Monumen Nasional, Jakarta

Asian studies 1
Lecture 5
goo.gl/KLvjFj
The WINNER
Today: Indonesia

• Learning objective, after today you will be able to:

• Pinpoint the highlights in the history of the (international relations) of
Indonesia
Mason
• The merchant adventurers of Holland began that country’s three and a
half centuries of association with the fertile islands they called the East
Indies under a haze of cannon smoke. They were treacherous, cruel and
rapacious, and from first acquaintance excited fear and hatred among
the local people. (p. 128)

• Some Indonesian people, although apparently very gentle, have hidden

capacities for violence and can be suddenly taken with a killing frenzy,
described by the word amuk – mad. The violent murder of as many as a
million people after the fall of Sukarno in 1965 is indicative. (p. 132)

• This huge bloodletting, the killing of as many as a million people, is

perhaps the greatest stain on the Indonesian nation, and was an
ominous portent for the future. Independent eyewitnesses in Indonesia
during December and January reported that not only men, but also
women and small children, who could not possibly have ever had a
political idea, were butchered by mobs of Muslim extremists. (p. 247)
Preparations for this week:
Read and answer questions:
• Indonesia:
3rd ed.: chapt. 12, 13, 14, 17, 29
• What was Majapahit?
• What was Mataram?
• What was the ‘New Order’ (Orde Baru)?
Location of Indonesia:
Location, close-up:
 Asia historical overview:
5 focal themes:

1. Pre-colonial era

2. Arrival of Western Powers

3. World War II

4. Cold War

5. Recent history
Indonesia
Theme: the pre-colonial era:
(chapt. 13 The Malay World)
Before 200 BCE: regional trade (pepper, clove, nutmeg, camphor,
sandalwood)

From 200 BCE: barter with India, China (silk, textile, porcelain)

The rise of several trade states  profound and lasting cultural /

religious influence on the current Indonesian cultures
 The rise of several trade states:
• Buddhist: Srivijaya (Sumatra),
• Hindu-Buddhist: Majapahit (Java)
• Islamic: Mataram (Java), Melacca (southern tip of Malaysia)

Gajah Mada: 
military leader,
From Majapahit
Now one of the national
Heroes of Indonesia
650 
1293 1377 1500 1570 1755
Shrivijaya (Buddhist)

Majapahit Mataram
(Hindu-Buddhist) (Islamic)
Theme: Influence of western powers
(chapts. hs 12 & 13)

Arrival of Europeans:

• From 1500 AD: Portuguese

• From 1600 AD: Dutch

Dutch actions from 1600:

• 1618: Jan (Pieterszoon) Coen becomes Governor-

General 
• Brutal submission of the Moluccan islands (15’50 –
20’50)
• Settlement in Java renamed ‘Batavia’
• Wars and peace treaties with local kingdoms, e.g.
Mataram 
• Local kings become ‘regents’ for the Dutch
• Chinese immigrants hired as supervisors at
plantations and tax collectors
• Take-over of Malacca (on Malaysian peninsula)
from the Portuguese
1602-1800 VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Companie = Dutch East India Company)
(8:27)
1799: VOC Bankrupt

1800 ‘Dutch-East India’ officially becomes part of the Dutch state

→ Java wars between local kings and Dutch (very costly war!)

1830 introduction of ‘Cultivation System’ (Dutch: cultuurstelsel):

policy of ‘enforcement planting’: a portion of agricultural production
must be devoted to export crops, depending on demand in the
motherland (coffee, sugar, tea)
350 years of colonization of Indonesia by the Dutch government?

No, it’s more complex than that:

- Initially not the Dutch state, but a ‘private’ company (VOC)
- Initially the Dutch came for trade, not primarily seizure of territory
- Local rulers collaborated with the colonial government, mostly in
exchange for military support or other privileges
- In the beginning the territory under Dutch ruling did not encompass the
whole territory that is now Indonesia

From 1908: emergence of nationalism

Soekarno, nationalist leader and first

president of ‘Republik Indonesia’
 Theme: World War 2
(3rd ed.: chapt. 17, 29)

- 1942: Japanese occupation

- Initially welcomed by Soekarno
- White Dutch nationals interned in camps

- 1945: declaration of independence (Proklamasi)

- 1945-1949: independence war (‘police actions’ Dutch: politionele acties).

See video on Rawagede war crimes
- (KNIL)

- 1949: The Netherlands transfer sovereignty to the ‘United States of

Indonesia’
Theme: Cold war, chapt. 29
Soekarno:

• First deed: USI  unitary state ‘Republik Indonesia’ → Moluccans ‘temporarily’

flee to the Netherlands

• Unstable situation:
• economy and social structures destroyed by colonization
• ethnically extremely diverse country

• 1957:
• Guided Democracy

• 1962-1969 conflict with The Netherlands over New-Guinea

• 1963 Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation over Northern Borneo

• 1965 failed allegedly communist coup d`état (in Indonesian: kudeta)

Theme: Cold War, chapt. 29

Results of the coup:

- 1966 Suharto in power
- Capitalism embraced
- Violence against (alleged) communists, mainly ethnic Chinese See
‘40 years of silence’.

What role did the American CIA play?

- Indonesia becomes tiger in southeast Asian region  spectacular

economic growth
- Army becomes protector of the economy
- Close ties to the West, China at distance

- 1975 annexation of East Timor after Portuguese departure  protests

from West (mainly Australia)
Theme: Recent history, chapt. 29:

1997: great Asian economic and financial crisis

1998: ‘tiger rider’ Suharto steps down

Developments in Indonesia since then:

• presidents: Habibie, Wahid, Sukarnoputri (daughter of first
president), Yudhoyono, Joko Widodo
• Religious violence in Moluccas
• 1999: East Timor independent (Timor Leste)
• 2002: Islamic terrorism (Bali bombings etc.)
• Natural and environmental disasters (forest fires, volcano
eruptions, tsunami)
Preparations for exam:

 Reread slides
 Reread markations in your book
 Practice test questions (I’ll open up the
quizzes Wednesday afternoon)
 This year: not digital but printed so bring pen
& pencil
 Questions clustered along same lines as
lectures