THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART -73

ARBIND KUMAR BLOG

INDONESIA ( SERIES -6 )

THE AFTERMATH OF THE FALL OF NETHERLANDS & VOC

After the fall of the NETHERLANDS to the FRENCH Empire and the dissolution of the DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY ( VOC ) following bankruptcy in 1800 , numerous changes could be seen in the EUROPEAN colonial powers regarding the affairs and administration of the EAST INDIES . The EAST INDIES were now treated as a proxy FRENCH colony . However , administered through DUTCH intermediary . The COMPANY’S assets in the EAST INDIES were nationalized . In 1806 NEPOLEONIC Wars shook the entire EUROPE . On 5th June 1806 , the BATAVIAN REPUBLIC was dissolved with the accession of a king called LOUIS BONAPARTE ( NEPOLEON’S THIRD BROTHER ALSO CALLED LODEWIJK NEPOLEON ) to the throne of NETHERLANDS . The REPUBLIC OF SEVEN UNITED NETHERLANDS was constituted on 19th July 1795 and from October 1801 onward it was called as BATAVIAN COMMONWEALTH/KINGDOM OF HOLLAND . LODEWIJK NEPOLEON appointed one of his Generals called HERMAN WILLEM DAENDELS as the Governor General of the EAST INDIES based in JAVA . DAENDELS was sent there mainly to strengthen the JAVANESE Defences against the expected BRITISH invasion as the BRITISH had been present in BENCOOLEN on the western coast of SUMATRA since 1685 and on many posts north of MALACCAN straits . However , during his period many construction works were done . The GREAT POST ROAD from ANJER to PANAROECAN across JAVA was constructed during his period . The thousand-kilometer road was meant to smoothen the movement of logistics across JAVA . It was completed in only one year . Thousands of JAVANESE workers and forced labours sacrificed their lives in this great endeavor . Apart from that , numbers of ancient monuments including BOROBADUR BUDDHIST TEMPLE OF CENTRAL JAVA were rediscovered and excavated . A systematic catalogue of all that were prepared for the first time . SIR THOMAS STAMFORD BINGLEY RAFFLES , who was a BRITISH statesman and served as the Leutinent Governor of the DUTCH EAST INDIES from 1811 to 1816 and Leutinent Governor of BENCOOLEN from 1818 to 1824 , published a book on HISTORY OF JAVA in 1817 . After the end of the NEPOLEONIC WARS , the Islands of JAVA was returned to the NETHERLANDS in 1815 in view of the ANGLO-DUTCH TREATY of 1814 .

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After the brief BRITISH Rule under THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES , the DUTCH state took over the possession of VOC in 1816 . In the JAVA war from 1825 to 1830 between the colonial DUTCH Empire and JAVANESE rebels , the JAVANESE uprising was crushed . The war started as a rebellion . It was led by Prince DIPONEGORO , a leading member of the JAVANESE aristocracy . Despite the fact that in the past he had cooperated with the DUTCH . The war ended in 1830 with DUTCH victory . DIPONEGORO was invited to a peace conference but he was captured . Now DUTCH colonial authorities started implementing major reforms throughout the DUTCH EAST INDIES so that peace could be established there ensuring the colonies remained profitable . So after 1830 , a system of forced cultivation and indentured labour were introduced in JAVA ; so that over all productivity of the country could be raised . This system brought about enormous wealth for the DUTCH and their INDONESIAN allies . The new cultivation system forced the peasants to work in the government-owned plantations for sixty days in a year apart from working in their own lands . However , the system was abolished in 1870 . But again in 1901 , the DUTCH adopted a policy called ETHNIC POLICY. The DUTCH Queen WILHELMINA announced that the NETHERLANDS accepted an Ethical responsibility for the welfare of their colonial subjects . It was in the sharp contrast of the former official doctrine of WINGEWEST . Under this policy, INDONESIA was considered as a region for making profit . In this present (ETHNIC POLICY ) civilizing mission , the purpose of the DUTCH authorities there was to spread their own culture to the colonized people as such .

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Now upgrading of roads and ports was under high priority of the DUTCH in INDONESIA . All these were needed for modernizing the economy through trade and commerce and they were helpful in fast movements of military as such . By 1950 , a road network of 12,000 KM of asphalt surface , 41,000 KM of metalled road areas and 16,000 KM of gravel surfaces were either built or upgraded . Apart from that DUTCH built 75,00 KM of railways , many bridges and irrigation systems covering more than 1.4 million hectares of rice fields . Several harbours were also constructed . Moreover , 140 public drinking water systems were developed . These infrastructural developments later became the base of independent INDONESIA . However, DUTCH police and military actions in many parts of INDONESIA remained quite cruel . Similarly , in the social fields , the DUTCH formed a privileged upper social class of soldiers , administrators , teachers , and pioneers . Though they lived together with the natives , yet at the top remained a rigid social and racial caste system . Virtually , the DUTCH EAST INDIES had two legal class of citizens : 1. EUROPEANS ; and 2. INDIGENOUS . However , a third class called FOREIGN EASTERNERS was added only in 1920 as such .

The Yogini – A Bride in need https://amzn.eu/d/4cnL7vC

NOTE : THE SOURCES OF THE BLOG ARE TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ON THE SUBJECT .

TO BE CONTINUED …………….

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