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Colonial Policy in the 19th and 20th Centuries

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The Social Evolution of Indonesia

Part of the book series: Studies in Social History ((SISH,volume 5))

Abstract

The sluggish economic development of the Netherlands entailed that the industrial-capitalist phase of colonial exploitation of Indonesia was very late in starting. The weakness of Dutch capital forced the Dutch government to return to pre-industrial mercantilist and monopolistic practices in the form of the forced cultivation system introduced by van den Bosch in 1830.

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Notes

  1. Brugmans, Paardekracht, pp. 201 ff; de Jonge, De industrialisatie, pp. 17 ff, 226 ff

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  2. Roland Hoist, Kapitaal, I, pp. 46 ff, 101 ff, 177 ff; II, pp. 1 ff; Reinsma, Het verval, PP. 17 ff; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 82 ff; Fasseur, Kultuurstelsel, pp. 1 ff, 11 ff.

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  3. Bastin, Native Policies, pp. 13 ff, 32 ff, 44 ff, 55–57 ff, 67–71; Burger, De ontsluiting, II; Gonggrijp, Schets, Ch. III; Hall, A History, pp. 539–543. Under van der Capellen (1818–1826) there was less question of ‘liberalism’ than under du Bus de Ghisignies (1826–1830). Ottow points out that the conservative policy of protecting the ‘rights of the Javan to the soil’ runs from van der Capellen to the legislation of 1870. Ottow, De oorsprong, pp. 159–160. See further: van Welderen Rengers, Failure of a Liberal Colonial Policy, pp. 153 ff. Burger sees the main cause for the failure of Raffles’ ‘landrent system’ in Java being economically far more backward than India (tax in money already in the 16th century) the country of origin of this system. Burger, De ontsluiting, pp. 383–384.

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  4. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, p. 82; Higgins, Indonesia, p. 54; compare to: Entrepreneurship,p. 5.

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  5. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 52 ff, 69 ff. See also in the cultivation system: Burger, De ontsluiting, III; Reinsma, Het verval, pp. 1923. Bastin and Benda’s book (A History, pp. 4547) disregards Geertz’ thesis and tends towards a rather flattering evaluation of the cultivation system.

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  6. For a comparison see: Furnivall (Colonial Policy, pp. 109 ff), who posits an original Burmese ‘system of land tenure’ that closely resembled the Indonesian system.

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  7. Reinsma, Het verval, Ch. IV. Fasseur tends to the opposite of the traditional opinion of rising entrepreneurs making the system superfluous. Fasseur, Kultuurstelsel, pp. 204–205.

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  8. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 65–66; van Niel, Emergence, p. 6; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 117, 121; Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, p. 142. Particularly in the field of labour illiberal practices were continued for a long time. ENI, II, pp. 77–82, 361–366; Middendorp, De poenale sanetie; van Blankenstein, De poenale sanctie; Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 244 ff; Lasker, Human Bondage, pp. 83–84, 177–181, 221 ff; Endt, Arbeiterverhdltnisse, Ch. II ff.

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  9. Fasseur, Kultuurstelsel, pp. 63 ff, 159 ff, 179 ff, 201 ff.

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  10. ENI, pp. 18–23, 629–633, 821–825; Kleintjes, Staatsinstellingen, II, Ch. XXVII; van Welderen Rengers, Schets, pp. 313–335, 716–752; Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 162–165, 175–176, 178 ff. Van Vollenhoven’s sharp criticism of governmental land policy since Raffles — product of ignorance and Western conceptions — generally is irrelevant to our argument; more relevant is his attack on the Declaration of State Land (Domeinverklaring) being a negation of the village right of disposal of the surrounding waste land. Van Vollen-hoven, De Indonesier en zijn grond, Chs 5–6.

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  11. ENI, III, pp. 345–350. After 1910 the government re-purchased a substantial part of the private estates. Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 313–314.

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  12. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 68 ff, 86 ff.

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  13. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 84–85; Reinsma, Het verval, Ch. IV; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 119 ff, 139 ff; Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 174 ff, 195 ff, 309 ff; Vlekke, Nusantara, pp. 310 ff; van ‘t Veer, De Atfeh-oorlog, pp. 24–27, 186 ff, 215 ff, 231 ff; Rutgers and Hueber, Indonesia, pp. 138 ff; Reid, The Contest for the North Sumatra, pp. 270 ff; ENI, V, p.l32.

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  14. Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 100 ff; van Niel, Emergence, pp. 202–203.

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  15. ENI, II, pp. 419–420; Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 225 ff; Boeke, Economics, pp. 127–128; van Niel, Emergence, pp. 8–9, 31 ff. For the ‘ethical’ period in parliament, see: van Welderen Rengers, Schets, IV, pp. 362 ff. For the economic period 1904–1914: Gong-grijp, Schets, pp. 139 ff. For the diminished welfare (also in later times): van Deventer, Overzicht, pp. 249 ff; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 126 ff. An optimistic evaluation is presented by Hasselman, Overzicht, pp. 348–353; Huender, his successor in the welfare research on Java, provides a critical opinion. Huender, Overzicht, pp. 243 ff. Further: Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 232–236, 292–405; Weitheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 99 ff.

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  16. For the financial pressure caused by the Aceh war: van ‘t Veer, De Atfeh-oorlog, pp. 144–445. As to the retreat into subsistence agriculture: Wertheim, East-West Parallels, pp. 211 ff.

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  17. ENI, III, pp. 217 ff; Huender, Overzicht, pp. 95–96; Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 314 ff; Rutgers, Indonesie, pp. 27–29. Certain re-communalizing effects were brought about by the sugar industry, although a lesser extent than was the case with the cultivation system. Verslag van de Suiker-enquete kommissie, pp. 99 ff.

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  18. Koch, Indisch-koloniale vraagstukken, pp. 24 ff; Id., Verantwoording, p. 71; van Niel, Emergence, p. 7; Wertheim, Indonesian Society, p. 96.

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  19. Roland Hoist, Kapitaal, II, pp. 157 ff; Allen and Donnithorne, Western Enterprise, pp. 186 ff; Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 99–101.

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  20. Van ‘t Veer, De Atjeh-oorlog, pp. 228–229; Furnivall, Netherlands India, pp. 236–237.

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  21. Roland Hoist, Kapitaal I, pp. 27 ff.

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  22. Van Niel, Emergence, Ch. II; Furnivall, Netherlands India, Chs IX, XI; van Oorschot, De ontwikkeling van de nijverheid, pp. 20 ff; Brugman, Geschiedenis van het onderwijs, pp. 349–349.

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  23. Snouck Hurgronje, Nederland en de Islam, Chs II, IV; Benda, Crescent, pp. 20 ff; van Niel, Emergence, p. 176; Benda, ‘Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje’, in: Continuity, pp. 83–92.

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  24. Van Niel, Emergence, pp. 196, 199 ff; Benda, ‘Pattern’, in: Continuity, pp. 237 ff; Vlekke, Nusantara, pp. 367, 379; Tichelman, ‘De Nederlandse koloniale politiek’, in, De Gids, 4–5, 1970, pp. 255 ff; Rutgers, Indonesie, Ch. 8. See for the shifts in parliamentary policy: Oud, Het jongste verleden, I, pp. 228–252; II, pp. 228–259; III, pp. 304–342; IV, pp. 330–362; V, pp. Iff, 413,436; VI, pp. 179–211.

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  25. Boeke, Economics, pp. 248–249, 290; Indonesian Economics, pp. 57, 292; Burger, De ontsluiting, pp. 234 ff; Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 114–117; van Oorschot, De ontwikkeling van de nijverheid, Ch. Ill, gives a highly flattering account of the real development of industry. For the policy of rubber restriction during the world crisis: Boeke, Economics, pp. 141 ff; Pelzer, Agricultural Foundation, p. 147; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 191–192; Allen and Donnithorne, Western Enterprise, pp. 125–126; Wertheim, ‘Betting on the Strong’, in: East-West Parallels, pp. 259 ff. The Indonesian (small holding) rubber producers were remarkably successful in their resistance against discriminatory rubber restriction measures.

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  26. ENI, I, pp. 6–7, V, 9–10; VII, pp. 440–451; van Vollenhoven, De ontdekking van het adat-recht; van Vollenhoven, Verspreide geschriften, p. 3; de Kat Angelino, Staatkundig beleid en bestuurszorg, I, Chs 5–6; II, pp. 1106 ff; van Niel, Emergence, pp. 248–249; Wertheim, Indonesian Society, p. 301; Indonesian Economics, p. 212. Van Vollenhoven admired van Heutz’ imperialist policy. Van der Linden, De Nederlandsche Anti-Oorlogs Raad (MS), pp. 82 ff. See for the post ethical turn in the ‘decentralization’ policy: Rutgers, Indonesie, pp. 224 ff. See for the repressive atmosphere in the 1930s: Benda, ‘Pattern’, in: Continuity, pp. 236 ff.

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  27. ENI, I, p. 695; VII, pp. 175–176; Koks, De Indo, Ch. 5; Blumberger, De Indo-Europese beweging, pp. 5 ff; van der Veur, Introduction to a Socio-Political Study of the Eurasians. See also: van der Veur, Eurasians of Indonesia: A Political-Historical Bibliography.

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  28. Van Mansvelt, ‘De positie der Indo-Europeanen’, in: Kol Studien, XVI, 1932, pp. 301 ff; van der Veur, ‘De Indo-Europeanen’, in: Balans van een beleid, pp. 84 ff.

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  29. Nota betreffende de geschriften van Douwes Dekker; Vervolg der nota; Tweede vervolg der nota, etc.; Blumberger, De Indo-Europeesche beweging, pp. 35 ff; ENI, VII, pp. 1291–1293; van Niel, Emergence, pp. 63–66.

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  30. Douwes Dekker, ‘De Filippijnse revolutie van 1896–1898’, in: Tweede vervolg der nota.

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  31. ENI, VII, pp. 1293–1295; Blumberger, De Indo-Europeesche beweging, pp. 49 ff; van Miel, Emergence, pp. 162–163; van der Veur, Introduction, pp. 220 ff. The NSB (National-Socialist Association) attracted many Eurasians. Tichelman, ‘De opkomst en de neergang van de NSB in Indonesië’, in: Vrij Nederland, 9.5.1970, p. 23; 16.5.1970, pp. 21, 23; van der Veur, Introduction, pp. 314–320.

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  32. Van der Veur, ‘Eurasians of Indonesia: Casteways of Colonialism’, in: PA, 27, 2, June 1954, pp. 124 ff; Daruch, De nationalistische beweging, pp. 59 ff; van der Veur, Introduction. 189.

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  33. Tichelman, ‘De Nederlandse koloniale politiek’, in: De Gids, 133, 4.5.1970, pp. 258 ff; Id., ‘Enkele opmerkingen’, in: Id., april 1972, pp. 327 ff. The new Dutch-Indonesian friendship was expressed in the rise of investments, economic aid, tourism, scientific co-operation and friendly publicity. Nederlandse ontwikkelingshulp; Wederopbouw; Terug van wegge-weest; Het andere Indonesie.

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  34. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 47, 126–128, 130 ff. Geertz’s comparison between the economic and industrial policy on Java and in Japan is meaningless because of the extreme dissimilarity of the Javanese and Japanese society.

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  35. Burger, De ontsluiting, passim; Geertz, Agricultural Involution. Compare to: Fisher, Southeast Asia, p. 272; Bastin and Benda. A History, p. 50.

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  36. For the role of foreign (non-Dutch) capital in the exploitation of colonial Indonesia: Allen and Donnithorne, Western Enterprise, pp. 31–32, 36, 121, 177 ff, 190, 193–194, 257 ff; Broek, Economic Development, pp. 86 ff; van Gelderen, Recent Development, pp. 86 ff; Gonggrijp, Schets, pp. 167, 196–197; Hecht verbonden, pp. 306 ff, 342 ff, 371; Wat Indie ontving en schonk, pp. 263–299.

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  37. For the general typology: Maunier, Sociology, I, pp. 8–9, 20 ff. See also: Tichelman, ‘De SDAP en Indonesia, in: De Nieuwe Stem, 22, 1967, p. 683.

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  38. Gordon, Economic Relationship Between 20th Century Dutch Colonialism and Indonesian Formations (MS), p. 7.

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  39. Kahin. Nationalism and Revolution, p. 29; Geertz, Agricultural Involution, Chs 4–5; Legge, Indonesia, pp. 105–106; Castles, Religion, pp. 10–11; Entrepreneurship, p. 5.

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  40. ‘.. the fact was plain for all to see that many of non-natives were there primarily for what they could take away, and whether in the profits of Western business, the pensions paid to European personnel or the innumerable remittances home of the Chinese and Indians, wealth was being pumped out of the region in a seemingly unending stream’. Fisher, Southeast Asia, p. 189. Dutch colonial circles tended to deny the existence of the drain or at least to play it down. Berkhuysen, De drainagetheorie voor Indonesie. Compare Gonggrijp, Schets, p. 156; van ‘t Veer, De Atjeh-oorlog, p. 220. De Jonge’s estimate of the Indonesian part in the economic growth of the Netherlands (1910–1914) is c. 10%; it contributed substantially to the economic prosperity of this period. De Jonge, De industriali-satie, p. 356.

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  1. Fritjof Tichelman
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© 1980 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers bv, The Hague

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Tichelman, F. (1980). Colonial Policy in the 19th and 20th Centuries. In: The Social Evolution of Indonesia. Studies in Social History, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8896-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8896-5_9

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