History of Indonesia 1945 to 1950: The War for Independence. Dutch reoccupation of Indonesia. Establishment of Indonesia political parties.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

August 1945
August 7 BPUPKI renames itself to PPKI: Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (preparatory committee for Indonesia’s independence -ed.).

August 9 Sukarno, Hatta, and Radjiman Wediodiningrat are flown by the Japanese to Vietnam to meet with Marshal Terauchi. There they are informed of the collapse of Japanese forces, and that Japan will grant Indonesia independence on August 24.

August 14 Sukarno, Hatta, and Radjiman Wediodiningrat return to Jakarta, mistrustful of the Japanese promise.

August 15 Japan surrenders to the Allies. The Japanese army and navy still control Indonesia. Japan has agreed to return Indonesia to the Dutch.

August 16 Sukarno and Hatta are spirited away by youth leaders, including Chaerul Saleh, to Rengasdengklok at 3:00 A.M. They later return to Jakarta, meet with General Yamamoto, and spend the next night at Vice-Admiral Maeda Tadashi’s residence. Sukarno and Hatta are told privately that Japan no longer has the power to make decisions regarding the future of Indonesia.

August 17 Sukarno reads the brief, succinct, and unilateral “Proklamasi”; the Declaration of Independence.

PETA forces, radical youths, and ordinary people in Jakarta organize defense of Sukarno’s residence. Flyers are distributed proclaiming independence. Adam Malik sends out a shortwave announcement of the Proklamasi.

August 18 PPKI moves to form an interim government with Sukarno as President and Hatta as Vice-President.

August 18 Piagam Jakarta (Jakarta Charter) mentioning Islam among the Pancasila principles is dropped from the preamble to the new constitution.

August 18 New Republic consists of 8 provinces: Sumatra, Borneo, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Sunda Kecil.

August 22 Japanese announce their surrender publicly in Jakarta.

Japanese forces disarm and disband Peta and Heiho. Many members of these groups have not yet heard of independence.

August 23 Sukarno delivers first radio address to the nation.

August 23 BKR (Badan Keamanan Rakyat), first Indonesian military force, begins organizing from former Peta and Heiho members. Some former Peta batallions join as entire units, having been told to disband only a few days before.

Dutch forces land at Sabang in Aceh.

August 29 The New Republic: The constitution that had been drafted by the PPKI preparatory committee, and announced on the 18th, is adopted (UUD 45). Sukarno is declared President, Hatta is declared Vice-President. PPKI (originally BPUPKI, founded under the Japanese occupation the previous March) is remade into KNIP (Central Indonesian National Committee). KNIP is the temporary governing body until elections can be held. The new government is installed on August 31.

The Patih (chief advisor) of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya dies. No successor is chosen; the Sultan takes charge of his own affairs, and begins to institute reforms in Yogya

Tan Malaka reappears in Jakarta.
Help the People of Aceh

Proklamasi: Sukarno at the microphone on August 17, 1945.

The original constitution of 1945 is not very specific on many issues, and placed much power in the hands of the President. In 1950 a more comprehensive constitution was adopted that gave the most power to the Assembly, but this constitution was dropped in favor of a return to the 1945 constitution under Sukarno’s orders in 1959.

In the opinion of the victorious Allied powers in 1945, Lord Mountbatten, the Allied supreme commander in southeast Asia, was in charge of Sumatra and Java. Australian forces were given responsibility for Kalimantan and Eastern Indonesia.

September 1945
September 1 Van Mook, Dutch Lieutenant-Governor of the Indies, meets British Lord Mountbatten in Ceylon, and asks that Japanese troops still in Indonesia be ordered by the British to suppress the Republican government. Mountbatten agrees, but the Japanese delay.

September 5 Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya and Pakualam VIII in Yogya declare their palaces to be part of the Republic of Indonesia.

September 8 First British troops parachute into Kemayoran Airport at Jakarta.

Japanese navy in Kalimantan formally surrenders to Australian forces near Balikpapan.

September 9 Japanese navy in eastern Indonesia formally surrender to Australian forces at Morotai. Japanese forces on Timor surrender to Australians in Kupang harbor.

September 16 British Rear Admiral Patterson lands in Jakarta. He announces that the British mission is “to maintain law and order until the time that the lawful government of the Netherlands East Indies is once again functioning”. The Dutch ask Patterson to have the leaders of the Republic arrested, but the British high command tells Patterson not to interfere in politics.

September 17 Mass pro-Republic rallies in Jakarta.

September 23 Patterson sends Captain Huyer of the Dutch Navy to inspect installations in Surabaya.

September 27 Republican youths take over PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone) headquarters in Bandung.

September 29 British reinforcements land in Jakarta.

Republican youths take over railways and radio stations in Jakarta, installations in Yogya, Solo, Malang, and Bandung.

Mass independence rallies are held in Jakarta and Surabaya.

The Susuhunan of Solo declares allegiance to Republic.

King of Bone declares support for the Republic; rajas of Makassar and Bugis join him.

Balinese rajas declare their support for the Republic.

Scattered violence breaks out between youths and Dutch former internees. Dutch soldiers who had been prisoners-of-war under the Japanese are put back into active service against the Republic.

Australian troops take surrender from Japanese navy. Australian military gives support to NICA (Netherlands Indies Civil Administration) to retain government control in eastern areas, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan.

Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya was an early supporter of the new Republic.

Japanese surrender to Australian forces at Koepang, Timor, September 1945.

Postage stamps of the Japanese occupation, overprinted with “Repoeblik Indonesia”, 1945.

October 1945
October 5 Angkatan Darat (later ABRI, TNI) is founded: Indonesian armed forces. (October 5 is later celebrated as Armed Forces Day.)

October 8 Republican forces in Surabaya take Captain Huyer into custody.

British troops in Padang, Medan, Palembang.

Fighting escalates between Republican youths and foreigners. Dutch troops attack civilians.

Malay Nationalist Party is founded in Malaya, with covert ties to the PKI in Indonesia.

Republican Angkatan Darat forces skirmish with Dutch on Java, Sumatra, Bali.

Japanese military police massacre Republican youths in Pekalongan.

“Tiga Daerah” leftist revolution in Brebes, Tegal and Pemalang, north coast of Central Java. (Although the revolutionaries–”laskar”– proclaim support for the Republic, they are undisciplined, and Sukarno has them suppressed in December.)

Japanese troops push Republicans out of Bandung; hand over city to British.

October 14 Republican youths begin five-day battle against Japanese troops in Semarang.

October 16 Sutan Sjahrir and Amir Sjarifuddin take over Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP). Sjahrir publishes pamphlet in support of democracy and social justice, and against feudalism, fascism and the remnants of Japanese fascist thought. Government decree authorizes the formation of political parties.

October 17 Van Mook sends telegram to Dutch government urging that negotiations with the Republic be rejected.

October 18 Japanese troops secure Semarang; hand over city to British.

October 22 Nahdlatul Ulama proclaims that a state of jihad exists against the Dutch, making participation obligatory for Muslims.

October 23 Under British pressure, Van Mook meets with Sukarno for informal talks. Neither side gives ground.

Japanese Admiral Shibata surrenders Surabaya to Dutch, but hands over his weapons to Republicans. Many Japanese troops are disarmed by Republican youths.

October 25 British 49th Indian Infantry arrives under General Mallaby.

October 27 British airplanes drop leaflets on Surabaya demanding surrender by Republican forces within 24 hours. British troops on the ground are nearly destroyed by Indonesian troops and mobs of ordinary people.

October 29 Sukarno and Hatta arrive in Surabaya by plane. Sukarno and General Mallaby agree on a truce. Poor communications and general chaos prevent Sukarno from enforcing the truce.

Australian commander in South Sulawesi bans all political activity, organization of militias, etc. among the public under his control.

October 30 British Major General Hawthorn flies to Surabaya from Jakarta. Sukarno, Hatta, Mallaby, and Hawthorn sign a cease-fire. Five hours later Mallaby is killed.

British bombard Surabaya as punishment, thousands are left dead or homeless. British strafe civilian refugees on highway.

PKI is organized again.
Sjahrir was more inclined to negogiate with the Dutch; Sjarifuddin was not only a Communist, but a figure who had received covert support from the Dutch government-in-exile during the war.

There was friction between Sjarifuddin as Minister of Defense, who was secretly Communist and had accepted covert help from the Dutch to run his underground movement during World War II, and military officers who had served in PETA under the Japanese and had Islamic sympathies, especially Soedirman.

The Malay Nationalist Party would become the ancestor of several Malay socialist/communist organizations, many of which would advocate the union of Malaya with Indonesia. Figures in the MNP and its related organizations included Ishak bin Haji Mohammed, Boestamam, and Ibrahim Ya’acob. All of them would be involved in the “Konfrontasi” between Indonesia and the new nation of Malaysia in the mid-1960s; Ibrahim Ya’acob himself moved to Indonesia in protest in 1957, and had special ties to Sukarno.

Van Mook was never quite happy that he had been named “Lieutenant-Governor” instead of “Governor-General” of the Indies.

Dutch prisoners just after release from a Japanese concentration camp, 1945.

Provisional guards for President Sukarno, Jakarta, 1945.

November 1945
November 1 Republican government issues Manifesto Politik.

November 3 Hatta announces that the ban on political parties is lifted (Maklumat Pemerintah 10).

November 8 Masyumi declares itself to be a political party.

November 9 Sukarno asks Sjahrir to form a Cabinet.

British 5th Indian Division lands at Surabaya.

November 10 (Heroes’ Day/Hari Pahlawan) Indonesian counterattack in Surabaya. Fighting continues for three weeks. 600 Indian troops defect from the British and join the Indonesians.

November 11 Sjahrir moves a proposal through KNIP to take powers away from the President and transfer them to a Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The effect is to make Sukarno’s position less powerful for a while.

November 12 Sudirman becomes leader of army forces on Java.

November 14 Sjahrir is installed as first Prime Minister of Indonesia.

Some Japanese troops battle Republican forces on Java, Sumatra, Bali.

Dutch abandon Aceh forever.

Japanese-favored leaders removed from NU and Muhammadiyah.

Kongres Ummat Islam Indonesia meets, remakes the originally Japanese-organized Masyumi as an Indonesian and Islamic political party. Natsir is head of the new Masyumi party.

Partai Kristen Indonesia is founded.

Barisan Tani Indonesia (Indonesian Peasants Front) is organized by PKI to promote land reform and take actions against landowners.

November 23 British Foreign Secretary Bevin urges negotiations between the Dutch and the Republic.

PKI begins operating again through front organizations.

A British soldier fires at snipers in Surabaya, November 1945.

Many of the British occupying troops in Indonesia in 1945 were actually from India. Nehru strongly protested the use of Indian troops against Indonesians; this was an important reason that the British withdrew.

December 1945
12-15 December Battle of Ambarawa
15 December Soedirman installed as Panglima Besar (supreme commander) of the army.

Allies evacuate remaining Japanese from Aceh; a few Japanese remain to help Republic.

“Social War” breaks out in Aceh: the traditional aristocracy loses in a bloody conflict with Islamic leaders.

Sjahrir, Sjahrifuddin and their followers form Partai Sosialis.

Dutch forces begin to replace Australians as occupying power in eastern areas. Dutch forces increase their presence in the Jakarta area.
In the areas that were controlled by the new Republic of Indonesia, Angkatan Darat military forces carried out their mission to repatriate Japanese soldiers, Allied prisoners of war and former internees.

Late 1945 saw the rise of “laskar”, or local militias, irregular forces that did not answer to outside authority. Some had ties to various political parties or factions. By 1947, many “laskar” had been absorbed into the Republican army. Sukarno took steps to disband them, even if they claimed nominal allegiance to the Republic.

January 1946
January 3 Department of Religion is founded.

January 4 Sukarno and Hatta remove by night to Yogya, leaving Sjahrir and the more pro-negotiations faction in Jakarta.

PNI party is reestablished.

Persatuan Perjuangan (Union of Struggle) formed by Tan Malaka to oppose the Sjahrir government and negotiations with the Dutch. Soedirman speaks against negotiations and Sjahrir.

Barisan Banteng radicals kidnap Pakubuwono XII of Surakarta.

Gajah Mada University founded in Yogya; Sultan offers front portion of Kraton to house it.

Dutch forces occupy Bangka and Belitung.

Indonesia issue is raised in the United Nations for the first time.

January 31 Gen. Spoor takes command of Dutch forces in the Indies.

Gen. S. H. Spoor, commander of Dutch forces in Indonesia, 1946-1949.

At the beginning of 1946, Dutch forces in Indonesia numbered about 20,000.

February 1946
February 10 Van Mook sends proposal to Sjahrir for “democratic partnership” between the Netherlands and Indonesia, but which still does not provide for real independence.

Sjahrir reshuffles cabinet under pressure.

March 1946
“Social War” breaks out in Batak areas of Sumatra. Local rulers are accused of collaborating with the Dutch.

Tan Malaka and Persatuan Perjuangan increase criticism of Sjahrir.

March 12 Sjahrir publicly replies to Van Mook’s offer of February, demanding immediate recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty without delay.

March 17 Sjahrir and Sjarifuddin pull their followers out of Persatuan Perjuangan, arrest Tan Malaka and others. Tan Malaka is held in jail until September 1948.

Sjahrir secretly agrees with Dutch to negotiate for Republican control of Java, Madura and Sumatra only, in a political union with the Netherlands, Curaçao and Surinam.

Amir Sjarifuddin had been involved in the movements for Indonesian independence since the late 1930s. During World War II, he led a small underground resistance against the Japanese occupation. He served with Sutan Sjahrir in several early governments of the Republic. Just before the “Madiun incident” of September 1948, he revealed that he had been a secret member of the PKI for some time. After the failed Communist revolt at Madiun, he was captured and executed by the military.

Amphibious landing by Dutch (KNIL) troops at Sanur beach, Bali, March 1946.

April 1946
King of Bone and the local Republican government are arrested by Dutch forces on Sulawesi.

Dutch forces replace the British in Bandung. “Bandung Lautan Api”: Indonesians start to burn down the city rather than surrender it to the Dutch. Much of the southern part of Bandung is burned.

Barisan Banteng rules Surakarta in defiance of the Sjahrir government.

April 14 Dutch and Indonesian representatives begin talks at Hoge Veluwe in the Netherlands. The talks are unsuccessful.

Sutan Sjahrir
Sjahrir had been a leading figure in the independence movement in the 1930s, and had spent time in the Boven Digul concentration camp. He organized the governments of the new Republic in 1945-1947, and spent a great deal of energy in negotiations with the Dutch.

To some, Sjahrir was a respectable voice of moderation with an educated, Western outlook on things. In his time, he was criticized both by Communists and by Army nationalists for being allegedly “pro-Dutch”. (Among other things, Sjahrir had married a Dutch woman when he was a young student in the Netherlands.) Conversely, Sjahrir was a critic of those who he felt had worked too closely with the Japanese, implicitly criticizing Sukarno as well.

May 1946
Violence between Toba and Karo Bataks in Sumatra.

Nasution takes command of the new Siliwangi division of Angkatan Darat (the army), named after the first king of Pajajaran.

Soedirman gives speech with Sukarno present: government must work for the principles of the Constitution (UUD 45) and independence.

5 Gulden Netherlands Indies banknote, 1946.

June 1946
Government revokes the privileges of Pakubuwono and Mangkunegara houses in Surakarta, under pressure from Soedirman.

June 27 Army units under General Sudarsono open the jail in Surakarta and release Tan Malaka and his followers. Sjahrir is arrested in Surakarta while on an overnight stay the same night, and is taken to the Kraton (Sultan’s Palace) with other notable figures. General Sudarsono’s troops occupy Yogya.

Sukarno declares martial law and demands Sjahrir’s release. Troops loyal to Sukarno advance on Surakarta from Surabaya; the loyal Siliwangi division sends troops to Yogya.

Adam Malik and other young radicals are arrested.

Soldiers in the Siliwangi Division, 1946.

July 1946
Allies officially turn over all of Indonesia except Java and Sumatra to Dutch.

July 2 General Sudarsono and Mohamed Yamin visit Sukarno in person, and demand that Sjahrir be replaced by Tan Malaka. Sjahrir, supposedly still a captive, surprises everyone by walking into the room. Sukarno orders that Sudarsono and Yamin be arrested.

July 3 “July 3rd Affair”: army units release Adam Malik from jail and demand that Soedirman be put in charge of security. Sukarno takes control of the situation.

Sjahrir reorganizes government to include Natsir, Sjarifuddin, the Sultan of Yogya, Haji Agus Salim, and Djuanda.

July 15 Van Mook calls conference at Malino, Sulawesi, to plan for new Dutch-sponsored state in eastern Indonesia.
The Philippines became independent from the United States on July 4, 1946. The British government annexed the territory of Sarawak on July 1, ending the rule of the Brooke family there, and made North Borneo a crown colony on July 15.

September 1946
Talks are reopened between the Sjahrir government and the Dutch at Linggajati, near Cirebon.

September 22-24 Violent anti-war protests in Amsterdam.

October 1946
October 14 Preliminary military truce signed at Linggajati.

November 1946
First rupiah banknotes are issued by the Republic.

SOBSI umbrella group of labor organizations is organized with PKI support.

November 15 Linggajati agreement: Dutch recognize Republic of Indonesia authority in Java, Sumatra and Madura. Both sides agree to form United States of Indonesia with Netherlands crown as symbolic head.

November 20 Battle of Marga: resistance on Bali led by Ngurah Rai is defeated by Dutch forces.

November 29 Last British troops leave Indonesia.

Dutch Capt. Raymond Westerling begins campaign in South Sulawesi against Republican youths. Westerling and his men commit many war crimes against citizens, including atrocities against children and hospital patients.

Capt. Raymond Westerling was a notorious rogue officer for the Dutch during Indonesia’s war of independence. He headed a KNIL detachment called the Depot Speciale Troepen, which was implicated in war crimes which took as many as 5000 civilian lives. Most of the DST troops were actually Indonesians from Maluku. He returned to the Netherlands in 1950, and lived there until 1987.

December 1946
December 18-24 Dutch create state of East Indonesia/Negara Indonesia Timur at a conference in Denpasar, Bali. Capital of the new NIT is Makassar, and it includes the entire eastern half of Indonesia. Sjahrir protests.

“Left Wing/Sayap Kiri” coalition packs KNIP with pro-Linggajati members.
The Dutch delayed signing the Linggajati agreement for months. Many of their actions over the following six months appeared to be aimed at undermining it.

February 1947
February 5 Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam student organizatino is founded at Yogya.

Sukarno and Hatta threaten to resign if the Linggajati agreement is not ratified.
Between December 1946 and February 1947, the Dutch forces (KNIL) executed nearly 3000 people without trial.

March 1947
March 25 Netherlands government finally ratifies Linggajati agreement.

May 1947
May 11 Dutch create state of West Kalimantan with Sultan of Pontianak at head; Sjahrir protests.

Dutch vehicle in flames after a guerilla ambush at Puncak, April 1947.

June 1947
Dutch complain that Indonesia is stopping shipments of rice to Dutch-controlled areas.

Egypt and Syria recognize the Republic of Indonesia.

June Angkatan Darat (Indonesian Army) is renamed TNI.

June 26 Dutch forces mobilize for an invasion of Madura, and eventually Java. William Foote, a USA diplomat, intervenes and offers to mediate between Dutch and Indonesians. The invasion is postponed.

June 27 Amir Sjarifuddin and the “Left Wing” withdraw support of Sjahrir. Sjahrir leaves the government and becomes Indonesia’s representative at the United Nations. Amir Sjarifuddin becomes Prime Minister.

Dutch soldiers in Batavia, 1947. By the start of the first Dutch “police action”, there were 92,000 Dutch forces in Indonesia.

July 1947
July 8 Sjarifuddin government makes conciliatory offer to Dutch: Republic of Indonesia will stop seeking international recognition; Netherlands officials can take government positions in the Republic.

July 20 first Dutch “police action”: Dutch troops occupy West Java, East Java, Madura, Semarang, Medan, Palembang, Padang, bomb many cities.

July 24 20,000 march in anti-war demonstration in Amsterdam.

July 30 Young students blow up a bridge at Bumiayu, preventing Dutch forces from taking Purwokerto.

USA and Britain are unhappy with the “police action”; India, Australia, and the Soviet Union support the Republic of Indonesia in the UN. Refugees pour into Central Java. Australia boycotts Dutch shipping.

A Dutch vehicle fords a stream on Java, after the bridge has been blown up by Indonesian forces.

Republik Indonesia 100 Rupiah note, 1947.

August 1947
August 1 UN Security Council calls for cease-fire in Indonesia.

August 4 Ceasefire agreed to by Dutch and Sukarno, but is ignored in the field. Dutch declare “Van Mook line” at the edge of their military advances in Java and Sumatra.

Daud Beureu’eh is military governor of Aceh for the Republic.

Sultan Hamid II of Pontianak governed the “Daerah Istimewa Kalimantan Barat” in cooperation with the Dutch (corresponding to today’s Kalimantan Barat province). He was arrested in 1950 for involvement in a plot against the Indonesian government.

October 1947
Dutch military tries to consolidate control of areas within the “Van Mook line”. Dutch take control of all of Madura.

United Nations “Good Offices Commission” is organized, with the goal of finding a settlement in Indonesia. Australia, Belgium, and the United States take part.

December 1947
December 8 Dutch and Indonesian representatives meet on board the U.S.S. Renville, a U.S. Navy transport stationed in the Philippines, which was moved Jakarta harbor for the talks.

December 25 Dutch create state of East Sumatra.

Indonesian representatives aboard the U.S.S. Renville, December 1947.

January 1948
January 17 Renville agreement under UN auspices draws a ceasefire line favorable to Dutch.

January 21 Dutch found “Negara Madura” government on Madura.

January 23 Sjarifuddin resigns as Prime Minister; the “Left Wing/Sayap Kiri” parties go into opposition.

Sukarno appoints Hatta to head an emergency cabinet answerable to President.

Dutch organize “Daerah Banjar” government on Kalimantan. Republican forces under Hasan Basry continue fighting from the countryside.
The Renville agreement called for a truce along the so-called “Van Mook line”. The original draft did not even mention the Republic. Amendments were added that included mention of the Republic of Indonesia after the United States applied pressure on the Dutch, and it was only then that the Indonesians agreed.

The PNI, Masyumi, and Tan Malaka all opposed the Renville agreement.

February 1948
Sjahrir forms PSI (Partai Sosialis Indonesia), supports Sukarno.

“Left Wing” under Amir Sjarifuddin renames itself People’s Democratic Front (Front Demokrasi Rakyat). Sjarifuddin criticizes the Renville agreement.

Col. Nasution leads Siliwangi division out of West Java to Central Java.
The Dutch blockaded the areas under control of the Republic of Indonesia around this time, causing shortages of food and medicine.

Provisional 50 Rupiah note for “Daerah Banten”, Republik Indonesia, 1948.

March 1948
March 9 Van Mook creates a provisional government for federated Indonesia: the “Voorlopige Federale Regering”. The name “Nederlands-Indië” is changed to “Indonesië” in the Netherlands constitution.
By this time, Van Mook saw that Indonesia would not remain a colony of the Netherlands forever. His actions became not so much efforts to keep the Netherlands Indies, as ways to manage a slow transition to self-rule.

April 1948
April 24 Dutch create state of Pasundan in western Java.

May 1948
Kartosuwirjo proclaims himself Imam of Negara Islam Indonesia, or “Darul Islam”, an Islamic state rebelling against both Dutch and the Republic. His followers begin setting up local administrations in West Java.

July 1948
July 8 Representatives of 13 Dutch-controlled states created by Van Mook convene at Bandung, to begin process of creating United States of Indonesia.

August 1948
August 11 Musso, former PKI leader from the 1920s, arrives in Yogya after spending twelve years in the Soviet Union. Sjarifuddin announces that he has been an underground member of PKI. PKI sponsors strikes and demonstrations.

Hatta, with little money to pay troops, begins demobilizing some TNI (army) units.

September 1948
PKI gains recruits from PDF; new Politburo includes Aidit, Lukman and Njoto.

Republican Government releases Tan Malaka from custody as a counter to PKI influence.

September 5 Musso gives speech advocating that Indonesia align itself with the Soviet Union.

September 17 Siliwangi division drives PKI out of Surakarta; PKI retreats to Madiun.

September 18 PKI attempts a coup in Madiun; kills pro-government officers there.

September 19 PKI figures in Yogya arrested; Sukarno denounces the Madiun coup; Musso replies that he will fight; popular opinion sides with Sukarno.

September 30 Siliwangi division recaptures Madiun. PKI abandons Madiun, pursued by army. Aidit and Lukman leave for China.
The “Madiun incident” was the second time the PKI made an unsuccessful, poorly-planned revolt. The first was against the Dutch in 1926-7; the last was in 1965.

The events at Madiun changed the opinion of United States diplomats toward the new Republic. Formerly suspicious, the USA now saw Indonesia as a potential ally against Communism.

October 1948
Pro-government Tan Malaka followers create Murba Party. Tan Malaka is arrested again.

October 11 Van Mook resigns as Lt.-Governor of the Indies.

October 31 Musso killed while attempting to escape arrest.

November 1948
November 26 Dutch create state of Jawa Timur in occupied areas of East Java.

Dutch abolish post of Governor-General, replacing it with a “High Representative of the Crown”.

December 1948
December 1 Amir Sjarifudddin captured.

December 11 Dutch inform UN representatives that further talks with the Republic are “futile”.

December 18 Dutch organize Negara Sumatra Selatan state, with capital at Palembang.

December 18 Dutch officials tell representatives of the United States and the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta that they are cancelling the Renville agreement. The news does not reach Yogya, as the Dutch have already cut the phone lines there.

December 19 Second Dutch “police action” begins at 5:30 A.M. without warning. Yogya falls to the Dutch.

Emergency government for Indonesia is declared (PDRI) at Payakumbuh nearby under Sjafruddin Prawiranegara. Soedirman radios his immediate support for the emergency government.

Civil government of republic, including Sukarno, Hatta, Sjahrir, allows itself to be captured, hoping to outrage world opinion; Sukarno and Sjahrir are taken into Dutch custody, and eventually flown to Bangka. Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya remains in his palace, and does not leave during the entire Dutch occupation.

Dutch occupy Bukittinggi.

Tan Malaka escapes again during the confusion.

December 20 Army executes Sjarifuddin, withdraws from Yogya.

All of Indonesia except for Aceh and parts of Sumatra are under Dutch control. Guerilla warfare heats up; Soedirman leads guerilla war from sickbed.

Many American newspapers publish editorials against the Dutch.

December 22 Nasution declares military government for Java.

UN is outraged at Dutch; Dutch attack while UN observers are at Kaliurang.

19 Asian countries boycott Dutch.

Dutch-chosen members of East Indonesia state government vote to condemn the “police action”.

USA suspends postwar aid to the Netherlands (Marshall Plan money) that is budgeted for military use in Indonesia.

December 24 UN Security Council calls for end to hostilities.

December 31 Dutch accept UN call for ceasefire in Java.

Panglima Besar Soedirman
Soedirman is warmly remembered today as perhaps the greatest hero of the revolution. Towards the end of the fighting, he fell ill and directed troops from his sickbed.

Soedirman was another complex character in the revolutionary era. He had been impressed by Japanese military traditions and the spirit of bushido; yet he was also thought to be sympathetic to the leftist movement of Tan Malaka. He was one of the military figures who was not completely trusting of the political leadership (such as Sjahrir), as to them the political leadership seemed more interested in compromise than victory. This feeling was certainly strengthened when the entire political leadership allowed itself to be taken captive by the Dutch on December 19, 1948.

January 1949
January 5 Dutch accept UN call for ceasefire in Sumatra

Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya refuses Dutch offer to head new Javanese state, resigns as head of Yogya government, and gives help to Republic guerilla fighters.

January 28 UN Security Council demands release of the Republican government, and independence for Indonesia by July 1, 1950.
There was significant guerilla activity against the Dutch during this period, led by Nasution and Sudirman. At the height of Dutch activity in the 1940s, there were around 150,000 Dutch forces in Indonesia.

February 1949
February 7 Resolution is introduced in United States Senate to stop all Marshall Plan aid to the Netherlands. Resolution is defeated on March 8.

March 1949
March 1 Guerillas retake Yogya for six hours under Suharto. (Later, this event would be called the “serangan umum” or “public offensive”.)

March 31 U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson privately tells Dutch that their Marshall Plan aid is still in jeopardy.

April 1949
April 6 United States Senate passes resolution to stop Marshall Plan aid to the Netherlands, but only if the UN Security Council votes sanctions against the Netherlands.

April 16 Tan Malaka is captured and executed by a TNI commander after a Dutch contingent attacks the town where he was staying.

April 22 Dutch announce that they will return the Republican government to Yogya if the guerilla war stops.

Sjarifudin Prawiranegara headed the emergency PDRI government while Sukarno, Hatta, and the rest of the regular Republican government were being held by the Dutch. He would be involved in Indonesian politics for many years to come, as part of the rebel PRRI government in 1958, and yet again as a signer of the “Petition of 50″ criticizing the government in 1980.

May 1949
Sukarno and Hatta remain in custody on Bangka.

May 7 “Roem-Royem” agreement: Dutch agree to restore the Republic of Indonesia government, to hold talks according to the UN Security Council resolution of January 28, and to work towards a settlement based on the Renville agreement.

General Spoor, commander of the Dutch in Indonesia, resigns. He dies of a heart attack on May 25.

June 1949
June 24 Dutch troops begin evacuating Yogya.

June 29 Indonesian troops enter Yogya.

July 1949
July 6 Republican government returns to Yogya. Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX receives Sukarno and Hatta at the Kraton.

July 13 Power is transferred back from the emergency PDRI government under Prawiranegara to the Republican government in Yogya under Sukarno.

Dutch-created states hold conference, support joining the Republic.

August 1949
Republic troops retake Surakarta.

August 7 Darul Islam movement formally breaks with the Republic of Indonesia.

August 11 Ceasefire on Java.

August 15 Ceasefire on Sumatra.

Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya coordinates handovers from Dutch to Republic.

Dutch begin releasing 12,000 prisoners.

August 23 Round Table conference begins in the Hague. Hatta head delegation for the Republic of Indonesia, Sultan of Pontianak heads delegation from the Dutch-created states.

November 1949
November 2 The Hague Agreement is the result of the Round Table Conference: “Republik Indonesia Serikat” is supposed to have the crown of the Netherlands as a symbolic head, Sukarno as President, and Hatta as Vice-President. It consists of 15 Dutch-created states plus the original Republic. Sovereigny is to be transferred by December 30. Dutch investments are protected, and the new government is responsible for the billion-dollar Netherlands Indies government debt. The Dutch keep Irian Jaya.
December 1949
December 19 Universitas Gadjah Mada founded at Yogya.

December 27 Dutch formally transfer sovereignty to “Republik Indonesia Serikat” (Republic of United States of Indonesia).

December 28 Sukarno is returned to Jakarta.

The Dutch finally signed their defeat at this table, preserved still in the Kraton Yogyakarta.
As part of the transfer of sovereignty, Chinese residents of the new Indonesia were given a choice to accept Indonesian citizenship or maintain Chinese citizenship. The government of China, unlike Indonesia, recognized dual citizenship.

Late in 1949, the PKI began a campaign to restore its public image, which had been damaged by the attempted coup in Madiun in 1948. The center of this strategy was to stop criticizing Sukarno and the new Republic and to declare the PKI as supporters of Sukarno.

Sukarno returns to Jakarta, December 1949.

Raising the Indonesian flag at Semarang, 1949.

January 1950
January 23 Dutch Capt. Westerling attempts assassination and coup in Bandung; some members of Dutch-created Pasundan government are involved.

January 29 Soedirman dies.

February 1950
February 9 Pasundan government dissolves itself.

February 22 Westerling leaves Indonesia via Singapore using a forged Netherlands passport.

March 1950
March 9 Negara Sumatra Selatan, Negara Madura, and Jawa Timur dissolve themselves into the Republic.

March 13 Rupiah is devalued by one-half.

March 31 Garuda Airlines is founded (originally as a joint venture with KLM).

April 1950
April 4 Sultan of Pontianak is arrested for connections with the Westerling plot. RUSI takes over West Kalimantan state.

April 5 Capt. Andi Aziz, formerly of KNIL, takes control of Makassar. Republic and pro-Dutch forces clash; East Indonesia government is shaken.

Minahasa region separates itself from Negara Indonesia Timur and joins the Republic.

April 18 RUSI forces retake control of Ujung Pandang.

“Benteng” program is started to support “pribumi” (native, meaning non-Chinese) businesses. Program lasts until 1957.

April 25 Republic of South Maluku proclaimed at Ambon.

May 1950
East Indonesia/Negara Indonesia Timur agress to dissolve itself into the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1950.

June 1950
June 4 Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar or GERWIS is founded, a leftist organization for women (later GERWANI).

July 1950
Republic of Indonesia troops begin putting down Republic of South Maluku. Fighting continues on Ambon and Buru until November.

July 20 The Netherlands Indies armed forces (KNIL) are officially disbanded.
As many as 300,000 Dutch citizens left Indonesia for the Netherlands during the early 1950s.

August 1950
17 August New constitution; the new Republic of Indonesia is made out of the original (now expanded) Republic, Sumatra Timur and East Indonesia/Negara Indonesia Timur. There is no more RUSI. Jakarta is the capital of the Republic. The Netherlands and Indonesia remain in a theoretical constitutional union, but Indonesia is fully independent.

Courtesy: www.gimonca.com

History of Indonesia 1940 – 1945: Perang Dunia II (the Second World War). Japanese occupation in Indonesia.
Pancasila is the national doctrine of Indonesia

1940 May 10 Germany invades the Netherlands.

May 15 The Netherlands surrenders to Germany; Dutch government flees to London. Netherlands Indies government declares a state of siege, and places the Indies on a wartime footing. German citizens in the Netherlands Indies are placed in internment camps.

June Young Suharto enters the KNIL military school at Gombang.

June 28 Japan says that it wants to renegotiate trade agreements with the Netherlands.

July Indonesian exports to Japan are stopped.

August Japan suggests that French Indochina and the Netherlands Indies should be incorporated willingly into the “East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”.

August 9 GAPI presents another petition for the “complete democratization of Indonesia”.

August 23 Commission for the Study of Constitutional Reforms is set up to look into the GAPI demands (but nothing else). Thamrin and others in the Volksraad withdraw their proposals for democratization, saying that the situation was becoming hopeless.

September Japanese troops move into French Indochina.

September 12 Netherlands Indies government begins trade talks with a Japanese delegation under Kobayashi. Van Mook does not cooperate with Japanese demands for aviation fuel.

October 26 Japan and the Netherlands issue a joint declaration that the Indies will not be part of the “Co-Prosperity Sphere”.

November 12 Quota on oil sales to Japan from the Indies is set by agreement.

December Kobayashi returns to Japan.
Help the People of Aceh

Even after the Netherlands had been taken over by Nazi Germany, the Dutch still held onto their colonies. For over a year and a half, the Netherlands East Indies government continued to rule over Indonesia, reporting to the Dutch government-in-exile. Efforts by Indonesian activists to organize self-rule were ignored.

Some Japanese extremists had talked about building an empire in the Pacific in the early 1930s, or even earlier. In 1940, however, Japan still faced a possible military threat from the Soviet Union, and the Japanese military was unwilling to overextend their forces too far to the south.

1941
January 6 Dutch arrest Thamrin, Douwes Dekker and other nationalists. Thamrin dies in custody five days later. Douwes Dekker is exiled to Surinam.

January 11 New, more agressive Japanese negotiating team under Yoshizawa arrives in Batavia.

February Increasing Japanese pressure on the Netherlands Indies government to “join the East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” is rebuffed by Van Mook.

May 14 Japanese send an ultimatum to the Netherlands Indies government, demanding Japanese influence and presence in the region.

June 6 Talks between Dutch and Japanese collapse. Netherlands Indies government replies that no concessions to Japan will be made, and that all strategic products (including oil and rubber) have been contracted for shipment to Britain and the United States.

July 11 Volksraad organizes an Indonesian militia.

July 25 Japan announces a “protectorate” over Indochina.

July 26 Japanese assets in the Netherlands Indies are frozen.

July 30 Dutch government-in-exile promises to hold conference on Indonesia after the war.

November 30 Dutch naval forces in the Indies begin mobilizing.

December 5 Netherlands Indies government sends a request to Australia to send forces to Ambon and Timor. Australian Air Force planes and personnel arrive on December 7.

December 8 Japanese invade Malaya, landing in southernmost Thailand and northern Malaya. Japanese begin attacking the Philippines. Netherlands, among other nations, declares war on Japan.

December 10 British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse are sunk within hours of each other off Malaya.

December 16 Anti-Dutch Acehnese make contact with Japanese forces in Malaya.

December 17 Australian-led force lands in East Timor. Portuguese dictator Salazar protests.

December 17 Japanese air raid on Ternate.

Japanese land in Sarawak.

December 22 Main Japanese invasion force lands in the Philippines.

Hatta writes a newspaper article calling on Indonesians to oppose the Japanese.

December 24 Japanese attack British forces at Kuching, Sarawak.
In August 1941, the Atlantic Charter was signed by the USA, Britain, and the governments-in-exile of many of the occupied nations of Europe, including the Netherlands. The Charter called for the “right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live”, among other things. In September of the same year, Dutch diplomats clarified that they did not think this applied to Indonesia.

In 1941, the British and Americans as well as the Dutch began to tighten restrictions on business with Japan, including embargoes on supplies that could be used to wage war. In response, Japan announced that it would try to organize the “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere”, a bloc that would supply raw materials to Japan and receive exports in return. The original idea stretched the bloc as far as India and New Zealand. The bloc would be controlled by the Japanese military. Japanese propaganda also advanced the idea that Asian colonies of European powers should be free from Western control–but this implied that control of those colonies would fall to Japan by military force.

Oil fields at Tarakan: Indonesia’s strategic natural resources made it a valuable prize during the Second World War. Oil fields and refineries were important to the Japanese war effort, and were frequent targets of Allied bombing raids.

The circumstances of Thamrin’s death are not clear, except that he definitely died while in Dutch custody. The Netherlands Indies government suspected Thamrin and the others arrested in January 1941 of secretly collaborating with the Japanese.

January 1942
January 2 Japanese take city of Manila.

January 3 Japanese take Sabah.

January 6 Japanese take Brunei.

January 6 First Japanese air raid on Ambon.

January 10 Japanese begin invasion of Indonesia in Kalimantan (Tarakan) and Sulawesi (Manado).

January 11 Japanese take Tarakan.

January 12 Van Mook makes an emergency trip to the United States, asking for reinforcements, and that the Netherlands Indies not be forgotten in the Allied defenses.

January 13 Japanese take Manado.

January 15 British Gen. Wavell takes command of ABDACOM, the first Allied joint command (Australian, British, Dutch, American) in the war.

January 16 Acehnese agents return from Malaya with promises of Japanese support against the Dutch.

January 23 Japanese take Balikpapan in spite of a strong Dutch and U.S. attack.

January 25 Japanese take Kendari on Sulawesi.

January 30 Japanese attack Ambon. KNIL and Australian forces destroy supplies to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. Ambon city is taken within 24 hours. Fighting continues through February 2. Australian defenders suffer 90 percent casualties; many are massacred in February after being taken prisoner.

British troops evacuate Malaya for Singapore.
The Netherlands Indies government had few resources of its own. With the Netherlands under control and the home government in exile in London, defense of the area fell mostly to the British and Americans. When the British lost Malaya and Singapore, and the Americans lost the Philippines, the defense of the Netherlands Indies became hopeless.

February 1942
February 1 Japanese take Pontianak.

February 3 Japanese bomb Surabaya, beginning air raids on targets on Java.

February 4 Battle of Makassar Strait (naval battle between Kalimantan and Sulawesi): Japanese air and sea power forces Allies to withdraw to Cilacap. Japanese advance into Sulawesi.

February 6 Japanese begin bombing Palembang.

February 8 Japanese begin main assault on Singapore.

February 9 Japanese bomb Batavia, Surabaya and Malang.

February 10 Japanese take Ujung Pandang (Makassar).

February 14 Japanese land paratroopers at Palembang, taking the city and its valuable oil industry.

February 15 Singapore falls; 130,000 troops under British command are taken as prisoners of war.

February 18 Van Mook, in Australia, pleads for Allied forces to make an offensive.

February 19 Battle of Badung Strait (naval battle between Bali and Lombok): small Japanese force drives back Dutch and Australians. Japanese land on Bali. First Japanese air raid on Darwin, Australia.

February 20 Japanese land on Timor.

February 23 Revolt against Dutch begins in Aceh and North Sumatra, with Japanese support.

Dutch transfer Sukarno to Padang; Sukarno slips away in chaos as Dutch evacuate.

Dutch evacuate Sjahrir and Hatta from Banda by air minutes before the Japanese begin bombing the island.

Japanese claim fall of Timor; Australian forces continue guerilla warfare.

February 27 to March 1 Battle of Java Sea: Japanese destroy much of the Dutch and Australian naval forces near Surabaya. American destroyers escape to Australia. Dutch Admiral Doorman is killed.

Hubertus Van Mook
Van Mook was to be the last Dutch head of government for the Netherlands Indies. In the 1930s, he was an official with liberal, reformist views. In the early 1940s, he was a tireless advocate for the Netherlands Indies, frustrating Japan in negotiations while quietly pleading with Britain and the USA for defense supplies. After the war, he would in turn both battle against and negotiate with the new Republic of Indonesia, until he resigned in October 1948.

Admiral Doorman
Adm. Doorman went down with his ship in the Battle of the Java Sea.

March 1942
March 1 Battle of Sunda Strait: Japanese invasion force lands at Banten.

Japanese invasion force lands west of Surabaya.

Japanese air raid on Medan.

March 5 Japanese air strikes at Cilacap. Japanese enter Batavia.

March 7 Japanese take Cilacap.

March 7 Rangoon falls to Japanese.

March 8 Dutch under Starkenborgh in Java surrender outside Bandung. Van Mook escapes in a plane to Australia at the last moment.

Japanese take Surabaya.

March 11 Acehnese resistance engages in battles with retreating Dutch.

March 12 Japanese land at Sabang. Operations in Aceh are finished around March 15.

March 12 Japanese arrive at Medan.

March 18 Japanese take Padang.

March 28 Last Dutch force on Sumatra surrenders at Kutatjane, in the south of Aceh.

Japanese ban all political activities and existing organizations. Volksraad is abolished. A ban is placed on merah-putih flags.

Japanese 16th Army is in charge of Java; 25th Army in Sumatra (headquarters at Bukittinggi); Navy controls eastern Indonesia (headquarters at Ujung Pandang).
In March 1942, the Allied forces on Java were told by scouts that a Japanese force of 250,000 was marching on Bandung, when in fact the force was only one-tenth that size. This wrong information may have been a part of the Allied surrender on Java.

The Dutch actually transferred Communists being held in prison camps in the Netherlands Indies, some of them since 1926, to prison camps in Australia when the Japanese arrived.

April 1942
April 7 Three Netherlands Indies Radio employees are executed for playing the Dutch national anthem over the radio on March 18, after the capitulation.

April 7 Japanese take Ternate.

Japanese try to organize “AAA” movement; start propaganda campaigns.

ABDACOM is dissolved. British and Americans divide responsibilities of war: British will try to retake Malaya and Sumatra as well as Burma. Rest of the Pacific and Indonesia becomes the responsibility of the U.S. (working with Australia).

April 19 Japanese take Hollandia (now Jayapura).

Gen. Imamura of the Japanese 16th Army, head of the occupation of Java in 1942.

In April 1942, about 200 Allied soldiers who had escaped into the hills of East Java to continue fighting were rounded up by the Japanese under Imamura’s command. They were packed into bamboo livestock cages, transported in open rail cars to Surabaya, then taken to sea and thrown overboard to sharks, while still in the bamboo cages. Imamura was found guilty of this atrocity by an Australian military court after the war.

May 1942
May 9 Japanese occupy Lombok.

May 13 Japanese occupy Sumbawa.

May 14 Japanese land on Flores, completing occupation by May 17.

May 16 Japanese occupy Sumba.

June 1942
June 17 Netherlands government-in-exile in London sets up consultative board for the affairs of the Netherlands Indies.

July 1942
Remaining KNIL forces send detachments to Kai, Aru and Tanimbar islands.

Japanese assemble Sukarno, Hatta, and Sjahrir in Jakarta.

Sukarno, Hatta, Sjahrir meet privately: Sukarno to rally masses for independence, Hatta to handle diplomatic connections, Sjahrir to coordinate underground activities.

Sukarno accepts Japanese offer to be head of Indonesian government, but answerable to Japanese military.

July 30 Japanese occupy the Kai and Aru Islands, after some resistance on Kai.

July 31 Japanese take the Tanimbar Islands after some resistance by KNIL and Australian detachments at Saumlaki.

Propaganda billboard celebrating the victories of Japanese troops, including Pearl Harbor in the upper right inset, Jakarta, 1942.

Outwardly cooperating with the Japanese was the only option Sukarno and Hatta really had. The ultimate goal, of course, was not to support Japan, but to win independence for Indonesia. Later, the returning Dutch would try to accuse Sukarno of being a Japanese collaborator in order to get British support against the new Indonesian republic.

Sjahrir, for his part, directed underground activities from his sister’s house at Cipanas, near Bogor. Information was frequently and quietly shared between Sukarno, who could get information from Japanese inner circles, and Sjahrir.

August 1942
August 29 Japanese begin transferring some forces from Sumatra and Java to the Solomon Islands.

September 1942
Indonesian Muslims refuse to bow towards Japanese Emperor in Tokyo.

October 1942
Japanese military advances in the Pacific stop; Japanese commanders told to organize pro-Japanese sentiments in occupied areas.

October 16 Japanese 16th Army sends garrisons to Lombok, Sumba and Timor.

“Work to Achieve Greater East Asia”: Japanese propaganda poster.

At the beginning, Japanese propaganda sounded like an improvement over Dutch rule. After the Japanese troops began stealing food and taking men for forced labor, the opinion of Indonesians turned against them.

Against Indonesians, the Japanese military was mostly guilty of three things:

forced labor, in which many Indonesian men were taken from their homes and sent as far as Burma to do construction and other hard labor in terrible conditions. Many thousands died or disappeared.

forced requisitioning, in which Japanese soldiers took food, clothing, and other supplies from Indonesian families by force and without compensation. This led to much hunger and suffering during the war.

forced slavery of women, in which Indonesian women were kept as “comfort women” for the amusement of Japanese soldiers.

In addition, the Japanese kept Dutch civilians in internment camps under poor conditions, and treated military prisoners of war in Indonesia badly.

War crimes in Indonesia–serious as they were–were not nearly as serious as those committed in China or Korea during the same period, however. Some commanders, such as Gen. Imamura in Java, were publicly criticized in Tokyo newspapers for being too “soft”. There were even Japanese officers who were sympathetic to the idea of Indonesian independence, and who went out of their way to support Indonesian political figures and organizations, right up to Sukarno himself.

November 1942
Revolt in Aceh is put down by the Japanese.

Gen. Imamura is replaced on Java by Gen. Harada. (Imamura is reassigned to Rabaul.)

December 1942
December 7 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, in exile, gives a speech promising a reformed relationship with the colonies after the war.

December 27 Japanese open first internment camp for Dutch women at Ambarawa.

January 1943
Japanese arrest Amir Sjarifuddin, break up his resistance movement. Sjarifuddin is sentenced to death, but Sukarno intervenes on his behalf.

Australian guerillas evacuate East Timor.
The case of Amir Sjarifuddin is an unusual one. He was a Communist, yet received funds from the Dutch government-in-exile to support his resistance movement against the Japanese.
February 1943
February 9 Japanese send extra troops to Tanimbar and Kai Islands, and Irian Jaya.

February 10 Last Australian guerillas are evacuated from East Timor, after a year of resistance in the bush.

March 1943
March 9 Japanese organize Putera (Pusat Tenaga Rakyat, a political auxiliary organization). Sukarno is named chairman. Hatta and Ki Hadjar Dewantoro are members.
Japanese begin to organize local military auxiliaries (“Heiho”), attached to regular Japanese units.

Indonesian “heiho” soldiers train with wooden staffs instead of weapons, 1943. Heiho soldiers from Indonesia were a combination of volunteers and forced conscripts. The Japanese military did not treat them with the same respect as Japanese soldiers.

July 1943
Japanese arrest 1000 in South Kalimantan.

July 7 Japanese Prime Minister Tojo promises Indonesians limited self-government in a speech at Gambir, Jakarta.

August 1943
August 13 US bombers from Australia hit Balikpapan.

Japanese begin to take over sugar estates in favor of Japanese sugar producers; European managers are sent to internment camps.
Around this time, many Protestant (“Kristen”) churches established Indonesian leaderships after Dutch churchmen and missionaries had been sent to Japanese internment camps. A side-effect of the Japanese occupation was to make Protestant churches more Indonesian.
September 1943
Revolts against Japanese put down in South and West Kalimantan.

September 8 Orders are issued from Japanese military headquarters in Saigon to organize “Giyugun” (local armies) throughout southeast Asia.
By the end of the war, around two million Indonesian had been recruited for service in the Giyugun or as Heiho auxiliaries. The Japanese felt that recruiting locals for defense was necessary, since Japanese units were increasingly being called up to fight the Americans elsewhere in the Pacific.

October 1943
October 3 Japanese organize “Giyugun” (local defense forces) for Sumatra and Java. The force for Java is called PETA (Pembela Tanah Air).

October The MIAI umbrella organization is remade into Masyumi (Majlis Syurah Muslimin Indonesia) under Japanese oversight.

Japanese begin to impose compulsory labor on villagers (romusha), many thousands die or disappear.

Japanese impose rice requisitioning.

Dutch marine brigades in exile begin training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, USA, with the ultimate goal of retaking the Netherlands Indies.

Officers in PETA assemble for review, 1943.

Many notable figures were signed up for PETA, including Soedirman and Suharto. Independence activists saw military training not so much as support for Japan as preparation for possible independence. By mid-1945, there were 120,000 armed fighters in PETA. This group later formed the core of the new Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI, later ABRI) after independence was proclaimed in 1945.

November 1943
November 3 Hatta gives a speech urging Indonesians to join the Giyugun (PETA).

November 10 Sukarno, Hatta, and Kyai Bagus Hadikusumo are flown to Tokyo to be decorated by the Emperor of Japan.
This was the first time that Sukarno had travelled abroad. Hatta, who had spent years in Europe, was less easily impressed.

December 1943
Barisan Hizbullah is organized by the Japanese; an armed force of Muslim youths associated with Masyumi.

1944
January Putera is replaced by the Jawa Hokokai/Java Service Association. Sukarno is chairman.

April 19 Allies bomb Sabang in Aceh.

April 22 Allies retake Hollandia (now Jayapura).

May 9 Japanese commanders decide to abandon West Irian.

May 17 Allied air raid on Surabaya.

May 27 US force lands on Biak.

June 4 Japanese begin counterattack on Biak.

August Barisan Pelopor is organized as the youth wing of Jawa Hokokai (after independence, it would become known as Barisan Benteng).

August 11 Allied air raid on Palembang.

August 28-29 Ambon is mostly destroyed by Allied air raids.

September 8 Japanese General Koiso promises that Indonesia (meaning all the territories of the Netherlands Indies) will be independent in the “very near future”.

September 8 US forces finally clear the last Japanese forces from Biak.

September 15 Allies land on Morotai.

Japanese authorities begin organizing regional councils (with advisory powers only).

October Australian forces begin bombing Balikpapan.

Japanese organize a Central Advisory Council, similar to the Volksraad, with no legislative powers.

November Harada is replaced as military governor by Yamamoto.

Pakubuwono XII becomes Susuhunan of Surakarta.
A small Netherlands East Indies administration was set up in the eastern areas that Allied forces passed through in 44-45 on their way to the Philippines.

Towards the end of the war, the death toll among Dutch nationals and other Europeans in the Japanese internment camps was as high as 20%.

10 Rupiah note issued by Japanese occupation forces, 1944.

February 1945
February 14 Peta soldiers at Blitar attack the Japanese armory there.
March 1945
March 1 Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI), a committee to prepare for Indonesian Independence, is announced by the Japanese. Members include Sukarno, Hatta, Wahid Hasyim, many others. Chairman is Dr. Radjiman Wediodiningrat.
April 1945
Japanese Vice-Admiral Maeda, head of Naval Intelligence in Indonesia, sponsors speaking tour by Sukarno and Hatta to Ujung Pandang.

April 30 Australian and Dutch forces land at Tarakan.

Sukarno poses with Japanese military and civilian officials in Ujung Pandang in April 1945.

May 1945
May 2 BPUPKI holds first session (until June 1). Supomo speaks to the committee against personal individualism, and in favor of national integration. Muhammad Yamin proposes that the new nation should include Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, and Portuguese Timor, as well as all the territories of the Netherlands Indies. Yamin also suggests that the new Indonesia should ignore international law and declare all ocean areas between islands as territorial waters.

May 3 Acehnese guerillas overrun Japanese outpost at Pandrah, killing all Japanese forces with no losses among their own.

Controversy continues among BPUPKI attendees regarding the role of Islam in the new Indonesia.
Yamin’s statements to the BPUPKI committee were strongly nationalistic, and made appeals to the history and territorial claims of Majapahit as well as general appeals to unite peoples of a common Malay race and culture.

“Independence is almost here”: Japanese propaganda poster from 1945. Note the combination of Japanese soldier and the children with the Indonesian merah-putih flag.

June 1945
Maeda sponsors speaking tour by Sukarno and Hatta to Bali and Banjarmasin.

June 1 Sukarno describes “Pancasila” doctrine in speech to the BPUPKI independence committee.

June 10 Australian forces land in Brunei.

Dutch forces land in North Sumatra.

June 22 A special commission under Sukarno to resolve the disputes over the role of Islam in the new Republic settles on compromise language, later known as the Piagam Jakarta or “Jakarta Charter”. The compromise language simply states that Muslims are obligated to follow Islamic law.

June 24 Allied forces land on Halmahera.

The Pancasila is the national doctrine of Indonesia, the ideals that society should try to live up to. For more info, see the Notes on Pancasila.

July 1945
Japanese military meets in Singapore. Plans are made to hand over Indonesia to Indonesian independence leaders.

July 1 Australian forces take Balikpapan.

U.S. bombers hit Watampone, other sites in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

July 8 Sekolah Islam Tinggi is founded in Batavia (ancestor of the IAIN network of religious universities).

July 10 Second BPUPKI session is held (until July 17) for discussions to draft a constitution for Indonesia. Hatta criticizes Yamin’s nationalistic statements, and suggests that West Irian might be left out of the new Indonesia. Sukarno supports Yamin. Haji Agus Salim suggests that people in the British and Portuguese possessions could vote on whether to join Indonesia. A majority of the committee votes that Indonesia should include Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Portuguese Timor, as well as all the Netherlands Indies.

July 11 US air raid on Sabang.

Courtesy
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Islam Muslim Islamic banking finance insurance marriage clothing fashion software qurban Makkah & Madinah.

History of Indonesia 1910 to 1940: New Nationalism

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1911
Abendanon publishes R. A. Kartini’s letters with the title “Door Duisternis Tot Licht”.

Newspaper al-Munir begins publishing in Padang.

Bubonic plague outbreak on Java.

Throughout history, the bubonic plague had never before spread to Java. Tens of thousands died of the plague in 1911-1913, and it was twenty-five years before the disease was eradicated from Java again, after extensive campaigns against rats.

1912
September 10 Sarekat Dagang Islamiyah changes name to Sarekat Islam under Tjokroaminoto.
Indische Partij is founded by Setiabudi (Douwes Dekker), Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo and Ki Hajar Dewantoro. All three are exiled within a year.

Portuguese suppress revolt in East Timor.

November 18 Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan founds Muhammadiyah in Yogya.

Dutch send another military expedition to the Tanimbar Islands.

Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan, founder of Muhammadiyah. The Muhammadiyah remains one of the large, respected Islamic organizations in Indonesia today. It has been known for its “modernist” Islamic viewpoint.
1913
January Sarekat Islam congress in Surabaya resolves to broaden their activities throughout the Indies.

Kartini Fonds founded in Netherlands to support women’s education on Java.

Gov-Gen Idenburg recognizes Sarekat Islam as legal organization.

Indische Partij is banned; leaders go to Netherlands.

Netherlands Indies government is given the power to borrow money without first receiving permission from the Netherlands.

Suwardi Suryaningrat (later called Ki Hadjar Dewantoro) publishes “Als Ik Eens Nederlander Was”, a nationalist document. He is exiled to the Netherlands until 1919.

Seeng Tee opens a tobacconist shop outside Surabaya–beginning of the Sampoerna clove cigarette company.

H.O.S. Cokroaminoto (or Tjokroaminoto)

1914
Hollandsch-Inlandsche schools are reorganized, become schools for Indonesian well-to-do.

Paguyuban Pasundan organization founded as a social and cultural organization for Sundanese in western Java.

May 9 Sneevliet founds Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging, would become PKI (Indonesian Communist Party).

War in Europe: Dutch government considers local militia for Indonesia.

Great Colonial Exhibition in Semarang, attended by Pakubuwono X of Surakarta and entourage.

Netherlands Indies government founds a flight test facility at Surabaya to study the performance of aircraft in tropical conditions.

KNIL organizes an airborne auxiliary.

Nias comes under complete Dutch control.

KNIL occupation forces on Bali are withdrawn and replaced by regular police units.

Insulinde is founded, supporters include Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo, returned from exile.
In the beginning, the ISDV and PKI would have mostly Dutch members.

Radio transmitting station in Koepang, Timor, about 1915.

1915
Haji Agus Salim joins Sarekat Islam, promotes Islamic modernism.

Tri Koro Dharma is founded as a youth organization of Budi Utomo. (Name is changed to Jong Java in 1918.)

Soedirman born.

British and Dutch sign treaty fixing the boundary between North Borneo (Sabah) and the Netherlands Indies.

Street scene in Surabaya, 1915.

1916
Delegation with members from Budi Utomo, Sarekat Islam, and other organizations tours the Netherlands.

Netherlands Indies government organizes “Politiek Inlichtingen Dienst”, a special police force for investigating political crimes (later renamed to “Algemene Recherche”).

J.P. Count van Limburg Stirum is Governor-General until 1921.

Young Sukarno attends school in Surabaya, lives with Tjokroaminoto.

June Sarekat Islam holds convention in Bandung; some members and traditional Javanese are unhappy with modernism.

Mangkunegara VII takes rule of his house in Surakarta.

December States-General in the Netherlands passes bill to create a Koloniale Raad (later Volksraad) for the Netherlands Indies.

For more background on Sarekat Islam, the Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama, see the Notes on Islam in modern Indonesia.

1917
Sarekat Islam begins to take a more anti-government position.

Leftists from Semarang gather in Sarekat Islam under Semaun; Tjokroaminoto does not oppose them.

Netherlands considers conscripting Indonesians for military service; leftists in Sarekat Islam oppose this.

Aisyiyah, women’s auxiliary to Muhammadiyah, is founded.

Modern port facilities are constructed at Surabaya.

Ki Hajar Dewantoro returns from exile.
The Netherlands, and the Netherlands Indies, were neutral during World War I, but they still maintained military preparedness. The war disrupted trade between the Indies and Europe, but business with the United States and Japan increased. Labor shortages during wartime led to strikes and higher wages.

Haji Agus Salim was an early figure in Sarekat Islam; he later served in the early governments of the Republic of Indonesia in the 1940s.

1918
May 18 Volksraad meets for the first time. 39% of its members are Indonesian. Members are elected by local councils from kabupaten. most members are government officials or bupati. It consists of one house, and serves in an advisory capacity only.

Gov.-Gen. van Limburg Stirum appoints Tjokroaminoto to Volksraad. Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo is also seated.

ISDV starts to organize soviets in Surabaya.

“Sarekat Islam B”, secret revolutionary branch, starts organizing. It includes Musso (and possibly Tjokroaminoto).

Sarekat Sumatra founded.

Smallpox epidemic hits Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Jong Minahasa organization founded.

Nederlands-Indië government starts to suppress ISDV soviets, drives Dutch members from communist movement.

The “November Promise”: Dutch government says that Indonesia will have self-government in the undetermined future.

November 14 Indonesian members of the Volksraad condemn the Netherlands Indies government for favoring European interests.

Nederlands-Indië government exiles Sneevliet.

Douwes Dekker returns from exile.

Gov-Gen J.P. Count van Limburg Stirum
Van Limburg Stirum in 1918 made statements that the Volksraad should prepare to take a greater role in government. However, he was not motivated by independence or nationalism–he was worried by rumors of a Socialist takeover in the Netherlands and was ready for the Indies to go its own way if that happened. Nevertheless, he was criticized in the Indies and in the Netherlands for being soft on Indonesian nationalists, and he was soon replaced.

1919
May-June Shooting in Garut; assassination of a Dutch official at Tolitoli, Sulawesi. Dutch use shootings as an excuse to suppress Sarekat Islam Section B.

Indo-Europees Verbond founded to promote the cause of “Eurasians”, while also supporting the Dutch.

Haji Misbach preaches “Islamic Communism” in Surakarta

December Sarekat Islam claims 2 million members; holds congress in Yogya.

KLM opens long-distance air service from Amsterdam to Batavia.
There was some confusion in Indonesia as to what “communism” really meant, which led to such unusual concepts as “Islamic Communism”. Many common people joined such movements in the 1920s. They used the mass organizations that grew around Communist slogans to express their dissatisfaction with colonialism and the conditions of life. Some Islamic leaders were happy to see the Communists leave (or be thrown out) of organizations like Sarekat Islam. Other leaders, such as Sukarno, said that all organizations should cooperate in the struggle for independence; that Islam, Communism, and nationalism could work together as long as none of them upset the overall harmony of the movement.
1920
May 27 ISDV changes name to Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia (later PKI).

PKH publishes works by Lenin.

Technische Hoogeschool founded at Bandung (today’s ITB: Institut Teknologi Bandung).

Sarekat Ambon founded.

Conflict between the Communists and Sarekat Islam grows.

December 25 PKH joins the Communist International.

1921
June Jong Java congress in Bandung; Sukarno addresses the congress to advocate language reform.

Fock is Gov.-Gen. of Nederlands-Indië until 1926.

Timorsch Verbond founded.

August Tjokroaminoto is arrested.

October Sixth national congress of Sarekat Islam forbids SI members to belong to other parties, including PKI.

Many Sarekat Islam branches split into “Red” (SI-Merah) factions after Semaun and “White” (SI-Putih) factions after Tjokroaminoto.

Semaun leaves for Soviet Union.

Tan Malaka tries to heal the split in Sarekat Islam.

PKI denounces Tjokroaminoto.

Young Sukarno begins studies at Technische Hoogeschool in Bandung.

Soeharto born.

Hamengkubuwono VIII becomes Sultan of Yogya.

December Tan Malaka becomes chairman of the PKI.

Street scene in Batavia (Jakarta), 1920s.

1922
Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Indonesia or Indonesian Students Association is founded in the Netherlands. Its membership would include Mohammed Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir, Sutomo, Ali Sastroamidjojo, and many others who would be prominent in the independence struggle (and in the government of the Republic of Indonesia in the 1950s).

March Tan Malaka is exiled from the Netherlands Indies.

April Tjokroaminoto is released from custody pending appeal.

Ki Hadjar Dewantoro founds Taman Siswa in Yogya, independent school with no gov support to promote Javanese arts as well as modern education (anti-modernist); invents term “guided democracy”.

Indische Vereeniging in the Netherlands changes name to Perhimpunan Indonesia. Mohammed Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir are members, Tan Malaka and Semaun speak to meetings.

Semaun returns from the Netherlands.

Marah Roesli publishes “Sitti Noerbaja”, first Indonesian novel.

Strikes continue.

Al-Islam congress is held at Cirebon; heated debates break out between holders of “modernist” and “traditionalist” views on Islam.

Pelgrimsordonnantie is passed, beginning government control of the hajj.

Modern port facilities open at Belawan to serve northern Sumatra.

1923
February Partai Katolik is founded.

Successful Communist led railroad strike; many unions become Communist dominated.

February Tjokroaminoto reorganizes Sarekat Islam as the new Partai Sarekat Islam. Communist supporters leave the organization, taking a significant number of the rank-and-file with them; “Red” SI branches become Sarekat Rakyat.

Semaun exiled.

Tan Malaka is appointed as the Comintern agent for southeast Asia, working out of Canton in China.

September 12 Persatuan Islam (or Persis), a hardline modernist group, is founded in Bandung. The young Mohammed Natsir is an early member.

Pasteur Institute moves from Batavia to Bandung.

Military service is made mandatory for Dutch citizens in the Indies.
Prominent Communists in this period included:

Sneevliet, a Dutchman, who originally introduced Communism to Indonesia.

Tan Malaka who was not an unquestioning supporter of Moscow and Stalin, but was later executed by ABRI in 1949. He was exiled from Indonesia from 1924 to 1944.

Musso led the PKI during the 1920s, and again during the 1940s independence struggle. He was a strong supporter of Stalin and the Communist International in Moscow, and spent the years 1936-1948 in the Soviet Union. He was executed by the Republic of Indonesia army in the wake of the Madiun incident of 1948.

Semaun who had been an early figure in Sarekat Islam.

Darsono who later renounced Communism.

1924
Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia changes to Partai Komunis Indonesia, decides to turn to revolt. Musso joins PKI.

“Sarekat Hijau” organized by Dutch, members are pro-Dutch local officials, criminals, police, etc.

Dr. Sutomo founds Indonesian Study Club.

First airmail service from Batavia to Amsterdam. The flight takes almost two months.

Central Malaria Bureau is founded to coordinate eradication programs.
In 1924, the Islamic caliphate ended, an event which caused much debate and concern in Islamic communities.

Also around this time, the economy in Europe was very poor.

The Governor’s Palace at Buitenzorg (now Bogor), flying a Dutch flag. This was used by the Netherlands Indies government from 1870 until 1942. (Years later, Sukarno used it as a Presidential retreat.)

1925
New constitution: Council of the Indies becomes advisory, Volksraad gets limited legislative powers, Governor-General and bureaucracy are unaffected. Chinese are officially defined under “vreemde oosterlingen”.

Membership in the Volksraad is set at 60: 30 Dutch, 25 Indonesians, and 5 members of either Arab or Chinese descent.

PKI-led strikes fail, Tan Malaka is in Singapore.

Sukarno founds pro-independence General Studies Club in Bandung, advocates unity.

September 23 Jong Islamieten Bond is founded in Jakarta; members include Haji Agus Salim and Mohammed Natsir.

Film censorship is instituted.

First commercial radio station in Batavia.

December PKI leaders meet at Prambanan to plan open rebellion.

Officials of the PKI in Batavia, 1925.

1926
Dutch arrest more PKI members; Musso goes to Singapore. PKI receives instructions from Moscow to start a revolt, then cancels the instructions. Musso keeps the second instructions (the instructions not to revolt) secret.

January 31 Committee of Islamic scholars meets in Surabaya to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to protest conditions for Indonesian pilgrims on the hajj. (This committee would later form the nucleus of Nahdlatul Ulama.)

November 12 PKI revolts in Banten, Batavia, Bandung, Padang. PKI declares a republic. Revolt is crushed by the Dutch, who make over 13,000 arrests. Tan Malaka opposes revolt.

Sukarno gets engineering degree in Bandung.

Sukarno publishes series of articles “Nationalism, Islam and Marxism”, calling for cooperation between the three movements.

De Graeff is Gov.-Gen. until 1931.

December 31 Kyai Haji Hasjim Asjari founds Nahdlatul Ulama, a Muslim organization dedicated to schools, charity, and economic help.
The 1926 unrest was the first of three ill-advised, unsuccessful revolts by the PKI. The second was in 1948 at Madiun, the third was in 1965.

After these revolts, Communist activity lessened greatly or went underground. Many leftist leaders, including Tan Malaka and Musso, spent years overseas. Within a few years, the mass movements were gone, and instead the Communist presence consisted of a few cadre who were mostly loyal to orthodox Marxism and Stalin’s Soviet Union.

Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo was an early activist for Indonesian independence and helped found the PNI party with Sukarno.

1927
January PKI revolts in West Sumatra are destroyed.
February Hatta and others attend anti-colonial convention in Brussels along with many nationalists from Asia and Africa.

July 4 Sukarno and Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo found the Perserikatan Nasional Indonesia (PNI).

September Hatta, Ali Sastroamidjojo and others in Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Indonesia are arrested.

Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo is arrested and sent to internal exile on Banda. He remains in exile for 11 years.

Netherlands Indies builds Boven Digul prison camp in West Irian to house political prisoners.

Anti-narcotics campaign: Netherlands Indies bans the cultivation of coca and hemp.

December PPPKI umbrella group of nationalist organizations (Permufakatan Perhimpunan Politik Kebangsaan Indonesia) is organized in Bandung.
The Dutch used the communist unrest as an excuse to arrest many Indonesian leaders who were not communists.

Sukarno in these days was a strong nationalist. He said that “neither an airplane from Moscow nor a caliph in Istanbul” could help Indonesia win independence–they had to do it themselves. On the other hand, the PPPKI group that Sukarno championed allowed groups with various regional, religious, or political backgrounds to unite around the single issue of Indonesian independence.

100 Gulden Netherlands Indies banknote, 1927, showing a portrait of Jan Pieterszoon Coen.

1928
PNI changes name to Partai Nasional Indonesia, adopts merah-putih flag, Bahasa Indonesia as national language, “Indonesia Raya” by Supratman as national anthem.

March Hatta and supporters are acquitted; Hatta’s speeches are convincingly anti-Dutch.

October 28 Youth Congress in Batavia adopts “sumpah pemuda”: one nation, one language.

Muhammad Yamin writes poems “Indonesia tumpah darahku”.

KNILM is founded as official airline of the Netherlands Indies.

Perti (Persatuan Tarbiyah Islamiyah) is founded at Bukittingi as an educational organization for traditionalist Minangkabau Muslims.

Pakubuwono X of Surakarta poses with Gov.-Gen. de Graeff (center) in 1928.

Many people see this time as the real beginning of Indonesian nationalism, the “kebangkitan bangsa” or “national awakening”.

1929
August Netherlands Indies government warns PNI members to stop their activities.

Indonesians gain a majority of seats in the Volksraad, still only an advisory body.

Dutch restore former rulers of Bali to local self-rule under Dutch authority, in an elaborate ceremony at Besakih.

December 29 Sukarno and followers are arrested at Yogya. They are held in prison at Bandung.

Supratman wrote “Indonesia Raya”, which was adopted by the PNI in 1928 as the national anthem for the future Indonesia, and is still Indonesia’s anthem today.

1930
Muhammad H Thamrin sets up nationalist faction in Volksraad; wants autonomy.

Netherlands Indies government begins limited production of light aircraft at Andir airfield in Bandung (model AVRO-AL), using a Canadian design and local wood supplies.

June Pangeran Surjodiningrat founds Pakempalan Kawula Ngayogyakarta as a cultural organization for the people of Yogya, which becomes very popular.

August 18 Trial of Sukarno opens in Bandung. He gives rousing speeches in court.

Japanese found Borneo Oil Company.

Eruption of Gunung Merapi kills 1300.

Jamiyatul Washliyah is founded with strong Karo Batak participation.

22 December Sukarno is sentenced to four years in prison for nationalist activities.

PNI is declared dissolved by the Netherlands Indies government.
Around this time the effects of the worldwide economic depression began to hit. Exports of sugar and other cash crops to industrial nations dropped, and Japanese imports grew. There was some growth of industry in the cities in the 1930s as well, which was supported by the Netherlands Indies government as a counter to Japanese imports.

1931
Perhimpunan Indonesia is taken over by Communists; Sjahrir and Hatta are expelled.

April 25 PNI votes to dissolve itself. Partai Indonesia or Partindo is organized as a replacement four days later. Some PNI members, including Hatta, are disappointed.

December Sjahrir founds Pendidikan Nasional Indonesia with Hatta (“PNI-Baru”).

Sukarno released by de Graeff.

King of Bone is restored by the Dutch to govern with local self-rule.

De Jonge is Gov.-Gen. until 1936.

Netherlands Indies government tightens press censorship.

Ong Hok Liong founds the Bentoel cigarette company.

December 31 Sukarno gains early release from prison in Bandung.
Some important Dutch figures in Batavia were actually sympathetic to Sukarno during this period, including Van Mook, who wrote an anonymous newspaper article criticizing the treatment of Sukarno by the government. (Van Mook later served as Lieutenant-Governor of the Indies from 1945-48, during the independence struggle.)

“Ladang”: land being cleared for slash-and-burn cultivation near Palembang, 1930s.

1932
Sukarno joins Partindo; interest in Partindo rises.

August Hatta returns from the Netherlands.

Mohammed Natsir, age 24, takes charge of new Persatuan Islam schools, writes that Islam must be the basis of the new Indonesia.

Dutch require independent schools to get permission from the government to operate; factions in the Volksraad unite against the idea.

Zelfbesturen
“Zelfbesturen” were areas where the Netherlands Indies government allowed local rulers to govern the internal affairs of their lands. Local rulers did not have power beyond their borders, and they generally did not have jurisdiction over Europeans or Chinese living in their territories.

1933
February 5 Mutiny of Dutch and Indonesian sailors on the Dutch naval vessel Zeven Provincien. The mutiny was due to unhappiness with low wages, but the Netherlands Indies government views it as a political rebellion.

Netherlands Indies suppresses independent schools and political leaders in Minangkabau.

August Sukarno, Hatta, Sjahrir are arrested. Sukarno is exiled to Ende on Flores without a trial.

Oost-Indische Leger is renamed KNIL (Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger).

Meetings of the PPPKI umbrella group are banned.

1934
Dutch begin protectionist drive to keep out less expensive Japanese products in favor of more expensive Dutch ones.

Dutch pressure PKN to renounce overt political activity.

February Hatta and Sjahrir are arrested and sent to the Boven Digul concentration camp in West Irian.

Dutch ban congress of Partindo.

Nahdlatul Ulama youth wing, Ansor, is founded.

Tjokroaminoto passes away.
Around this time, there was a political crackdown on fascists and communists in the Netherlands, along with the attacks on nationalists in Indonesia.

1935
Al-Ittihadiah (modernist Islamic association) founded at Medan.

Nahdlatul Wathan, an organization for Islamic education, is founded on Lombok.

Nahdlatul Ulama issues a ruling that the Netherlands Indies is a nation where Islam can be practiced, and should be defended against Japan.

December Budi Utomo and Persatuan Bangsa Indonesia combine to form Partai Indonesia Raya or Parindra. Membership includes Thamrin and Dr. Sutomo; it also includes some pro-Japan members. The new party calls for independence through cooperation with the Dutch.

Street vendor in Batavia, 1935.

1936
Van Starkenborgh is named Governor-General; holds title at least until 1945.

Hatta and Sjahrir are moved to Banda.

July “Sutarjo Petition” is published, calling for independence for Indonesia within ten years.

September 29 Volksraad votes to support petition for autonomy for Indonesia within the constitution of the Netherlands.

First becaks in Batavia.

November Partindo disbands.

Dutch geologists discover evidence of mineral wealth–iron, copper, silver, and gold–in West Irian.

Dutch pilots of KNILM, the colonial airline, in the late 1930s. Indonesians had almost no opportunity to rise to jobs at this level.

In 1937, a group of young Indonesian men in Bandung led by Tossin, and supported by a local businessman, built a homemade airplane called the PK-KKH. In the face of heavy skepticism, the plane safely made a transcontinental flight to the Netherlands, China and back.

Stacks of rice ready to be threshed and milled, Lampung, 1930s. In the 1930s, there was increased promotion of agricultural techniques to increase yield and control soil erosion, particularly on Java, where larger populations needed better food supplies.

By this time, half of the agricultural exports of Indonesia came from Indonesian-owned lands, rather than Dutch or other foreign-owned plantations. In 1900, almost none of the agricultural exports came from Indonesian-owned lands.

1937
May 24 Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia founded: Gerindo. It includes Yamin and Amir Sjarifuddin. As an organization it supports independence, but tends to cooperate with the Dutch against the Japanese.
September 21 MIAI founded: Majlis Islam A’laa Indonesia, umbrella group for cooperation between Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Persatuan Islam, and other Islamic groups.

December 17 Antara news service founded.

Javanese settlers boarding a bus to a new transmigration colony in Lampung, late 1930s. After about 1936, the Netherlands Indies government increased its sponsorship of transmigration activity dramatically in an attempt to relieve population densities on Java and Madura. Propaganda booklets were published and distributed, free films were shown in villages, and the programs were extended to include Sulawesi and Kalimantan as well as Sumatra. Despite the extra efforts, the number of transmigrants leaving Java in the 1930s equalled less than 10% of the increase in population during the same time.

“Colonization Land is Rich”
A propaganda postcard distributed to transmigrants by the Netherlands Indies government. The settlers were supposed to write messages back to their home villages on Java telling about the “good life” in the new transmigration colonies. By 1940 there were about 200,000 Javanese living in transmigration colonies.

1938
Sukarno, still under Dutch custody, is moved to Bengkulu.

First outsiders reach Baliem Valley on Irian Jaya.

Dutch hold council of Tapanuli to support Batak local rulers.

Netherlands Indies institutes “adat law” in Minangkabau and Banjarmasin.

Moscow tells PKI to stop anti-Dutch activities.

Persatuan Arab Indonesia formed from existing Arab Muslim organizations.

November 16 Netherlands government rejects the 1936 autonomy petition for Indonesia.

Gov.-Gen. A.W.L. Tjarda van Starkenborgh-Stachouwer, the last full Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies. (Van Mook would only be named Lieutenant Governor after the war.) Van Starkenborgh was forced to surrender the Indies to Japanese forces in March 1942, and was sent to Korea as a prisoner of war.

By the late 1930s, the Dutch were building up their defenses at Surabaya, Amboina, Cilacap and other bases, in apprehension of Japanese expansion in the area. Yet, the Dutch resisted arming Indonesians for defense purposes.

1939
Pakubuwono X of Surakarta passes away, Pakubuwono XI is new Susuhunan.

Japanese occupy Spratly Islands.

May PUSA (Persatuan Ulama Seluruh Aceh) is founded by Muhammad Da’ud Beureu’eh to coordinate anti-Dutch activities in Aceh.

Gabungan Politik Indonesia or GAPI is formed, an umbrella group of nationalist organizations. Thamrin is a major promoter.

Kartosuwirjo and followers split from Partai Sarekat Islam, taking much of its support in West Java with them.

December GAPI organizes Kongres Rakyat Indonesia, a large representative meeting in Batavia, which presents the demand for full elected parliament for the Indies.
Pakubuwono X was a huge man, very much loved by the people of Surakarta, who predicted that after his rule there would be no more like him.

Telegraph office in Batavia, late 1930s.

1940
February Dutch again reject autonomy for the Indies.

February 13 Japan repudiates treaty of arbitration with the Netherlands.

March 18 Hamengkubuwono IX becomes Sultan of Yogya.

May Netherlands falls to Germany, Dutch government flees to London.

Courtesy: www.gimonca.com

History of Indonesia 1830 – 1910: Imperialism and Modernisation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1830
Johannes van den Bosch arrives as the new Governor-General, begins the “cultuurstelsel” or “culture system”.

Forced cultivation of indigo is introduced in the Priangan.

First steamboat arrives in the Indies.

Nederlands Zendelinggenootschap (Dutch Missionary Society) begins offering education to “native” children.

December 4 Van den Bosch officially organizes the Dutch forces from the Java War into the Oost-Indische Leger, or “East Indies Army” (later KNIL).
Help the People of Aceh

1831
Nederlands-Indië government manages a balanced budget.

Dutch forces fighting the Padri in Sumatra reach the Bonjol area.

U.S. ships shell coastal villages in Aceh in an action against piracy.

Gov.-Gen. Johannes van den Bosch

It was only after the Java War that the Dutch began to think about a real empire in the Indies. From 1830 to the end of the century, the Dutch began a drive to take complete control of the areas from Aceh to New Guinea, and to extract as much profit as possible from the valuable areas, such as the Priangan area of West Java.

Revenues from the Indies paid for as much as one-third of the Dutch government’s budget in the mid-1800s. These monies helped to finance the industrialization and development of the Netherlands in the 1800s. The burden fell especially upon the Netherlands Indies, since the Dutch had lost many of their other colonies to the British during the Napoleonic wars (including South Africa and Sri Lanka), and since Belgium with its business and industry broke away from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830.

The government was called the Netherlands Indies, or Nederlands-Indië in Dutch, or Hindia Belanda in Indonesian today.

1832
Dutch depose Sultan of Jailolo and take control of Halmahera.
Under the “culture system”, Javanese were required to grow a certain amount of crops for export–more coffee, sugar, spices and indigo, but less rice to feed the people. The system worked without great controversy for the first few years. About 1845, a series of poor harvests led to greater poverty and even famine on Java–famine that was aggravated because the best lands were being used for tobacco, sugar or coffee instead of rice, and because the land in general had been exhausted by overproduction. Van den Bosch had specified that local farmers should be given leeway to grow their own food, but colonial officials under him ignored these orders in pursuit of ever larger cash crops.

The products of the culture system were sold through the Nederlandse Handel-Maatschappij, run by the Netherlands government, and the profits were kept by the Netherlands. The King of the Netherlands owned significant shares in the NHM, and gained an extra fortune from its profits. (The NHM survives today as the Algemene Bank Nederland.)

The Netherlands Indies nearly went bankrupt in the 1820s; after van den Bosch, it returned large budget surpluses to the Netherlands throughout the 1830s (and into the 1870s).

1833
January Minangkabau villages around Bonjol rise up in popular rebellion; Dutch troops in the area are massacred. Padri war heats up; Dutch seal off the coast. Sentot fights on Dutch side, but was probably not pro-Dutch in his heart. Dutch place Sentot under watch in Bengkulu (until 1855).

Sultan of Jambi asks for Dutch help against Palembang.

A traditional Minangkabau house in an old photo.

1834
Dutch force Sultan Muhammad Fahruddin of Jambi to recognize Dutch sovereignty.

Portuguese government expels Dominican friars from East Timor.

1836
Dutch abandon Fort Du Bus on Irian.

1837
Bonjol in Minangkabau finally falls to the Dutch in the Padri War. Tuanku Imam Bonjol surrenders and is sent into exile.

Tuanku Imam Bonjol was one of the main leaders in the Padri war. Other fighters against the Dutch included the “Harimau Nan Selapan” or “eight tigers”, led by Haji Miskin.

1838
Dutch victory at Daludalu ends the Padri war in Minangkabau. Direct Dutch rule in Minangkabau is enforced (adat law and nobility appear pro-Dutch, Islamic leaders appear anti-Dutch).

Dutch expedition against Flores.

Bone renews Treaty of Bungaya; fighting against the Dutch subsides.

Dutch establish presence on Nias.

Sulaiman inherits rule of Aceh, but Tuanku Ibrahim rules as guardian, ruling Aceh until 1870.

Mataram kingdom on Lombok takes control of the whole island, plus Karangasem on Bali.

1839
Danish merchant Mads Lange opens a trading post at Kuta on Bali.

Dutch Imperialism: 1815-1870
The Dutch fought two major wars in the 1820s. They still did not control many areas in their imagined sphere of influence, including Aceh, Bali, much of Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara.

Leaders among the Indonesians included:

Pattimura in Ambon in 1817

Pangeran Diponegoro in the Java War, 1825-1830

Imam Tuanku Bonjol in the Padri War in the 1830s

1841
The rajas of Badung, Klungkung, Karangasem and Buleleng on Bali sign treaties recognizing Dutch sovereignty; rajas to keep internal power.

James Brooke begins creating private empire for himself in Sarawak.

1842
Dutch withdraw from east coast of Sumatra north of Palembang due to British worries.

The nobility in Surakarta is arrested under suspicion of inciting revolt.

1843
Raja of Lombok accepts Dutch sovereignty.

Famine in Cirebon.
By this time, there was a movement of people out of the Priangan, Cirebon, and nearby areas of West Java towards areas that were less strictly controlled by the culture system. Local bupatis and Dutch officials were instructed to send these internal refugees home whenever possible.

In the 1840s, as much as two-thirds of the money earned by a Javanese farmer on his crops could be taken by taxes.

1844
Rajas of Buleleng and Karangasem are dissatisfied with Dutch, and refuse to ratify treaties.

1845
Vanilla industry started on Java.

1846
June Netherlands Indies force attacks Buleleng; other rajas secretly support the anti-Dutch forces. Palace at Singaraja is destroyed. Raja of Buleleng signs a treaty of submission. Netherlands Indies bases a garrison at Singaraja.

Netherlands Indies expedition against Flores.

Typhoid epidemic in Java.

Netherlands Indies takes control of Samarinda.

First commercial coal mine is opened at Martapura, South Kalimantan.

Revolt in Banten.
It was traditional on Bali for shipwrecks to be salvaged by the local population. The Dutch considered this to be looting and theft. The cultural clash led to continual political and military conflict between the Netherlands Indies government and the rajas on Bali.

1847
Dutch military expedition to Nias.

1848
June Netherlands Indies sends a military force to Bali in response to conflicts over the enforcement of treaties with the local rajas. The force is defeated by a Balinese force under Gusti Ketut Jilantik at Jagaraga, and withdraws from the island.

New constitution in Netherlands: Dutch States-General has some control over colonial affairs.

Revised commercial, civil and criminal codes for the Netherlands Indies are introduced, applicable to people of European descent only.

Demonstration in Batavia, led by Baron van Hoevell (a Dutch Reformed minister), petitions the King of the Netherlands for freedom of the press, public secondary schools, and representation for the Netherlands Indies in the States General.

Regency schools, for the education and training of the children of local rulers and nobles, begin operations.
The Dutch had some concern that if they did not demonstrate control over Bali, the British might move in and take it for themselves.

1849
April Major Netherlands Indies military force is sent to Bali. Gusti Ketut Jilantik falls in battle. Netherlands Indies takes control of Buleleng and the north coast of Bali.

May Netherlands Indies forces enter southern Bali for the first time, moving through Karangasem and Klungkung to put down resistance.

The raja of Lombok attacks and takes Karangasem.

Dutch take full control in Palembang.

1850
Dutch begin missionary work among Bataks of north Sumatra.

Famine in Central Java.

Dutch purchase the remaining Portuguese posts on Flores.
The Netherlands Indies government prohibited Catholic missionaries from visiting the Bataks on Sumatra or the Toraja on Sulawesi. Only Protestant missionaries were allowed in those areas.

1851
“Dokter-Jawa” school founded in Gambir, Batavia.

Billiton Maatschappij begins tin mining on Belitung. Many Chinese laborers are imported.

1852
Aceh sends an emissary to Napoleon III of France.

Cola trees are introduced on Java.

Dutch end the tax on the hajj.

1853
Dutch begin administering north Bali.

Mangkunegara IV takes his title in Surakarta.

A local ruler on Madura, about 1853.

1854
Netherlands government issues a constitutional reform for the Netherlands Indies (“Regeeringsreglement”). Local rulers in the Indies are to continue to have traditional powers over their subjects, ruling on behalf of the Dutch. A strict separation betweens Europeans and “Inlanders” is recognized in the law.

Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies receives the power to exile anyone without appeal or review.

Aceh establishes authority over Langkat, Deli and Serdang on east coast of Sumatra (“pepper ports”).

Introduction of cinchona (quinine) cultivation to the Priangan, at Cibodas, West Java.

1855
Hamengkubuwono VI becomes Sultan of Yogya.

Dutch military expedition to Nias.

Dutch extend control over western Kalimantan.

1856
Regulation on Publications gives the Governor-General authority to conduct prepublication censorship of the press without appeal or review.

March Eduard Douwes Dekker is dismissed from his government post in West Java after accusing local bupatis of corruption. (Later, under the pen name “Multatuli”, he writes the novel “Max Havelaar”, exposing conditions in colonial Java to readers in the Netherlands.)

Dutch military expedition to Flores.

Eduard Douwes Dekker, or “Multatuli”

1857
Dutch intervene in succession to Sultanate of Banjarmasin, support Tamjidillah over more popular Hidayatullah.

First telegraph line is laid from Batavia to Buitenzorg.

Netherlands Indies 1/2 cent from 1857 showing both Malay/Arabic script and “huruf jawa” Javanese characters.
1858
Dutch expedition against south Sulawesi.

Ratu Taha Saifuddin of Jambi refuses treaty with Dutch, flees into jungle with pusaka (emblems or heirlooms of his house), fights until 1904.

Dutch take Siak in north Sumatra by treaty, and move troops in to prevent British adventurers from gaining a foothold there. The boundary of Siak is defined to include Langkat and Deli, infringing on Acehnese territory.

Nederlands-Indië government running at a deficit due to military expenses.

Pakubuwono VIII becomes Susuhunan of Solo.

1859
Banjarmasin War led by Pangeran Antasari; Dutch withdraw support for Tamjidillah, send him to Bogor.

Portuguese sign accord with the Dutch: Portuguese abandon outposts and claims on Flores and Solor to the Dutch, and retain possession of Portuguese Timor. Division between West and East Timor is set.

Dutch government bans slavery in the Netherlands Indies.

Dutch military expedition to Bone to depose Queen Basse Kajuara.

Telegraph cable is laid from Batavia to Singapore.

1860
“Max Havelaar” is published.

Dutch open Savu.

Dutch abolish the Sultanate of Banjarmasin, and enforce direct colonial rule.

Dutch extend protectorate over Wajo in Sulawesi.
“Max Havelaar” exposed the abuses of Dutch colonial rule on Java, and put political pressure on the Netherlands government to make reforms in the colonies.

1861
Pakubuwono IX becomes Susuhunan of Solo.

German Protestant missionaries begin working around Lake Toba in northern Sumatra.

1862
Hidayatullah surrenders in Banjarmasin, and is exiled to Java. Antasari dies of smallpox, guerilla war continues.
Compulsory pepper cultivation ends.

1863
Dutch military expedition to Nias.

British send gunboats to Langkat and other “pepper ports” on Sumatra.

July 1 Slavery officially ends in the Netherlands Indies.

Tobacco cultivation is introduced to Northern Sumatra.

Fransen van de Putte, a former plantation owner on Java and opponent of the culture system, becomes Netherlands Minister of Colonies.

Compulsory clove and nutmeg cultivation ends.
In 1863, the government of the Netherlands used profits from the exploitation of the Netherlands Indies to compensate former slaveholders in Suriname in South America, after slavery was abolished there.

1864
April 1 First Netherlands Indies postage stamp is issued.

Dutch experiment with rubber cultivation in Java and Sumatra.

Dutch claim Mentawai Islands.

The last Sultan of Siak abdicates.

First Netherlands Indies postage stamp, 1864.

1865
Compulsory cultivation of tea, cinnamon, cochineal and indigo ends.

Dutch introduce tobacco to Deli and northern Sumatra.

Dutch institute direct rule in the Sultanate of Asahan in northern Sumatra and remove the Sultan to Riau.

New forestry laws and regulations are introduced.

The Raja of Buleleng on Bali, in an 1865 photo.

1866
Compulsory tobacco cultivation ends.

Netherlands Indies institutes direct rule on Sumba.

1867
Gunung Merapi erupts near Yogya; 1000 are killed.

“Accountability Law” prescribes that the finances of the Netherlands Indies should be separate from those of the Netherlands.

Netherlands Indies Department of Education is organized.

Mangkunegara IV is remembered for his promotion of traditional Javanese culture, philosophy, and mysticism, especially in his literary works.

1868
Dutch tighten control over Bengkulu.

1869
1/3 of the population of Savu dies from smallpox.

Aceh appeals to the Ottoman Empire for protection.

Deli Maatschappij is founded by private investors.
In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, which greatly reduced the travel time and effort between Europe and Asia by sea, and gave places such as Aceh much more strategic importance.

1870
Minahasa area comes under direct Dutch rule.

Sultan Mahmud Syah rules Aceh until 1874.

Sugar Act begins a period of agricultural reform.

Coffee blight afflicts Java.

Regular steamship service to the Netherlands through the Suez canal begins.

Street vendor in Batavia selling soup, about 1870.

1871
Agrarian Act encourages privatization of agriculture, starts to dismantle many practices of the “culture system”.

Smallpox kills 18,000 in Bali.

Telegraph cable is laid from Banyuwangi, Java to Australia.

November Treaty of Sumatra between British and Dutch: Dutch give Gold Coast to British; Dutch may send contract labor from India to Dutch Guiana; Dutch get free hand in Sumatra, British and Dutch both have trade rights in Aceh. Effect of this treaty: there is no more foreign objection to the Dutch taking Aceh.

A Bugis house, rebuilt for the Colonial Exposition in Amsterdam, 1883.

1872
Batak war begins in north Sumatra, lasting until 1895.

1873
January 25 Emissary from Aceh holds talks with the American consul in Singapore, but USA help is rejected by Washington. The Dutch respond with war.

March 26 Dutch bombard Banda Aceh.

April 8 Dutch land troops at Banda Aceh.

April 25 Acehnese force the Dutch to withdraw.

Sultan of Kutai signs a treaty recognizing the Dutch.

Assam tea plants from India are introduced to replace Chinese tea plants, which had been disappointing. Tea production starts to rise.

First railways are built on Java.

November 11 Dutch invade Aceh again, and maintain their positions, but would sustain heavy losses due to disease.
The Dutch would waste over 30 years trying to take full control of Aceh, and would never fully succeed.

1874

January 24 Acehnese abandon Banda Aceh and retreat to the hills. Dutch announce that Sultanate of Aceh is ended.

Sultan Mahmud Syah of Aceh dies in the jungle; Sultan Ibrahim Mansur Syah heads sultanate in hills until 1907. Teuku Umar of the Acehnese nobility leads the Acehnese forces.

Dutch expedition to Flores.

Dutch send an official to the Aru Islands.

Teuku Umar

In the mid-1880s, and again in the mid-1890s, Teuku Umar would briefly switch sides in the Aceh war. This sort of behavior lessened the reputation of the nobility in Aceh among the common fighters.

1875
The Netherlands Indies, Australia, and Germany set a boundary between their claims on New Guinea.

Palace guards for the Sultan of Ternate, 1875.

1876
Introduction of rubber cultivation to Java.

Baba Hassan leads revolt on Halmahera.

1877
Hamengkubuwono VII becomes Sultan of Yogya.
After this point, the Nederlands-Indië government operates at a loss.

1878
Compulsory sugar and coffee cultivation starts to be eliminated.

Expedition under Gen. Van der Heijden burns 500 villages in Aceh to the ground.

Teungku Cik di Tiro, an Islamic ulama, starts leading the resistance in Aceh.

Teungku Cik di Tiro

1879
R. A. Kartini born at Jepara.

Coca cultivation is introduced on Java.

Raden Adjeng Kartini
R. A. Kartini is remembered today for her collected letters, works of high literary quality. Far ahead of her time, Kartini was an early advocate both for Indonesia and for the interests of women everywhere.

1880
Rail line completed from Batavia to Bandung.

Koelie Ordonnantie (“Coolie Ordinance”) specifies the law of employment contracts: employers must provide adequate housing and medical care, workers are bound to a plantation only for the duration of the contract. Contracts must be signed before a magistrate, and can be disputed in court.

First condensed milk in cans is imported from Australia.
The legal reforms of this period meant that feudal rights and privileges of the nobility were cancelled. The average person won a few freedoms, but many changes simply meant that power passed from traditional rulers to Dutch officials.

1881
Minahasa chiefs are made salaried officials of the Netherlands Indies.

Mangkunegara IV passes away.
In the early 1880s, a resident of Kudus named Haji Jamahri took up the habit of mixing cloves into a hand-rolled cigarette to relieve the symptoms of asthma. This was the origin of the “kretek” or clove cigarette. Commercial manufacture of kretek, however, would not start in earnest until the 1930s.

1882
Netherlands Indies institutes direct rule in Buleleng and Jembrana on Bali.

Netherlands Indies takes control of Karangasem and Gianyar on Bali. Bali and Lombok become a single Residency; the rajas of south Bali are unhappy, but continue to fight among themselves.

Aru and Tanimbar islands come under Dutch administration.

August 6 Tjokroaminoto born.

Sugar blight hits Java.

Dutch military expedition on Seram.

Oil found around Kutai on Kalimantan.

Islamic courts are given limited authority on Java (“Priesterraden”). Their jurisdiction is limited to family law.

1883
Sisingamangaraja XII is expelled from the Batak region.

Krakatau erupts; 36,000 are killed in West Java and Lampung.

A. J. Zijlker gets approval from Dutch to start drilling for oil in Langkat, north Sumatra.

Revolt in favor of Pangeran Suryengalaga fails in Yogya.

Musicians from Java at the Colonial Exposition in Amsterdam, 1883.

1884
Guerilla war heats up in Aceh. Dutch build “Geconcentreerde Linie” in Aceh: a series of 16 forts designed to contain guerillas.

Dutch institute direct rule in Deli.

Communications services are consolidated by the government into PTT (Post Telegraaf Telefoon).

Dutch-led troops in Aceh stand over the bodies of guerilla fighters. Many of the common soldiers in the Netherlands Indies forces were not Dutch, but were recruited from Java, Sulawesi, and other parts of Indonesia.

1885
Sultan of Asahan is returned from exile to his territory to rule for the Dutch.

Dutch institute direct rule in Madura.

Persons of Chinese descent in the Netherlands Indies are classified as “Europeans” for purposes of commercial law only.

1886
Modern harbor is built at Tanjung Priok, Batavia (today’s Jakarta).

1887
Sultans of Madura have been reduced to bupati status.

Economic depression in Java.

1888
Earthquake hits Bali.

Dutch Resident in Surakarta takes control of the finances of the Mangkunegara house.

Revolt in Banten led by the Qadiriyya order.

North Borneo (Sabah) becomes a British protectorate.

Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij is founded as the major inter-island shipping and passenger line.
On Java in this period, there were over 80 local rulers keeping the title of “Sultan”, “Susuhunan” or “Bupati” ruling in theory, while the Dutch held the real power.

The status of Sabah or North Borneo went back and forth between 1865 and 1888, as different colonial interests bought and sold claims to the territory. The eventual winner was the British North Borneo company, but the confusion over claims to the area would reappear during the creation of Malaysia in the 1960s.

1890
Zijlker founds company that would become Royal Dutch Shell.

Dutch expedition against Flores.

Netherlands Indies introduces a property tax.

1891
Mengwi in Bali is taken over by Badung.

Naqshbandiyya rebel in Lombok against Mataram-Balinese rule; Dutch intervene.

First contract workers leave Java for Surinam in South America.

A traditional masjid in Aceh from the late 1800s.

1893
Pakubuwono X becomes Susuhunan of Solo.

“First Class” schools for native Indonesians are established.

1894
Final Dutch intervention in Lombok is successful; nobility goes down in puputan; Karangasem becomes Dutch dependency.

“Batak War” ends.

Rebellion against Portuguese in East Timor.

Netherlands Indies organizes a state-run opium monopoly to control the opium trade (Opiumregie).
A “puputan” was a suicide charge by Balinese nobility to defend their honor when all else was lost. The families of the court would put on ceremonial clothes, arm themselves with false weapons and walk directly into enemy gunfire.

Reports of the terrible events on Lombok reached back to the Netherlands, and caused very different reactions in different segments of society. The popular press promoted war fever, and over 3000 army volunteers agreed to go to the Indies and fight for the Netherlands crown. However, other observers were shocked, and their reactions helped start the movement towards moderate reform in the colonial government that would eventually be known as the “Ethical Policy”.

1895
Jami’at Khair founded; organization dedicated to Arabic education.

Portuguese Timor, formerly administered from Macao, receives its own administration.

British-Dutch agreement sets the boundary between their claims on Irian (New Guinea).

1896
King Chulalongkorn of Thailand makes a state visit to the Netherlands Indies.

Dutch go on attack against guerillas in Aceh with special forces (Korps Marechaussee).

1898
Dutch begin exploring Irian Jaya.
Van Heutsz becomes Dutch Governor of Aceh. His advisor Snouck Hurgronje introduces “Korte Verklaring”, a short treaty recognizing Dutch rule, to replace older complicated agreements with local rulers; Dutch pursue alliance with uleebalangs against Islamic leaders.

June Van Heutsz sends a successful Dutch expedition against Pidie, Aceh.

Snouck Hurgronje studied Islam in Indonesia as an observer, and was an advisor to Van Heutsz and other government officials in the Netherlands Indies. In 1885, he travelled secretly to Mecca, and reported that at that time, there was a significant number of Malays and Indonesians living there.

Starting about this time, the Dutch began to encourage Islamic worship and practice, as long as politics were not involved. The goal was to channel Islamic enthusiasm away from politics and nationalism.

1899
R. A. Kartini begins letter-writing career.

Pesantren Tebuireng, a famous Islamic school, is founded at Jombang, East Java.

Teuku Umar is killed during a Dutch ambush.

Van Deventer, a colonial reformer, publishes “Een Eereschuld”, demanding that monies collected in the past from the Netherlands Indies be restituted to the Indies to help pay off the rising colonial debt.

Dutch Imperialism: 1870-1910
During this period the Dutch tried to take complete control of all the areas they claimed. This was the era of “high imperialism”, when powers such as Britain and France were facing competition from new colonial powers such as Germany and Italy, and most unclaimed parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific were being taken by one power before another could get an opportunity. The “Netherlands Indies” were vital to the Dutch economy: the profits from coffee, tobacco, oil, and other products helped finance the industrialization of the Netherlands.

1900
Raja of Gianyar on Bali submits to Dutch authority.
Upper schools at Bandung, Magelang and Probolinggo reorganized to train Javanese candidates for local civil service.

Traditional warriors on Nias, 1900.

1901
Jambi placed under control of Dutch Resident of Palembang during succession question and related unrest.

Zijlker’s Royal Dutch oil company expands to Kalimantan.

Dutch place a garrison on the Mentawai Islands.

June 6 Sukarno is born.

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands announces “Ethical Policy” towards the Indies.
Europeans in the Indies, who controlled the economy and government, paid only 20% of the tax revenues of the Indies. Most of the tax burden still fell on native Indonesians, in spite of the dismantlement of the culture system. These revenues were used, among other things, to finance Dutch military conquests in the outer islands.

But it was not enough. By this time, the Dutch government was sending more money to support the Netherlands Indies than it was collecting from the Indies in revenues. Most of the cash flow from the Indies to the Netherlands after 1900 was in the hands of private businesses.

1902
Dutch end restrictions on the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

1903
Sultan of Aceh, Tuanku Daud Syah, surrenders to the Dutch, but keeps secret contact with guerillas.

Netherlands Indies begins opening MULO schools for elementary education.

Decentralization Act gives a small number of seats in local and provincial governments to natives of the Indies. First elections ever on Java are held.

Netherlands Indies treasury gets a treasury separate from the home treasury in the Netherlands.

Van Heutsz surveys troops in the field in Aceh.
Thirty years of war in Aceh cost 60,000 Acehnese lives, plus over 2,000 Dutch soldiers killed in battle, and over 10,000 Dutch soldiers dead from disease. Another 25,000 forced laborers under the Dutch died in Aceh in this period.

1904
Van Heutsz, recently military Governor of Aceh, becomes Governor-General (until 1909).

Taha of Jambi is killed by the Dutch.

May The ship “Sri Koemala” is wrecked off Sanur, Bali. Locals salvage the wreck; the ship’s owners demand reparations from the Netherlands Indies government. Relations between the Netherlands Indies and the Raja of Badung on Bali worsen considerably as a result.

Netherlands Indies military expedition takes control of the Batak region of Sumatra.

An expedition under Capt. Van Daalen to the uplands of Aceh kills over 3000 villagers, including over 1000 women and children.

Netherlands government starts a series of grants and loan repayment programs for the Netherlands Indies.

Dewi Sartika founds Sekolah Isteri (Schools for Women).

Van Heutsz as Governor-General.

1905
January Dutch begin five months of military operations on Kalimantan.

Dutch send a military force against a rebellion on Ceram.

August Dutch forces land at Pare Pare. Major Dutch advance on Sulawesi; Bugis, Makasar, Toraja areas are taken for good. Ruler of Bone is deposed.

Acehnese resistance contacts Japanese consul in Singapore for help.

Dutch occupy Mentawai islands.

First trade union is founded for railway workers.

October 16 Sarekat Dagang Islamiyah founded by Kyai Haji Samanhudi, originally to look after the interests of Muslim batik producers in Surakarta.

Municipal councils set up at Batavia and Bandung.

Netherlands Indies government sponsors a community of transplanted Javanese farmers in Lampung: first example of transmigrasi.

1906
September 15 Major Dutch advance on Bali begins; Netherlands Indies fleet anchors off Sanur.

September 16 Netherlands Indies forces invade at Sanur.

September 20 Dutch naval force shells Denpasar.

Nobility of Badung commits suicide in a puputan, marching down the main street of Denpasar. Over 3600 are killed.

September 23 Dutch advance on Tabanan, Bali. Raja of Tabanan offers to surrender on condition that he be allowed to retain his title and lands. The Dutch resident takes the Raja into custody until he can receive a reply from the Netherlands Indies government in Batavia. The Raja of Tabanan commits suicide while in custody.

Rubber production takes off in Sumatra with new plant varieties.

Dutch take direct control of Sumba.

Dutch establish a protectorate over Berau in east Kalimantan.

Postpublication censorship is introduced: all publications must be submitted to a censor for review within 24 hours of release.

1907
Dutch military puts down rebellion in Flores, taking complete control.

Unrest is finally put down in Jambi.

Aceh guerillas attack Dutch in Banda Aceh.

King Sisingamangaraja XII of the Bataks revolts against the Dutch, and is shot in the conflict.

Netherlands Indies introduces a tax on businesses.

Zijlker’s Royal Dutch oil company merges with Shell Transport and Trading to become Royal Dutch Shell.

Dutch send police to the Tanimbar Islands to stop intertribal conflict.

New education program aims to offer 3-year schools for children in the general population.

1908
Klungkung revolts against the Dutch; nobility commits suicide by puputan to preserve their honor.

Dutch intervene in local conflicts on Sumbawa, take tighter control.

Butung comes under direct Dutch rule.

VSTP (rail workers union) founded, accepts Indonesian members.

May 20 Budi Utomo is founded among upper-class Javanese students in Jakarta, including the future Dr. Sutomo and Cipto Mangunkusumo.

October Budi Utomo holds congress in Yogya. Cipto Mangunkusumo leaves the organization.

Indische Vereeniging founded for Indonesian students in the Netherlands.

Minor uprising in Minangkabau is suppressed.

Netherlands Indies introduces income tax.
Budi Utomo was a less political organization, primarily devoted to the promotion of Javanese culture. It’s interest was limited to Javanese culture.

1909
Tjokroaminoto rises to leadership of Sarekat Dagang Islamiyah.

Putri Hindia, a publication for women, is founded.

Dutch consolidate control over Ceram.

Dutch establish control on Buru.

Uleebalangs, or traditional aristocracy of Aceh, about 1910. The uleebalangs would develop a reputation for collaborating with the Dutch; after World War II, many were massacred.

1910
Islamic resistance in Aceh is decimated.

Jami’at Khair replaced by Al-Irsyad (Jamiat Islam al Irsyad al Arabia), organization for Arab Muslims in Indonesia.

Rebellion in East Timor under Dom Boaventura.

Ratulangie founds Perserikatan Minahasa, social organization for Minahasans.

Dutch expedition to Komodo reports on Komodo dragons to Europe for the first time.

Courtesy: www.gimonca.com