was a peaceful period characterized by economic and technological realities and a stable government.
In 1856, the first telegraph line was installed between Batavia and Buitenzorg. In 1859, Batavia was connected by telegraph cable to Singapore, the first international telegraph connection in the Dutch East Indies.
In 1861, Batavia completed its first gas works, so by 1862 it was possible to introduce gas street lighting.
Telephone lines were installed in 1882.
Steam Tram 1926
Electric tram
A tramway was introduced to Batavia in 1869, first as a horse-drawn tramway, that was later upgraded to steam trams (1882) and then to electric trams (1900).
South Batavia Railway Station (early 20th century)
Batavia's first railway was became operational in 1869,
and the line from Batavia to Buitenzorg was finally
completed in 1873.
Ice production works were first introduced to Batavia in 1870.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 raises a question for the need for a new port to accommodate new traffic flows across the Indian Ocean.
In 1885, the port of Tanjung Priok was finally completed, replacing the centuries-old Sunda Kelapa.
The Dutch cultuurstelsel, or cultivation system, was a Dutch government policy in the mid-nineteenth century which required from everyone a proportion of agricultural production to be devoted to export crops. Indonesian historians refer to it as tama paksa, enforcement planting.
Numerous trading companies and financial institutions established themselves in Java, with most settling in Batavia. Jakarta Old Town's deteriorating structures were replaced with offices, typically along the Kali Besar. These private companies owned or managed plantations, oil fields, or mines.
The first railway line in Java was opened in 1867 and urban centers such as Batavia began to be equipped with railway stations. Many schools, hospitals, factories, offices, trading companies, and post offices were established throughout the city, while improvements in transportation, health, and technology in Batavia caused more and more Dutch people to migrate to the capital—the society of Batavia consequently became increasingly Dutch in its cultural character.
The Dutch newcomers were known locally as Totoks. The term was also used to identify new Chinese arrivals, to differentiate them from the Peranakan.
Many totoks developed a great love for the Indies culture of Indonesia and adopted this culture; they could be observed wearing kebayas, sarongs, as well as summer dresses.
By the end of the 19th-century, the population of the capital Batavian regency numbered 115,887 people, of which 8,893 were Europeans, 26,817 were Chinese and 77,700 were indigenous islanders. A significant consequence of these expanding commercial activities was the immigration of large numbers of Dutch employees, as well as rural Javanese, into Batavia. In 1905, the population of Batavia and the surrounding area reached 2.1 million, including 93,000 Chinese people, 14,000 Europeans, and 2,800 Arabs (in addition to the local population). This growth resulted in an increased demand for housing and land prices consequently soared.
New houses were often built with increased densities of occupation and kampung settlements filled the spaces left between the new building structures. These kinds of settlement were to spring up quickly and with little regard for the tropical conditions. This resulted in overly dense living conditions, poor sanitation, and an absence of public amenities. This undoubtedly contributed to the outbreak of the plague that took place in Java during 1913.
During this period, Old Batavia abandoned the traditional moats and ramparts, and experienced a new building and construction boom, as businesses and commercial companies re-established themselves along the Kali Besar. Very quickly, the area of Old Batavia re-established itself as a new commercial centre, with modern and 17th-century buildings standing adjacent to each other along the canals city streets.
A change in policy
In 1899, the liberal Dutch lawyer Conrad Theodor van Deventer published an essay in the Dutch journal De Gids which claimed that the Colonial Government had a moral responsibility to return the wealth that the Dutch had received from the East Indies to the indigenous population.
Journalist Pieter Brooshooft (1845-1921), wrote about the moral duty of the Dutch to provide more for the peoples of the Indies. With the support of socialists and concerned middle class Dutch, he campaigned against what he saw as the unjustness of the colonial surplus. He described the Indies indigenous peoples as "childlike" and in need of assistance, not oppression. Newspapers were one of the few mediums of Indies communication to the Dutch parliament, and as editor of the De Locomotief, the largest of the Dutch-language newspapers in the Indies, he published writing by Snouck Hurgronje on understanding Indonesians. Brooshooft sent reporters across the archipelago to report on local developments; they reported on the poverty, crop failure, famine and epidemics in 1900. Lawyers and politicians supportive of Brooshooft's campaigning had an audience with Queen Wilhelmina and argued that the Netherlands owed the peoples of the Indies a 'debt of honour'.
In 1901, the Queen, under advice from her prime minister of the Christian Anti-Revolutionary Party, formally declared a benevolent "Ethical Policy" which was aimed at bringing progress and prosperity to the peoples of the Indies. The Dutch conquest of the Indies brought them together as a single colonial entity by the early 20th century, which was fundamental to the policy's implementation.
Proponents of the Ethical Policy argued that financial transfers should not be made to the Netherlands while conditions for the indigenous peoples of the archipelago were poor.
Queen Wilhelmina's announcement was a sharp contrast with the former official doctrine that Indonesia was a wingewest. Wingwest is literally "westcoast" - a region for making profit - equivalent to the "off-world" in Blade Runner. It also marked the start of modern development policy; whereas other colonial powers talked of a civilising mission, which mainly involved spreading their culture to colonised peoples.
The Dutch Ethical Policy emphasised improvement in material living conditions. The policy suffered, however, from serious underfunding, inflated expectations and lack of acceptance in the Dutch colonial establishment, and it had largely ceased to exist by the onset of the Great Depression in 1930.
A People's Council (Volksraad) for the Dutch East Indies was provided for by law in 1916, but its establishment was procrastinated until the actual installation of the Council in 1918.
The Volksraad was founded in Weltevreden, Batavia, Java, as an infant form of democratic representation on 18 May 1918 by the "ethical" colonial chief executive Johan Paul, Count van Limburg Stirum (1873–1948), who was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1916 to 1921. It was a hesitant and slow attempt at democratisation of the Dutch East Indies. The power of the Volksraad was limited as it only had advisory powers. Although part of the council was elected only a small proportion of the population had voting rights.
In 1945 the Volksraad building located in Weltevreden was renamed the Pancasila building
The Volksraad had sixty members: 30 members from various indigenous groups, 25 European, and 5 from Chinese, Arab and other Foreign Orientals. The Volksraad was reconstituted every four years. The members of the Council were partly chosen, partly appointed by the colonial administration.
Squalor in a kampung
Mohammad Husni Thamrin, a member of Volksraad, criticized the Colonial Government for ignoring the development of kampung ("inlander's area") while catering for the rich people in Menteng.
The streets of Menteng
Thamrin also talked about the issue of Farming Tax and the other taxes that were burdensome for the poorer members of the community.
Batavia or Jakarta?
The significance in the change of name of the colonial city of Batavia to a capital city of a newly formed Indonesia begins in the movement for independence from Dutch colonial rule.
A youth congress was held in Batavia on October 1928 and the groups began referring to the city as Jakarta. They demanded Indonesian independence, displayed the red-and-white flag, and sang the Indonesian national anthem written by W. R. Supratman. The Dutch banned the flag, the national anthem, and the terms Indonesia and Indonesian.
Modern nationalism in Indonesia
Over the previous two decades a number of revolutionary and nationalist groupings began to emerge in Java and Sumatra.
Budi Utomo (Dutch: Boedi Oetomo), meaning "Prime Philosophy", was the first native political society in the Dutch East Indies. The political society is considered by the contemporary political hegemony as being instrumental to the beginning of the so-called Indonesian National Awakening.
Budi Utomo was founded on May 20, 1908, and was the first native political society in the Dutch East Indies. The founder of Budi Utomo was a pensioned government doctor who felt that native intellectuals should improve education and culture among the public. The society held its first congress in May 1908. The congress was a gathering of students in Batavia. The first leader was Dr. Wahidin Soedirohoesodo, but by the organization's first major gathering in Yogyakarta in October 1908, he stepped aside for younger organizers.
The use of Budi Utomo to mark the inception of modern nationalism in Indonesia is not without controversy. Although many scholars agree that Budi Utomo was likely the first modern indigenous political organization, others question its value as an index of Indonesian nationality. For example, in his novels, Pramoedya Ananta Toer pointed to the exclusively aristocratic and male composition of Budi Utomo.
Ariel Heryanto questions the nationalism of Budi Utomo, given that its existence was permitted by the Dutch regime: "Because of [Budi Utomo's] remarkably conservative character, the Dutch colonial administration tolerated [it]." Heryanto points to the "more populist and egalitarian" Muslim association (Sarekat Dagang Islamiyah), born a few years prior, as a more genuinely nationalist organization: one which was banned by the Dutch. In enshrining Budi Utomo as the first nationalist organization, the current government reiterates the colonial version of history.
Due to this buildings connection with the birth of Budi Utomo on May 20, 1908, the designated official Day of National Awakening since 1948, the building was restored by the government of Jakarta in April 1973. The building was then officially made a heritage building by the then President Suharto on May 20, 1974 under the name of Gedung Kebangkitan Nasional ("The Building of National Awakening").
The official narrative is reinforced by the fact that the birth of Budi Utomo on May 20, 1908, has been officially commemorated as the Day of National Awakening in Indonesia since 1948.
Other organisations included the Islamists Trade Union (Indonesian: Sarekat Dagang Islam), which was a cooperative of Javanese batik traders in the Dutch East Indies set up by Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto in late 1911, in Surakarta central Java. At Tjokroaminoto's suggestion, the word trade (Indonesian: dagang) in the organization's name was removed and SDI became Sarekat Islam (SI) or the Islamic Union.
Group portrait at a meeting of the SI
An important early organisation was founded by Dutch socialist Henk Sneevliet in 1914, under the name Indies Social Democratic Association (in Dutch: Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging, ISDV). ISDV was constituted essentially by the 85 members of the two Dutch socialist parties, SDAP and Socialist Party of Netherlands who would later become communist SDP, residing in the Dutch East Indies leadership. These Dutch members of the ISDV set about introducing Marxist ideas to educated Indonesians looking for ways to oppose colonial rule.
Sneevliet's ISDV saw the legacy of the October Revolution in Russia as the path to follow in Indonesia. The group made inroads amongst Dutch sailors and soldiers stationed in the colony. 'Red Guards' were formed, and within three months they numbered 3,000. In late 1917 soldier and sailors mutinied in the Surabaya naval base of the archipelago, and formed soviet representative committees. The colonial authorities suppressed the Surabaya soviets and the ISDV. Dutch leaders of ISDV were sent back to the Netherlands, including Sneevliet. The leaders of the soldiers uprising were given sentences of 40 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the ISDV established a bloc within the anti-colonialist Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union) organization. Many SI members from Surabaya, Semaun and from Solo Darsono were attracted by Sneevliet's ideas. As a result of Sneevliet's "bloc within" strategy, many SI members were persuaded to establish the more revolutionary Marxist-dominated Sarekat Rakjat (People's Union).
In the period leading up to the Sarekat Islam's sixth congress in 1921, members became aware of Sneevliet's strategy and took moves to stop it. Agus Salim, the organisation's secretary, introduced a motion banning SI members from holding dual membership of other parties. Despite opposition from Tan Malaka and Semaun, the motion passed, forcing the communists to change tactics. At the same time, the Dutch colonial authorities introduced more restrictions on political activity, and Sarekat Islam decided to focus more on religious matters, leaving the communists as the only active nationalist organisation.
With Semaun away in Moscow attending a Far Eastern Labour Conference in early 1922, Tan Malaka tried to turn a strike of government pawnshop workers into a national strike to include all Indonesian labour unions. This failed, Tan Malaka was arrested and given a choice between internal or external exile. He chose the latter and left for Russia.
In May 1922, Semaun returned after seven months in Russia and began to organize all labour unions into one organization. On 22 September, the Union of Indonesian Labour Organizations (Persatuan Vakbonded Hindia) was formed.
PKI meeting in Batavia (now Jakarta), 1925
At the fifth Comintern congress in 1924, it was emphasized that "the top priority of communist parties is to gain control of trades unions" as there could be no successful revolution without this. The PKH began concentrate on unions, decided discipline needed improving, and demanded the establishment of a Soviet Republic of Indonesia.
In 1924 the party name was changed once again, to Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, Communist Party of Indonesia).
In May 1925, the Exec Committee of Comintern in a plenary session ordered communists in Indonesia to form a united anti-imperialist front with non-communist nationalist organizations, but extremist elements dominated by Alimin & Musso called for a revolution to overthrow the Dutch colonial government.[9] At a conference in Prambanan, Central Java, communist-controlled trades unions decided the revolution would start with a strike by railroad workers that would signal a general strike and then a revolution would start. This would lead to the PKI replacing the colonial government.[9]
The plan was for the revolution to begin in Padang, Indonesia, but a government security clampdown at the beginning of 1926 that saw the end of the right to assembly and the arrests of PKI members forced the party to go deeper underground. Splits among PKI leaders as to the timing and course of the revolution resulted in poor planning. Tan Malaka, at the time Comintern's agent for Southeast Asia and Australia did not agree with the plot, partly because he believed the PKI had insufficient mass support. As a result of these divisions, in June 1926, the revolution was postponed.
However, there was a limited revolt in Batavia (as Jakarta was then known), which broke out on 12 November. Similar actions took place in Padang, Bantam and Surabaya. In Batavia, the revolt was crushed within a day or two, and after a few weeks it had been comprehensively defeated throughout the country.
As a result of the failed revolution, 13,000 people were arrested, 4,500 imprisoned, 1,308 interned, and 823 exiled to Digul, West New Guinea. Several died while in captivity. Many non-communist political activists were also targeted by the colonial authorities, under the pretext of suppressing the communist rebellion. The party was outlawed by the Dutch East Indies government in 1927. The PKI went underground and Dutch, and later Japanese, surveillance ensured that it was never a disciplined or coherent organisation for the remainder of the pre-war period.
Batavia/Jakarta 1941
The outbreak of World War and the Indonesian movement towards independence
The suppression of the independence movement in Indonesia by the Dutch colonial authorities was disrupted entirely in the wake of World War.
The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during World War II ended Dutch rule and encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. In May 1940, early in World War II, the Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany.
The Dutch East Indies declared a state of siege and in July redirected exports for Japan to the US and Britain. Negotiations with the Japanese aimed at securing supplies of aviation fuel collapsed in June 1941, and the Japanese started their conquest of Southeast Asia in December of that year. That same month, factions from Sumatra sought Japanese assistance for a revolt against the Dutch wartime government.
Initially, the Japanese forces launched air strikes on key areas and gained air superiority. Following the airstrikes, landings were made at several locations targeting airfields and other important points in the area. In addition to the landings at Miri, the Japanese forces made landings at Seria, Kuching, Jesselton and Sandakan between 15 December 1941 and 19 January 1942. After these main objectives in Borneo were completed, the Japanese forces planned a three-pronged assault southward using three forces named Eastern Force, Center Force and Western Force. The aim of this assault was to capture the oil resources in the East Indies. The Eastern Force was to advance from Jolo and Davao and move on to capture Celebes, Amboina and Timor, while protecting the Center Force's flank. The Center Force was to capture oil fields and airfields in Tarakan Island and Balikpapan. Both these forces would support the Western Force, which was to attack and capture the oil refineries and airfields in Palembang. The Japanese forces launched the assault on 11 January and landed at Tarakan.
To coordinate the fight against the Japanese, the American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces combined all available land and sea forces under the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command. Although the forces were combined, they had differing priorities: the British believed the defense of the territory of Singapore and the eastern entrances to the Indian Ocean (the route to British Ceylon and British India) to be paramount, the Americans and Australians did not want a total penetration of Southwest Asia that would deprive them of bases necessary for any serious counterattack, and the Dutch considered Java and Sumatra, their "second homeland where [they] had been trading and living for over three centuries", to be the most important place to defend.
Even the combined forces could not stop or even slow the Japanese advance due to their much greater numbers. Most of the naval components of the allied force were crushed in the battles of Java Sea, Sunda Strait and Second Java Sea. In addition, the land forces on the islands were quickly overwhelmed and most major resistance was overcome within two months of the initial assaults, although a guerrilla campaign in Timor was successfully waged for a time.
The last Dutch forces were defeated by Japan in March 1942.
Batavia becomes Jakarta
On March 5, 1942, Batavia fell to the Japanese. The Dutch formally surrendered to the Japanese occupation forces on March 9, 1942, and rule of the colony was transferred to Japan. The city was renamed Jakarta (officially ジャカルタ特別市 Jakaruta tokubetsu-shi, Special Municipality of Jakarta, in accordance with the special status that was assigned to the city).
To strengthen its position in Indonesia, the Japanese government issued Act No. 42 1942 as part of the "Restoration of the Regional Administration System". This act divided Java into several Syuu ("Resident Administration" or Karesidenan) that were each led by a Bupati (Regent). Each Syuu was divided into several Shi ("Municipality" or Stad Gemeente) that were led by Wedanas ("District Heads"). Below a Wedana was a Wedana Assistant ("Sub-district Head"), who, in turn, oversaw a Lurah ("Village Unit Head"), who, in turn, was responsible over a Kepala Kampung ("Kampung Chief").
A schichoo ("Mayor") was superior to all of these officials, following the law created by the Guisenken ("Head of the Japanese Imperial Administration"). The effect of this system was a "one-man rule" structure with no councils or representative bodies. The first schichoo of Jakarta was Tsukamoto and the last was Hasegawa.
The Japanese occupation was initially greeted with optimistic enthusiasm by Indonesians who came to meet the Japanese army waving flags and shouting support such as "Japan is our older brother" and "banzai Dai Nippon". As the Japanese advanced, rebellious Indonesians in virtually every part of the archipelago killed groups of Europeans (particularly the Dutch) and informed the Japanese reliably on the whereabouts of larger groups.[18] As famed Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer noted: "With the arrival of the Japanese just about everyone was full of hope, except for those who had worked in the service of the Dutch.
The colonial army was consigned to detention camps and Indonesian soldiers were released. Expecting that Dutch administrators would be kept by the Japanese to run the colony, most Dutch had refused to leave. Instead, they were sent to concentration camps and Japanese or Indonesian replacements were installed in senior and technical positions. Japanese troops took control of government infrastructure and services such as ports and postal services. In addition to the 100,000 European (and some Chinese) civilians interned, 80,000 Dutch, British, Australia, and US Allied troops went to prisoner-of-war camps where the death rates were between 13 and 30 percent.
The Indonesian ruling class (composed of local officials and politicians who had formerly worked for the Dutch colonial government) co-operated with the Japanese military authorities, who in turn helped to keep the local political elites in power and employ them to supply newly arrived Japanese industrial concerns and businesses and the armed forces (chiefly auxiliary military and police units run by the Japanese military in the Dutch East Indies). Indonesian co-operation allowed the Japanese military government to focus on securing the large archipelago's waterways and skies and using its islands as defence posts against any Allied attacks (which were assumed to most likely come from Australia). The Japanese colonial rulers divided Indonesia into three separate regions; Sumatra was placed under the 25th Army, Java and Madura were under the 16th Army, while Borneo and eastern Indonesia were controlled by the 2nd South Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (the IJN). The 16th Army and the 25th Army were headquartered in Singapore and also controlled Malaya until April 1943, when its command was narrowed to just Sumatra and the headquarters moved to Bukittinggi. The 16th Army was headquartered in Jakarta, while the IJN's 2nd South Fleet was headquartered in Makassar.
The Japanese regime perceived Java as the most politically sophisticated but economically the least important area; its people were Japan's main resource. As such—and in contrast to Dutch suppression—the Japanese encouraged Indonesian nationalism in Java and thus increased its political sophistication (similar encouragement of nationalism in strategic resource-rich Sumatra came later, but only after it was clear the Japanese would lose the war). The outer islands under naval control, however, were regarded as politically backward but economically vital for the Japanese war effort, and these regions were governed the most oppressively of all. These experiences and subsequent differences in nationalistic politicisation would have profound impacts on the course of the Indonesian Revolution in the years immediately following independence (1945–1950)
The Japanese surrender and the declaration of Indonesian independence
The Japanese occupation thus officially ended with Japanese surrender in the Pacific and two days later Sukarno declared Indonesian Independence.
However Indonesian forces would spend the next four years fighting the Dutch for independence. American restraint from fighting their way into Java certainly saved many Japanese, Javanese, Dutch and American lives.
Indonesian independence would have likely been achieved more swiftly and smoothly had MacArthur had his way and American troops occupied Java. A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of the Japanese occupation. About 2.4 million people died in Java from famine during 1944–45.
Liberation of the internment camps holding western prisoners was not swift. After four months of post-war internment, Western internees were released on the condition they left Indonesia. Most of the Japanese military personnel and civilian colonial administrators were repatriated to Japan following the war, although the process took nearly a year for most individuals, and often two years or more. Following screening for war crimes, physical labor or security duty for thousands more, and war crimes trials for approximately 1,038 individuals, they were sent back to Japan aboard remaining Japanese vessels.
The final stages of warfare were initiated in October 1945 when, in accordance with the terms of their surrender, the Japanese tried to re-establish the authority they relinquished to Indonesians in the towns and cities. Japanese military police killed Republican pemuda in Pekalongan (Central Java) on 3 October, and Japanese troops drove Republican pemuda out of Bandung in West Java and handed the city to the British, but the fiercest fighting involving the Japanese was in Semarang. On 14 October, British forces began to occupy the city. Retreating Republican forces retaliated by killing between 130 and 300 Japanese prisoners they were holding. Five hundred Japanese and 2000 Indonesians had been killed and the Japanese had almost captured the city six days later when British forces arrived.
I, of course, knew that we had been forced to keep Japanese troops under arms to protect our lines of communication and vital areas ... but it was nevertheless a great shock to me to find over a thousand Japanese troops guarding the nine miles of road from the airport to the town.— Lord Mountbatten of Burma in April 1946 after visiting Sumatra, referring to the use of Japanese Surrendered Personnel.
In August 1945, the Japanese Imperial army surrended to the allied command, and Indonesia had soon declared independence. No one had control of Indonesia, until the allies could send an army, and so despite surrendering Japanese troops kept an uneasy peace.
This posed a series problem for the allies, as they were instructed to restore Dutch control of Indonesia, despite the fact that in the hearts, and minds of Indonesians, this surrender signaled independence from colonialism. The allied war against Japan continued, but nationalist armies rose and started taking control of towns and cities across Indonesia, as the returning allied armies were too few to quell this uprising. The allies decided to ask the defeated Japanese army to defend these areas, until enough troops and supplies reached Indonesia, so whilst Tokyo was being fire bombed-, the remaining Japanese troops in Indonesia, maintained order. All across the thousands of Indonesian Islands, a twilight zone of freed interned prisoners, allied sea landings, and battles between local nationalists, with Japanese & allied soldiers continued. 1945, was the birth of the Indonesian nation, but the events that followed this beginning, are some of the strangest in the history of World War Two- The enemy Japan, fought on the side of the allies, at a time their "homeland" was still at war.
Here is footage of a Japanese patrol in Batavia, Jakarta.
In the background you can see the writing on the wall.
Indonesians, simply wanted independence.
Until 1949, the returning Dutch authorities held 448 war crimes trials against 1038 suspects. Of this total 969 were found guilty and amongst those found guilty of war crimes 236 received a death sentence as punishment for their crimes.
Independence of Indonesia
This short movie shows the following:
- Indonesian and Dutch officials sign the document for the transfer of power in Batavia/Jakarta on December 27 1949.
- The Round table conference, where it was decided that the Dutch would transfer all rights regarding the Dutch East Indies to Indonesia.
- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signs the document that made Indonesia formally independent from the Netherlands - Amsterdam Palace, December 27 1949.
- The dutch flag goes down on Paleis Koningsplein (now Istana Merdeka) and the Indonesian flag goes up. Batavia/Jakarta, December 27 1949.
- A parade to celebrate the Indonesian independence with the army, december 27 1949, Djakarta.
In 1945, after the Japanese had been defeated, the Dutch East Indies were given back to the Netherlands.
In August 1945 however, the Indonesian nationalist Sukarno had proclaimed the Republic of Indonesia. This eventually lead to a four year long war between the nationalists and the Dutch army.
In 1949 the Dutch came under heavy international pressure to give independence to Indonesia.
This formally happened on December 27 1949. This is also the reason why internationally the Indonesian independence is officially designated on that date, and not the date of August 17 1945, that the Indonesians celebrate as their Independence Day.
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