INDONESIA CELEBRATES 77 YEARS
OF INDEPENDENCE:
Where do we stand against our former colonizer?
Indonesian Freedom Fighters carrying bamboo spears as weapons
during the struggle of Indonesia’s independence.
(Source: Arsip Nasional)
August 20, 2022
On August 17, 2022, Indonesia celebrates its 77th anniversary of Independence. However, not many people realize that for 77 years a non-military war between Indonesia and its former colonizer the Netherlands has been going on. After 77 years, the Dutch government still refuse to recognize the de jure independence of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945 rather than on December 27, 1949, when the former “transferred” the sovereignty from the government of the Nederlands Indië to the government of Republik Indonesia Serikat (United States of Indonesia).
On August 16, 2005 in Jakarta, then Dutch Minister of Foreign Afairs Bernard Bot declared that, from then on, the Dutch government has accepted the proclamation of Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945, morally and politically, which means that it is merely a de facto recognition, not de jure, as he emphasized during a speech in The Hague, Netherlands, the day before,15th August 2005.
Many colonies, after declaring their independence, had to fight against their former colonial masters who refused to recognize their independence, as in the case of the Netherlands itself against its former colonizer Spain. The Dutch launched a rebellion against Spain in 1568 and then established the Dutch Republic — officially the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands — in 1581. The war between the Dutch Republic and Spain ended with the Peace of Westphalia, the name of the two peace treaties signed in 1648. This means that the Dutch Republic was still at war for 80 years after its establishment. The war between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in this case a non-military war, has been going on since 1945, and has yet to end.
Historical background
The Dutch colonization of Southeast Asia began on May 30, 1619, when Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) succeeded in controlling the city of Jayakarta, which was later changed to Batavia (now Jakarta). After that the Dutch, one after another, defeated and controlled the kingdoms and sultanates in Southeast Asia, the realms which now constitute the Republic of Indonesia. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the Dutch managed to control most of Southeast Asian archipelago and named the colony Nederlands Indië (the Dutch East Indies).
Nederlands Indië ceased to exist on the global political map on March 9, 1942 (March 8, 1942, according to several sources), when the government of Nederlands Indië surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese army in the Asia Pacific War which began on December 7, 1941.
The defeat against Japan not only marked the end of Dutch colonialism in Southeast Asia, but it was also very painful and humiliating because it shattered the aura of invincibility that the European nations had been building in their colonies for hundreds of years, i.e., the image that the white race was invincible. The Dutch, who a few weeks earlier led a luxurious life in their colonies amid the suffering of tens of millions of natives, had to live a miserable life in the Japanese internment camps. They were humiliated, abused, starved, even tortured and killed. Their suffering, which lasted for 3.5 years, only ended on August 15, 1945 when Japan surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces, effectively marking the end of the Asia-Pacific War.
The Dutch, in Europe and those who fed to Australia when the Japanese invaded in 1942, were exuberant to hear the Emperor of Japan’s statement of unconditional surrender. They thought they could soon return to being the “masters” in the former colony, the Nederlands Indië. But their joy only lasted for two days.
August 17, 1945: The turning point in Indonesia’s history
After Japan declared its unconditional surrender to the Allied forces on August 15, 1945, two days later on August 17, 1945 the Indonesian people proclaimed Indonesia’s independence and established the Republic of Indonesia. This declaration certainly came as a shock to the Dutch and it caused panic, especially among businessmen and the elites who own companies, plantations, mining operations, hotels, and other businesses in Indonesia. They still dreamt of reclaiming what they thought was rightfully theirs. The Netherlands, whose economy, infrastructure and military were devastated by the World War II, needed enormous funds to rebuild their country. When Indonesia, their richest colony, seceded, their source of wealth also disappeared almost overnight.
As a result, the Netherlands steadfastly refused to accept the Republic of Indonesia’s independence and made attempts to retake its former territory. However, the Dutch army had suffered a great deal of damage following the end of World War II. The German army annihilated its soldiers in Europe, and the Japanese army obliterated the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Indisch Leger (KNIL), the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, in the East Indies. Then, in World War II, the Netherlands requested aid from its allies in the region, including the American, British, Dutch, and Australian Command (ABDACOM).
It made a deal with the British at Checkers, England. In the Civil Affairs Agreement (CAA) signed on August 24, 1945 between the Dutch and the British government, Britain stated its willingness to help the Netherlands retake its former colony using military force. Thus, it can be said that CAA was a declaration of war by the Dutch and their allies against the newly-independent Republic of Indonesia.
Britain deployed three army divisions under the command of Lt. Gen. Philip Christison and Australia assisted by sending two divisions under the command of Lt. Gen. Leslie “Ming the Merciless” Morshead. The United States helped supply military equipment and trained Dutch conscripts. With the help of ABDACOM, the Netherlands launched a military offensive against the Republic of Indonesia in September 1945.
Thanks to the help of the Australian army, in July 1946 the Dutch managed to control the entire territory to the east of Indonesia, from Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali to Papua. British troops, meanwhile, helped the Dutch seized several regions in Sumatra and Java.
The non-military war began by pitting fellow Indonesians against each other. The Dutch recruited the natives to join the KNIL and established “puppet states” and “autonomous regions” in areas it controlled in July 1946. Readopting its common strategy in the past, the Dutch put natives who were loyal to the Netherlands in charge as heads of state, minister and officials in Dutch-controlled areas.
In areas still controlled by the Republic of Indonesia, the Dutch tried to ruin their economy, among others by robbing the Republic of Indonesia money during its distribution, printing counterfeit money, infiltrating proDutch natives into the Indonesian government and the Indonesian army. The intrusion was carried out by the so-called Van der Plas Connection, named after Charles Olke van der Plas, the former Governor of East Java during the Nederlands Indië administration. In January 1942, van der Plas was assigned to form an underground resistance network should the Dutch lose to the Japanese. Van der Plas, who was also fluent in Arabic and Chinese, recruited the natives (civil servants, intellectuals, socialists and communists), Chinese and Arabs in Nederlands Indië.
To replace British and Australian troops, the Dutch brought in about 150,000 personnel from the Netherlands and recruited about 65,000 natives to become KNIL soldiers and formed the Pao (Po) An Tui troops made up of the Chinese in the Republic of Indonesia. It is estimated that Po An Tui had around 50,000 members in Java and Sumatra. Meanwhile, there were only around 100,000 Republic of Indonesia armed forces (then known as People’s Security Agency/BKR) in Sumatra and Java armed with weapons seized from the Japanese army in 1945. In 1947 and 1948, the Dutch launched the first and second military aggression against the Republic of Indonesia in Java and Sumatra.
It is estimated that the Dutch military aggression between 1945- 1950 resulted in between 900,000 to 1 million Indonesian casualties, most of them were civilians, including women and children. In 1969, the Dutch government official report revealed that the death toll on the Indonesian side was around 150,000 people. However, this could be an underreporting as many incidents of mass massacres were not reported. Also missing were the report on the destruction of infrastructure and the Indonesian economy during the Dutch military aggression. On the contrary, the Dutch only suffered 6,500 casualties, according to the official figure.
The Dutch military aggressions against the Republic of Indonesia were condemned worldwide, even by its allies, including the United States and Australia.
History showed that even with a very large military force and equipped with the most modern weapons at that time, the Dutch failed to defeat the Indonesian national armed forces and erase the Republic of Indonesia from the global political map. When the Round Table Conference (KMB) was held in The Hague, Netherlands on August 23-November 2, 1949, the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian national armed forces still existed. In other words, the Dutch utterly failed to defeat and control the Republic of Indonesia; worse, it was heavily criticized by the international community.
On August 16, 1950 the United States of Indonesia (RIS) was dissolved and on August 17, 1950 the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) was reestablished based on the system of government proclaimed on August 17, 1945. Dutch efforts to divide the Republic of Indonesia also failed.
Non-military war continues
Conservative circles and part of the Dutch army still continued their secret operations to overthrow the United States of Indonesia (RIS) which emerged from the Round Table Conference (KMB). This effort began with the Angkatan Perang Ratu Adil (APRA) movement. On January 23, 1950, Captain Raymond Westerling, a former Dutch army officer, led mutinous Dutch army personnel to launch a coup against the RIS government. The coup failed and Westerling, assisted by Dutch military officials, fed to Singapore and then to Belgium. However, all of his men were arrested and sentenced to prison by the RIS government. At that time, it was revealed that the coup was a conspiracy between Westerling and Sultan Hamid II of Pontianak. Sultan Hamid II, who at that time served as Minister of State (without portfolio) in the Indonesian government was arrested and brought to justice. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and released in 1958.
In November 2009, it was revealed in the Netherlands that the real mastermind behind the APRA coup attempt was Prince Bernhard, husband of Queen Juliana. He wanted to be a viceroy in Indonesia, just like Lord Mountbatten who was once viceroy of the British Empire in India.
On April 25, 1950, “black hands” from the Netherlands established the South Maluku Republic (RMS). Led by its president Christiaan Soumokil, it wanted to secede from the Republic of Indonesia. The core strength of the RMS army consisted of about 1,000 KNIL soldiers led by KNIL Sergeant Dantje Samson. The separatists were crushed by the TNI in December 1963. Soumokil was executed in 1966. In 1950, around 4,000 ex-KNIL soldiers from Maluku and their families fed to the Netherlands.
In addition to military operations, Dutch-backed separatist groups continued to carry out subversion and underground movements to destabilize the Republic of Indonesia economically, politically, militarily and socially. These underground movements were:
– Van der Plas Connection which has been mentioned earlier.
– Vrijwillige Ondergrondsche Corps (VOC), an underground volunteer corps where Sultan Hamid II was again involved after his release from the prison in 1958 for his involvement in APRA. He was arrested again in 1962. In 1966, he was released after the September 30 Movement (G30S) due to Dutch intervention.
– De Nederlands Indische Guerilla Organisatie (NIGO), a Dutch East Indies Guerrilla Organization led by Leon Jungschläger and Henry Schmidt. Jungschläger was a former chief of the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) while Schmidt an exKNIL officer. They were arrested in January 1954. On April 19 that year, Jungschläger died of a cerebral hemorrhage while in detention. In September 1954, Schmidt was brought before a court in Jakarta and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The intelligence service of the Republic of Indonesia managed to uncover and thwart all Dutchbacked underground movements and their accomplices in Indonesia.
Indonesia severed diplomatic ties with the Netherlands
At the KMB negotiation, the Dutch promised to return West Irian (now the provinces of Papua and West Papua) to the Republic of Indonesia in one year. However, more than a year later, the Dutch still wanted to control the resource-rich province. Indonesia then began preparation to seize West Irian from Dutch rule and the military confrontation began. Relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands, which were already tense, were at breaking point.
In May 1956, the Indonesia Government unilaterally canceled all the KMB resolutions, and stopped paying installments for the remaining 500 million gulden to the Netherlands as stipulated by the KMB agreement.
In 1957, the Indonesian government nationalized all Dutch companies, be they state-owned or privately owned. All Dutch without jobs in the Republic of Indonesia were ordered to leave the country. It is estimated that more than 50,000 Dutch nationals had to leave Indonesia.
The height of Indonesia’s conflict with the Netherlands occurred on August 17, 1960, when the Republic of Indonesia severed diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and expelled all Dutch citizens from Indonesia. This measure by the Indonesian government was very painful for the Dutch government and people, especially those who were expelled from Indonesia. It also profoundly embarrassed the Netherlands internationally, because for the first time all former colonizers were expelled from their former colonies. To accommodate more than 50,000 Dutch from Indonesia in a short period of time was of course very burdensome for the Netherlands, economically and socially.
Indonesia began to attack the Dutch in West Irian in 1961. In the naval battle in the Aru Sea on January 15, 1962, Vice Admiral Yosaphat Sudarso fell. Seeing the escalation of the conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands, the United Nations stepped in to mediate. Diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands were restored. In a negotiation facilitated by the UN on August 15, 1962 in New York, the Netherlands agreed to hand over West Irian to Indonesia no later than October 1, 1962. This diplomatic defeat was another blow to the Netherlands as it lost yet another source of wealth. Such was the series of defeats inflicted on the Dutch between 1942-1962 by its former colony.
These events are deeply ingrained in the collective memory of the Dutch nation. These are the historical and socio-psychological backgrounds of why the Dutch, especially their conservative circles, still harbor a very deep grudge against the Indonesian people. In 1963, “black hands” in the Netherlands established yet another separatist movement, the Free Papua Organization (OPM), and incited the Papuan people to secede from the Republic of Indonesia.
The Cold War ended, the “History War” began
After the national tragedy in 1965, Indonesia became an anti-communist country and was grouped into the anti-communist North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) camp. During the Cold War between the communist and anti-communist blocs, the conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands “cooled” because they were facing the same enemy, communism. However, in 1991, near the end of the Cold War, anti-Indonesian groups in the Netherlands again began their efforts to divide the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and “settle old scores” against Indonesia.
On February 11, 1991 in the Netherlands a UN-like organization called the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) was established. Its members are nations that are not represented at the United Nations. In essence, its members are separatist movements in their respective countries, many of which were actually formed or supported by their former colonizers. The objective of UNPO is to help its members achieve independence. In other words, to divide their former colonies, including Indonesia.
Registered as UNPO members in 1991 included the South Maluku Republic (RMS), the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Free Papua Organization (OPM). East Timor became a member of UNPO in January 1993. So, it is clear that UNPO’s goal is to divide the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
ABDACOM began to build negative opinions against Indonesia in the international community by portraying Indonesia as a human rights violator. Past incidents overlooked during the Cold War, such as the G30S abortive coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), were again brought to the fore.
A campaign was launched to galvanize global opinion that Indonesia had committed gross human rights violations in East Timor since 1975. With this strategy the Netherlands and its allies succeeded in separating East Timor from the Republic of Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor became an independent country under the name Timor Leste.
On August 15, 2005 an agreement was reached between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), in which GAM stopped its separatist movement and participated in the rebuilding Aceh post-December 2004 tsunami. GAM officially left UNPO in 2005. But then the Dutch recruited the third generation of Acehnese in Europe. This third generation formed a new organization called the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF) which officially became a member of UNPO in the Netherlands in 2015.
Since 1992, every year in the Netherlands, Australia and England, before September 30, groups that want to divide the Unitary Republic of Indonesia would “weaponize” the G30S incident. This eventually led to the 1965 International Tribunal held in The Hague, Netherlands, on November 13-15, 2015, which handed down a verdict that Indonesia had committed genocide against PKI members in 1965. This verdict was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, as a recommendation.
After successfully separating East Timor from the Republic of Indonesia, the next target is West Papua. Efforts to separate Aceh and Maluku from the Republic of Indonesia are still being carried out using the same modus operandi as in East Timor, namely by accusing that Indonesia committed human rights violations in West Papua. In 2017, the Dutch government sent the Dutch “Ambassador of Human Rights” Kees van Baar to West Papua to monitor allegations of human rights violations committed by the Indonesia. Then he complained to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1999, a movement was initiated to counter negative opinions against Indonesia in the international community. The descendants of the 1945 freedom fighters, supported by members of the 1945 generation, the intelligence community as well as several former ambassadors/diplomats, established an organization aimed at reopening the “black pages” of history committed by the Dutch military and its allies during their military offensives against Indonesia between 1945-1949.
They began by suing the British government for the military aggression carried out by the British in East Java, which led to the bombing of Surabaya on November 10, 1945. At an international seminar held at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) on October 27, 2000, British Ambassador Richard Gozney made a statement on behalf of the British government and people. First, he apologized for the incident, and second, he admitted that the British politics at that time was to help the Dutch retake their colonies.
On March 8, 2002, these activists established an organization called the National Committee to Defend the Dignity of the Nation (KNPMBI) and on March 20, 2002, at the 400th anniversary of the founding of the VOC, KNPMBI demanded that the Dutch government apologize for its colonization, slavery, mass killings, and plundering of Indonesia’s resources.
Then on May 5, 2005 they formed an organization called the Committee of Dutch Honor Debt (KUKB). On May 20, 2005 it submitted a petition to the Dutch government to:
1. Formally (de jure) recognize Indonesia’s Independence on August 17, 1945.
2. Apologize to the people of Indonesia for the colonization, slavery and war crimes conducted by the Dutch troops during its military aggression between 1945-1949.
3. Take responsibility for the destructions caused by the military aggressions. In other words, the Dutch government must pay war reparations to the Republic of Indonesia.
On 15 December 2005, the leadership of the KUKB brought the massacre in Rawagede village to the Dutch parliament in The Hague. On December 9, 1947, Dutch troops massacred 431 residents of Rawagede village, near Karawang, without any legal process. They are all civilians, non-combatants. KUKB has succeeded in demanding compensations from the Dutch government. Since 2009, the Dutch government has spent around Rp20 billion to develop Rawagede village and compensated the widows of Rawagede and Westerling massacre in South Sulawesi.
Having demanded apology from the Dutch government since 2002, at the Rawagede massacre commemoration on December 9, 2008, the Dutch Ambassador Nikolaos van Dam only expressed his regret, but no apology. On December 9, 2011, the Dutch Ambassador Tjeerd de Swan finally apologized for the Rawagede massacre, but stressed that the apology was only for the said incident, not the others.
In March 2022, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte officially apologized for the atrocities committed by the Dutch army in Indonesia between 1945-1949. However, he did not give the de jure recognition for the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945 nor did he apologize for Dutch colonization in Indonesia.
The Dutch government is well aware that if it recognizes the de jure independence of Indonesia on August 17, 1945, then the so-called first and second “police actions” which refers to the Dutch military offensive in 1947 and 1948 constitutes a military aggression against an independent and sovereign Republic of Indonesia. The consequences will be heavy and far-reaching. First, the Dutch government will have to pay war reparations to Indonesia and secondly, the Dutch veterans can be charged with war crimes.
According to the International Criminal Court, there are four crimes that don’t have a statute of limitations (expiration date), namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
As long as conservative groups in the Netherlands do not stop their efforts to divide the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands remains unwilling to formally recognize Indonesia’s independence on August 17, 1945, the non-military war between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch kingdom will continue, and will surpass the record 80-year war between the Netherlands and its former colonizer Spain.
History will record whether the conservative forces in the Netherlands succeeded in dividing the Republic of Indonesia, or on the other hand, the Dutch government had to formally recognize the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945 and pay war reparations to Indonesia.
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BATARA RICHARD HUTAGALUNG is an Indonesian political historian and commentator. After graduating from highschool in Denpasar, he studied at the University of Hamburg, majoring in sociology, philosophy and psychology.He served as General Chair of the National Committee for Defending State Sovereignty and National Dignity (PKNMB) and chairman of the Dutch Honorary Debt Committee (KUKB) He is also the founder of the Indonesian Reform Alliance (ARI). In 2019, he published a book entitled Indonesia Was Never Colonized.
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