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Dutch Expansion in the Indonesian Archipelago Around 1900 and the Imperialism Debate1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Elsbeth Locher-Scholten
Elsbeth Locher-Scholten
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
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Extract

Few works on modern imperialism (1880–1914) include Dutch political and military behaviour in the Indonesian archipelago. Theories concerning colonial expansion in this period have been based almost exclusively on the activities of the big powers, scrambling for new territories in Africa. The small country of the Netherlands, expanding its colonial frontiers within its nominal sphere of interest, did not arouse much interest, the less so as its history and sources are not easily accessible due to an internationally little known language.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 91 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1994

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References

2 Space is lacking for a survey of the complete literature on modern imperialism. Recent readers include Wehler, H.U., Imperialismus (Köln, Berlin, 1970)Google Scholar, Mommsen, W.J., Imperialismus. Seine geistigen, politischen und wirtschaflichen Grundlagen. Ein Quellen- und Arbeitsbuch (Hamburg, 1977)Google Scholar; Owen, R. and Sutcliffe, R., Studies in the theory of imperialism (London: Longman, 1972)Google Scholar; Fieldhouse, D.K., Economics and Empire 1830–1914 (London: MacMillan 1984, first ed. 1973)Google Scholar. Works on the history of colonialism tend to include Dutch colonialism, see for instance von Albertini, R., Europaîsche Kolonialherrschaft 1880–1940 (Zürich, 1976)Google Scholar, Fieldhouse, D.K., The Colonial Empires. A Comparative Survey from the Eighteenth Century (Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1982)Google Scholar; Reinhard, W., Geschichte der europaïsche Expansion (4 vol.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1983–1990)Google Scholar.

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4 The results were published in ibid., pp. 1–89.

5 This article is based on publications of this new research, mentioned below, as well as my own work on Jambi and Bone, Locher-Scholten, Sumatraans sultanaat, and Locher-Scholten, E., “‘Een gebiedende noodzakelijkheid’. Besluitvorming rod de Boni-expeditie 1903–1905”, in Excursies in Celebes. Een bundle bijdragen bij het afscheid van J. Noorduyn als directeur-secretaris van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, ed. Poeze, H.A. and Schoorl, P. (Leiden: KITLV Press, 1991), pp. 143–64Google Scholar.

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12 Kuitenbrouwer, , Nederland, pp. 7–17Google Scholar; The Netherlands, pp. 2–17. These three factors reflect the different approaches to expansion in England, France and Germany, illustrating national traits of a general phenomenon. See Wesseling, “The Giant”, pp. 58–59.

13 Gallagher, J. and Robinson, R., “The Imperialism of Free Trade”, Economic History Review, 2nd series VI, no. 1 (1953): 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fieldhouse, , Economics, p. 460Google Scholar.

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25 E. van Breukelen, “De Nederlandse gezagsuitbreiding in de Zuider- en Oosterafdeling van Borneo 1900–1906” (seminar paper Utrecht University, Utrecht, 1991).

26 Locher-Scholten, “‘Een gebiedende noodzakelijkheid’”.

27 Fasseur, “Koloniale paradox”.

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29 Handelingen Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 1901–1902 (The Hague: Staatsdrukkerij), p. 109Google Scholar.

30 Governor of Celebes to the Governor-General, 21-3-1903, in General State Archives, The Hague (ARA), Ministry of Colonies (Col.), verbaal (vb.) 16-7-1904 X 15.

31 See on the role of the indigenous powers in modern imperialism the well-known article of Robinson, R., “Non-European Foundations of Imperialism. Sketch for a Theory of Collaboration”, in Owen, and Sutcliffe, , Studies, pp. 117–42Google Scholar.

32 In the 1890s the mobile forces of the military police were organized, and improved armaments for the Indies army were introduced. The telegraph started in the seventies and was gradually extended, while shipping communications made a jump forward when the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Royal Packet Company) began its services in 1891. The Short Declaration was a three-point contract, drafted by Snouck Hurgronje (see below) in 1898. It stipulated the sovereignty of the Indies government, forbade indigenous rulers from having international contacts and required strict obedience of Indies government regulations. It held indigenous rulers on a long leash which could be shortened at will by the colonial government.

33 Contrary to French colonialism, this militarization of the colonial administration was only a temporary affair — even under Governor-General Van Heutsz, himself an army general — and was never extended beyond the length of the military expeditions. The explanation for this temporary character of army influence in the Indies government is to be found in the weak military tradition of the Netherlands.

34 See also Schöffer, I., “Dutch ‘Expansion’ and Indonesian Reactions: Some Dilemma's of Modern Colonial Rule (1900–1942)”, in Expansion and Reaction: Essays on European Expansion and Reactions in Asia and Africa, ed. Wesseling, H.L. (Leiden: Brill, 1978), pp. 78–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Kuitenbrouwer, , Nederland, pp. 59–67Google Scholar; The Netherlands, pp. 88–101.

36 Kuitenbrouwer, , Nederland, pp. 77–79, 111–12Google Scholar; The Netherlands, pp. 119–22, 177–81.

37 van Beurden, A.I.P.J., “De Indische ‘Goldrush’, goudmijnbouw en beleid”, in Van Goor, , Imperialisme, pp. 179–226Google Scholar.

38 The expansion was a limited one: one civil servant in Fak-Fak in the western part of the island, and one in Manokwari in the north. In 1901 a civil servant was posted in Merauke (southeastern Irian Jaya).

39 See Historische Nota, ARA, Col., vb. 18-12-1897, no. 32. At his conference, convened by Bismarck, the European powers agreed upon rules and restrictions of their expansion in Africa. Among these the requirement of “effective occupation”, instead of authority on paper, was of prime importance. In the following years these rules were tacitly extended to other non-Western regions, see Wesseling, H.L., “Nederland en de Conferentie van Berlijn, 1884–1885”, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 93 (1980): 559–77Google Scholar.

40 Handelingen Tweede Kamer 1897–1898, p. 172Google Scholar.

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43 Wesseling, , Indië verloren, p. 66Google Scholar. In economics, fear of foreign influences played a certain role. The KPM was set up in order to exclude a too strong influence of British shipping in the archipelago (ibid., pp. 40–74). American oil companies were only restrictively allowed. With regard to the military expeditions, however, the role of “preemption” was restricted.

44 The quote is from British Foreign Minister George Canning in 1824. See Tarling, N., “British Policy in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago 1824–1971” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 30 (1957): 128Google Scholar.

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46 This view was to characterize Dutch colonialism until far into the twentieth century. In the period 1945–49, it dawned only slowly in Dutch political consciousness that the “Indonesian Question” could not be resolved by such a parochial stance and that one had to bow to international pressure by the US and the UN.

47 Wels, C.B., Aloofness and Neutrality. Studies on Dutch Foreign Relations and Policy-making Institutions (Utrecht: Hes, 1982), p. 192Google Scholar.

48 Cf. a quote from the progressive liberal, “ethical” member of parliament C.T. van Deventer in 1902, noting the “voracious gazes” of the big powers on the Dutch Indies: “What is it we have to do and are able to do, we with our weak forces, against so overwhelming a superior power? My response is: first of all we have to be righteous”. See Leven en arbeid van mr. C. Th. van Deventer, ed. Colenbrander, H.T. and Stokvis, J.E. (3 vol.; Amsterdam: Van Kampen, s.a.) III, p. 84Google Scholar.

49 Bootsma, N.A., “Nederland op de conferentie van Washington, 1921–1922” Bijdragen en Medelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 93 (1978): 114Google Scholar.

50 Jobse, “De tinexpedities”.

51 Griffiths has shown that this industrialization was more an industrialization-in-depth than in-breadth, a renewal and modernization more than an increase in labourers involved. The number of persons employed in industry remained the same from 1889 to 1909. See Griffith, R.Th., “The Creation of a National Dutch Economy: 1795–1909” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 95 (1982): 513–38Google Scholar.

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53 Ibid., p. 18.

54 Locher-Scholten, , Sumatraans sultanaat, pp. 197–234Google Scholar.

55 Locher-Scholten, “‘Een gebiedende noodzakelijkheid’”.

56 See for Kerinci Van der Tholen, “De expeditie”; for Groen, Ceram P.H.M., “‘Soldaat’ en ‘bestuursman’: het Indische leger en de Nederlandse gezagsvestiging op Ceram: een case study”, Medelingen sectie militaire geschiedenis landmachtstaf 5 (1982): 203–244Google Scholar; for Banjermasin Van Breukelen, “Nederlandse gezagsuitbreiding”; for Nordholt, Bali H. Schulte, Een Balische dynastie. Hierarchie en conflict in de Negara Mengwi 1700–1940 (Ph.D. diss., Free University, Amsterdam, 1988)Google Scholar.

57 Locher-Scholten, “‘Een gebiedende noodzakelijkheid’”, p. 155.

58 Schriftelijke gedachtenwisseling omtrent punten regeringsbeleid, Free University Amsterdam, Collection Idenburg, 20-7-1904.

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61 Although many earlier illustrations of a new colonial consciousness can be noted, the year 1901 is generally taken as the start of this policy because of the formulation of a Dutch “moral calling” with regard to the Indonesian population in the government's annual statement. See on the Ethical Policy Locher-Scholten, E., Ethiek in fragmenten. Vijf studies over koloniaal denken en doen van Nederlanders in de Indonesische Archipel 1877.1942 (Utrecht: Hes, 1981), pp. 176–208Google Scholar. Also de Jong, J., Van batig slot tot ereschuld. De discussie over de financiële verhouding tussen Nederland en Indië en de hervorming van de Nederlandse koloniale politiek (Groningen: Eigen Beheer, 1989)Google Scholar.

62 ARA, Col., vb. 12-3-1902, no. 41.

63 Locher-Scholten, “‘Een gebiedende noodzakelijkheid’”, p. 154.

64 IJzereef, W., De Zuid-Celebes-affaire. Kapitein Westerling en de standrechtelijke executies (Dieren: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1984), p. 8Google Scholar.

65 ARA, Col., vb. 16-7-10-4, It. X 15, report to the Queen.

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67 Locher-Scholten, , Ethiek, pp. 177–81Google Scholar.

68 The term is Carol and Peter Stearns', and implies that emotions and ideas about emotions have their own history. See Stearns, Carol Z. and Stearns, Peter N., “Introduction”, in Emotions and Social Change, Towards a New Psychohistory, ed. Stearns, Carol Z. and Stearns, Peter N. (New York and London: Holmes and Meier, 1988), pp. 1–22Google Scholar.

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70 Bootsma, , BurenGoogle Scholar.

71 Locher-Scholten, , Ethiek, p. 196Google Scholar.

72 van Goor, J., “De Lombok-expeditie en het Nederlands nationalisme”, in van Goor, , Imperialisme, pp. 27–28Google Scholar.

73 Director Binnenlandsch Bestuur to the Governor-General 6-2-1892, Historische nota in ARA, Col., vb. 8-12-1897, no. 33.

74 Snouck had been a close companion of Van Heutsz in Aceh in the nineties, but their relationship was strained after 1903 due to a difference of opinion about government policy in that region. After 1904, Snouck's influence waned: Van Heutsz took to his adjutant H. Colijn as his adviser on the Outer Regions. Snouck Hurgronje left the Indies in 1906 and got a professorship in the Arabic languages in Leiden.

75 His reports are all published in Ambtelijke adviezen van C. Snouck Hurgronje 1889–1936, ed. Gobée, E. and Adriaanse, C. (3 vol.; The Hague: Nijhoff, 1957–1965), III, pp. 2015–2174Google Scholar.

76 Ibid., p. 2017.

77 Ibid., p. 2034.

78 Ibid., p. 2106.

79 However, direct rule was not his favourite method of administration. Quoting the Arab proverb “Kind over kind is grace”, he defended indirect rule by indigenous rulers. These should be western educated; disliking Islam Snouck preferred westernization. Moreover, in his opinion, the colonial government should base its administration on as much information about their subjects as they could possibly collect, an endeavour in which he actively participated. His emphasis on western education for the indigenous elite, his later understanding of Indonesian nationalism and his sharp criticism of the Dutch civil service in the Indies made him a relative progressive in the 1910s and 1920s, sharply attacked by colonial conservatives. See Locher-Scholten, , Sumatraans sultanaat, pp. 210–14Google Scholar.

80 Groen, “‘Soldaat’”.

81 Nordholt, Schulte, Balische dynastieGoogle Scholar.

82 Wesseling, H.L., Verdeel en heers. De deling van Afrika 1818–1914 (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 1991), p. 455Google Scholar. In this most recent work Wesseling argues — in line with Fieldhouse — that as far as the causes of a modern imperialism are concerned a strict separation between economics and bureaucratic/administrative interests of the modern state is not really relevant, because this distinction gradually diminished in the nineteenth century development of the western state (Wesseling, , Verdeel, pp. 455–59Google Scholar).

83 Anderson, Imagined Communities; for the concept of the geographical space as a cultural (literary) theme, Said, Edward, Culture and Imperialism (New York: Knopf, 1993), passimGoogle Scholar.

84 The idea stems from the French philosopher Ernest Renan in his analysis of the concept of the nation (1882), cited in Blumberger, J.Th. Petrus, De nationalistische beweging in Nederlandsch-Indië (Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink, 1931), p. 3Google Scholar.

85 Van Goor, , “Lombokexpeditie”, pp. 63–64Google Scholar.

86 Groen, , “‘Soldaat’”, p. 208Google Scholar.

87 They could react in two ways, either by accepting new contracts (as for instance many rulers in Kalimantan did), or by resisting Dutch claims (Jambi, Kerinci, Banjermasin, Bone and Bali). See for Black, Kalimantan I. “The ‘lastposten’: Eastern Kalimantan and the Dutch in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 16 (1985): 281–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.