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Indonesian Nationalism Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Bob Hering
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Extract

With two large volumes, the Derde and Vierde Stuk (third and fourth volumes), containing 1794 pages, Drs R. C. Kwantes has brought to an end, the ZWO funded collection of colonial documents on the indigenous nationalist movement in the former Dutch colony of Indonesia. After the appearance of the first tome, dealing with the nationalist movement up to the year 1917 and compiled in 1967, by the now deceased Professor S. L. van der Wal, Kwantes has been responsible for the coverage of the period 1917–23 (published in 1975), the period 1923–28 (published in 1978), and the present two volumes, here under review, one for 1928–33 (published in 1981) and the other for 1933–42 (published in 1982). All these volumes bear the hallmarks of meticulous professional polish and careful selection, and anyone even fleetingly familiar with the documentary opulence of the Dutch colonial archives has all the reason to deeply appreciate Kwantes' editing labours of the past few years. Moreover, in annotations, bibliographical references, the listing of detailed person- and subject-indexes, and of source-data against their origin, together with lengthy 34 pages in the Derde, and 33 in the Vierde Stuk content-abstracts in English, Kwantes did surpass the skills of his deceased predecessor, thus adding an extra degree of distinction and flavour to the entire multi-work collection he compiled.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , September 1987 , pp. 294 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1987

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References

1 De Ontwikkeling van de Nationalistische Beweging in Nederlandsch-Indie, Derde Stuk: 1928-August 1933 (The Development of the Nationalist Movement in the Netherlands Indies, Third Part: 1928–August 1933). With an introduction and survey of the selected documents in English, compiled and edited by Drs Kwantes, R. C. (Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff/Bouma's Boekhuis, 1981), lv, 948 pp. fl 152.50Google Scholar; De Ontwikkeling van de Nationalistische Beweging in Nederlandsch-Indie: Vierde Stuk: Aug. 1933–1942 (The Development of the Nationalist Movement in the Netherlands Indies, Fourth Part: August 1933–1942). With an introduction and survey of selected documents in English compiled and edited by Drs Kwantes, R. C. (Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff/Bouma's Boekhuis, 1982), lix, 846 pp. fl 135.50.Google Scholar

2 Zuiver Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (ZWO), the Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Pure Scientific Research, which had subsidised the entire project.

3 It might be advisable to have the English text, welcome as it is, checked by a native speaker.

4 It is a pity that the most recent work on the Sarekat Islam, i.e., Korver's, A.P.Sarekat Islam, 1912–1916 (Amsterdam, 1982)Google Scholar only brings its history up to 1917. For the remainder of S. I.'s chequered history one has to rely upon surveys such as Noer's, DeliarThe Modernist Muslim Movement in Indonesia 1900–42 (Kuala Lumpur, 1973), pp. 101–153Google Scholar. A good, revisionist account of its foundation is in Toer's, P. A.Sang Pemula (Jakarta, 1985).Google Scholar

5 Initially named Perserikatan Nasional Indonesia and not Persatoean (Partai) Nasional Indonesia as Kwantes persistently titles it (Derde Stuk, pp. xv svi, 48,49), it changed its name to Partai Nasional Indonesia during its first congress, held in Surabaya, 27–30 May 1928. See Hering, , The van der Most Report: A PID View of Soekarno's PNI (Townsville, 1982), p. 19Google Scholar; and Hering, , From Soekamiskin to Endeh (Townsville, 1979), pp. 7ffGoogle Scholar. for a translated (into English) version of that congress proceedings.

6 For this Bureau see Hering, , Soekarno's Mentjapai Indonesia Merdeka (Townsville, 1978), p. 35, note 10Google Scholar; and his Ch. O. van der Plas and the P.N.I. Leadership (Townsville, 1985), passim.Google Scholar

7 Though prodded by reactionary members of the Interior Administration (Binnenlandsch Bestuur) the viceroy de Graeff also chose to see the PNI as ultimately swerving into more moderate directions. For his views see Derde Stuk, pp. 101–106, and his speech of Tuesday, 15 May 1928 to the Volksraad cf. Handelingen, pp. 3–5; see also de Jong, L., Het Koninkryjk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog IIa Eerste Helft (The Hague, 1984), pp. 330–32.Google Scholar

8 The entire report in an English language translation appears in Hering, van der Most, pp. 1–50.

9 For the Hoofdparket, see ibid., p. i, v, p. 51, note 1. For a contemporary critique, see Het Indische Volk, “Hoe het Hoofdparket optreedt”, in its issue of 7 April 1933, a copy of this article is also mail-report no. 412/1933.

10 See Hering, van der Most, pp. i–viii; de Jong, Eerste Stuk, pp. 339–40.

11 For the NSB sympathies of de Jonge, turn to F. Tichelman's article “Mussert ontmoet een ‘Regent van Uitzonderlijke Bekwaamheid”’ in Vrij Nederland, 16 Mei 1970, pp. 21–23. That other luminaries of Netherlands Indies officialdom were only too glad to dignify the Nueremberg Nazi Parteitag (party-congress) as late as 1938 with their presence as “honoured guests” is shown in the Marcel Koch papers (held in the archives of the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam) which lists details about such visits made by Meijer Ranneft and Visman. Interesting contemporary sketches are provided by J. E. Stokvis in Het Volk: “Gouverneur-General als NSB-begunstiger” (14 August 1935, p. 5) and “Een schrikwekkende overheid in Indonesie” (5 December 1934); in Vrijheid, Arbeid, Brood, no. 63, Oct. 1934, “Heeft het Fascisme in Indonesia Kans?” For the description of a blanda colon community see Drooglever, P.J., De Vaderlandse Club 1929–1942: Totoks en de Indische Politiek (Franeker, 1980)Google Scholar. Also in Kritiek en Opbouw, Year 2, no. 18, Nov. 1939; Marcel Koch, “De Vaderlandsche Club tien jaar”, pp. 280–82; de Jong, Eerst Stuk, pp. 335–37, 355–57. For the economic depression, see van Laanen, J.T.M., The World Depression (1929–1935) and the Indigenous Economy in Netherlands India (Townsville, 1982), passim.Google Scholar

12 And not in prison as Kwantes has it (see Vierde Stuk, pp. 761, 842). This is another sample of the compiler's sloppiness when it comes to detail in connection with Indonesian nationalists. For instance, Gatot Mangkoepradja is confused with Mr. (meester in de rechten, master of laws) Gatot Taroenomihardjo, the former never went to Leiden for legal studies (he was a drop-out of the STOVIA) nor was he prominent in the Perhimpoenan Indonesia; this latter, not even mentioned in Kwantes' index, was a Leiden graduate and a PI member and served in the period 1928–29 on the PNI branch executive of Cheribon and Soerabaya, to fade out of the PNI in late 1929 since he fell out with the radical tactics then employed (see Hering, van der Most, pp. 19, 56–57 and Ch. O. van der Plas, p. 43; see Kwantes, Derde Stuk, p. 229 and Vierde Stuk, p. 826): Kwantes obviously is not familiar either with Gatot Mangkoepradja's “The Peta and My Relations with the Japanese: A Correction of Sukarno's Autobiography” in Indonesia 5 (Ithaca, April 1968), pp. 105–134, where all the education detail is sorted out.

13 For the isolation of his position (esp. vis-à-vis de Jonge) see Gobée's letter to de Kat Angelino of 25 March 1936, no. 795/27 in Gobée's Nachlass (these papers are lodged at Leiden University, a photocopy version is at James Cook University of North Queensland). For a recent inventory see: Meulen, E.I.v.d., Inventaris van de papieren afkomstig van E. Gobée (Leiden, 1983), passim.Google Scholar

14 Turn to Hein ter Poorten's report on the Dutch military collapse in Verbaal II February 1946 M5, p. 10, where the possibilities of guerilla activities were ruled out on grounds that they could not be waged without a loyal and co-operating indigenous population. This report — pp. 166–80 — appears in an English translation in Kabar Seberang no. 16/1985. In this same report ter Poorten accuses his predecessor, popular G.J. Berenschot, of fostering racist prejudices when preparing for the often postponed installation of a “native” militia, yet he is quick himself to blame Ambbinese units for cowardly behaviour in the war zone and ignores the heroic last stand of Amboinese raw recruits in the Lembang fortified position. For a discussion of international strategic and economic aspects surrounding the “fall of Netherlands India” turn to Teitler, G. (ed.), De val van Nederlands-Indie (Dieren, 1982)Google Scholar. In this same work major Han Zwitzer punctures the reputation of Indonesia's last viceroy by sketching the uncoordinated behaviour between both civilian and military heads when they were facing the Japanese for the capitulation-procedures (see pp. 92–112). An even more damaging critique, this time discussing military operations in Java during that first fateful week of March 1942, is Bussemaker's, H. Th. “De val van Java” in Spiegel Historiael 15 (1980): 361–68Google Scholar, who alleges that Japanese superiority in actual manpower and material resources was far less pronounced as claimed so far by ter Poorten and by the compilers of the series Nederlands-Indie contra Japan [see: Vol. vii, “De Strijd op Java”, ed. Hoogenband, C.v.d. and Schotborgh, L. (The Hague, 1961Google Scholar)], and that furthermore the colonial army in its counter-moves lacked audacity and purpose by sticking to macadam roads and not utilising its field and mountain artillery units more effectively, if at all.

15 I have elsewhere chided Kwantes for presenting his readers with a colonialist perspective (see Kabar Seberang, no. 3, 1978, pp. 98–99) and in my opinion it is a pity he did not heed that plea for a more Indonesia centric approach to appear in the future volumes. It also explains his and Professor I.J. Brugman's objections to the two volumes 11a, Eerste Helft Nederlands-Indie, 11a, Tweede Helft Nederlands-Indie in the series Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (The Hague, 1984Google Scholar), by Dr L. de Jong which strikes a much finer balance between the two approaches than the one emerging in both Kwantes' and Brugman's work on Indonesia. See for their objections Algemeen Dagblad, 31 October 1984, and Eerst Helft, pp. xiii, xiv, and de Jong's response, ibid., p. xiv.

16 For Gerretson, see Henssen's, Emilestudy Gerretson en Indie, Groningen, 1983Google Scholar, passim. Actually, only v.d. Wai was Gerretson's pupil at Utrecht (see Hensen, ibid., pp. 86, 171), though I still perceive the Gerretson methodology emerging in Kwantes as well in spite of the latter's Leiden-based tutelage.

17 See also note 12 above.

18 See Hering, Mentjapai, pp. 33, 39, and notes 2 and 3 of p. 71.

19 Trimurti and Karma were the pen names used by Miss Surastri Mangunsuromo during the times she helped run the Suara Marhaeni (Voice of the Marhaen Women), a periodical issued by the Persatuan Marhaen women grouping led by Sri Panggihan and founded in 1935, and the Solo-based Javanese language journal Bedug (in 1934). The latter journal was later renamed Terompet, using the banasa. I owe this information to Trimurti, the name she now adopts, when I saw her during May 1982 to arrange with her the interview sessions to take place in 1982–83 between her and a number of my graduate students. One of these has now completed a Trimurti biography, which is being prepared in our monograph series, affiliated to Kabar Seberang.

When Thamrin's house was searched by the colonial police, he was sick in bed, with a bout of malaria tropicana. He was then put under house-arrest, to die S days later. See Abdurracham Surjomihardjo's “Muhammad Husni Thamrin 1894–1941”, p. 10, issued by the Pemerintah Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta, 1982; and also Nationale Commentaren, 4th year, no. 3, 1941, pp. 3099–3107 for its editorial comment and that of other periodicals, mostly Indonesian.

20 see note 5 above.

21 Cf. William O'Malley, “The Pakempalan Kawulo Ngajogjakarta: An Official Report on the Jogjakarta People's Party of the 1390's” in Indonesia, no. 26, Ithaca 1978, pp. 111–58 and his “Second Thoughts on Indonesian Nationalism”, pp. 609–610 in Indonesia: Australian Perspectives, Fox, J.J.et al. (Canberra, 1980).Google Scholar

22 For a description of these events, see Harry Poeze's “The PKI Moeda” in Kabar Seberang no. 13/14, 1984, pp. 157–76; and Hering, , The PKI Baru (Townsville, 1985), passim.Google Scholar

23 See Vierde Stuk, p. 38, note 5. Srikandi is the second of Arjuna's wives, known to be adventuresome and pugnacious. The occasion Kwantes refers to is Sukarno's wejangan delivered on the opening of the first Indonesia Raja Congress (see Derde Stuk, p. 611). Ibu Inggit Garnasih's (Kwantes spells her name in a curious manner, i.e., Indit Karnasi) own version appears in Ramadhan, KH, Kuantar ke Gerbang: Kisah Cinta Ibu Inggit dengan Bung Karno (Jakarta, 1981), pp. 290–300.Google Scholar

24 The four letters appear in an English translation in Hering, Mentjapai, pp. 109–112; they were culled from mr. 1276/1933. For the debate see: Lee's, Oey HongThe Sukarno-Controversies of 1980/1981 (Hill, 1982)Google Scholar; “Polemik tentang Bunk Karno”, in Berita Pertimbangan, March 1981, Jakarta 1981, passim, and also: Pemahaman Sejarah Indonesia Sebelum dan Sesudah Revolusi, ed. Frederick, W. H. and Soeroto, Soeri (Jakarta, 1982), pp. 429–58Google Scholar; and the contribution made by H. Rosihan Anwar, “Surat-surat Ir. Sukarno kepada ‘Procureur-Generaal’ Hindia-Belanda”, Kompas, 23 February 1981; Taufik Abdullah, “Biografi dan Surat-surat itu” in Tempo, year x, no. 53, 28 February 1981; Mahub Djunaidi, “Itu mah Pamali, itu mah Mustahil: kata Ibu Inggit”, Kompas, 7 October 1980; “Onghokham Mungkin Palsu”, Merdeka, 19 February 1980, “Adam Malik Tak Yakin Sukarno Minta Ampun”, Kompas, 20 February 1981. Some of the above observations I discussed with Moh. Roem at his home on 17 July 1983 also showing the latter some of the authentic documents, bearing Soekarno's signature which betray the sentiments revealed in the Soekamiskin letters; Roem however remained convinced that the latter were fakes mainly because of the “poor style unworthy of Soekarno”.

25 See for example of such documentation: Hering, Mentjapai, p. 108, as for samples of Sukarno's private letters they have been reproduced in Hering, Soekamiskin, pp. 25–26, 29–30. The originals I keep in trust for members of Sukarno's family in my capacity as director of the Yayasan Soekarno di Australia.

26 Cf. the report of a Dutch socialist party member who was in Indonesia at that time in Hering, ibid., p. 58.

27 They had earlier departed from decisions concerning Soekarno, see Hering, van der Most, p. viii. Also family members of Husein Djajadiningrat asserted to me that the latter's diary, soon to be published in the Netherlands, shows a passage about the authenticity of these letters from Soekamiskin.

28 See for instance the nationalist party's own periodical Persatoean Indonesia of 30 November 1933, confirming that Soekarno had departed from the tactic of non-co-operation. Also confirmed in the Inlandsche Pers Overzichten (IPO) no. 49/1933, and in Hatta's Daulat Ra'ajat of 30 November 1933.

29 The entire report appears in an English language translation in Hering, Mentjapai, pp. 105–108; the last page of that report, the original of which is in mr. 1502/1933, which shows the signatures of both Soekarno and resident Tydeman.

30 In earlier work, Kwantes did refer to Poeze, Tichelman, Benda and McVey, to list just a few. There is no reference this time to Roger Paget's, Indonesia Accuses (Kuala Lumpur, 1975)Google Scholar; Ingleson's, JohnRoad to Exile (Kuala Lumpur, 1979)Google Scholar; Hering, , From Soekamiskin to Endeh (Townsville, 1979)Google Scholar; O'Malley, William, “Indonesia in the Great Depression” (Dissertation, Cornell University, 1977)Google Scholar; Larson, George, “Prelude to Revolution: Palaces and Politics in Surakarta 1912–42” (Dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1979)Google Scholar; and Tsuchiya, Kenji, “The Dispute between Sukarno and Hatta in the early 1930's”, in Ichimura, (ed.), S. E. Asia: Nature, Society and Development (Honolulu, 1976)Google Scholar. All these works stressed, sometimes quite extensively, Indonesian postures and sensibilities and were also lodged at the Leeghwaterstraat long before Kwantes put an end to his exhaustive labours.

31 Poeze, Harry A., Politiek-Politioneele Overzichten van Nederlandsch-Indie Deel 1 1927–28 (Leiden, 1982)Google Scholar; Poeze, Harry A., Politiek-Politioneele Overzichten van Nederlandsch-Indie Deel II 1929–30 (Leiden, 1983).Google Scholar

32 See also Hering, v.d. Most, p. 51, note 1.

33 Ethici, those adherents to the so-called ethische politiek (a colonial policy guided by ethical and moral principles and mainly aiming to uplift the educational, political, economic and socio-cultural standards of the Indonesian masses). See also Hering, Mentjapai, p. 35, note 10; p. 36, note 29.

34 For a recent memoire by a prominent Indonesian Chinese, turn to Hering, B., Siaw Giok Tjhan Remembers: A Peranakan Chinese and the Quest for Indonesian Nationhood (Townsville, 1982).Google Scholar

35 It was left to an Eurasian with a famous well-known name (he was related to “Multatuli”, one of the literary forerunners of the Ethische Politiek), E.F.F. Douwes Dekker to found Indonesia's first radical nationalist party, though he was in that effort ably assisted by two well-known Javanese Dr Tjipto Mangoenkoesomo and Soewardi Soerjaningrat (later named Ki Hadjar Dewantoto, the founder of the Ta-man Siswo schools). See Hering, Mentjapai, p. 66 note 2, Poeze, Deel l, pp. xxviii, xxxv.

36 Pity it appears in such an inaccessible language, and the only other survey which is equally “Indonesia-centric” but even more extensive also is in Dutch (see de Jong, Eerst Helft and Tweede Helft, passim).

37 Cf. Poeze, Deel 1, p. cvi, Deel II, p. lviii.