THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-74

NATIONAL AWAKENING IN INDONESIA (INDONESIA SERIES -7)

In the first half of the 20th century , a sense of awakening in the INDONESIAN people came on the surface during which people from many parts of the archipelago of INDONESIA first began to develop a national consciousness as INDONESIAN as such . A unified political unity could be seen among the people of INDONESIA at the first time , as new organizations and leadership developed in the first half of the 20th century . The ETHNIC POLICY under the NETHERLANDS government helped in the creation of an educated INDONESIAN elite class which started to write/speak their free views . Now Equality , Liberty and Justice — all these sublime political values became their perfect driving force against the colonial government as such . Apart from all that , several other factors that gave rise to nationalist consciousness among INDONESIAN people were as follows : 1. THE GROWTH OF INDIGENOUS PRINT MEDIA ; 2. MASSIVE URBANIZATION ; 3. THE GROWTH OF COMMUNISM ; 4. THE GROWTH OF ISLAM ; 5. DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION ; 6. DEVELOPMENT OF MASS ENTERTAINMENT LIKE FILM , THEATER AND KRONKON MUSIC ; and 7. SUFFERING UNDER DUTCH APARTHEID . Moreover , leading intellectuals like KARTINI , TIRTO and SEMAUN raised their voice for unified archipelago of INDONESIA . These leaders sought to embrace modernity , freedom , nation and independence . This is referred in the INDONESIAN history as the INDONESIAN NATIONAL REVIVAL . However , indigenous voices were ruthlessly suppressed by the DUTCH colonial government . They disallowed the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly to the people of INDONESIA . And such movements were ruthlessly suppressed.

BUDI UTOMO AND INDONESIA

BUDI UTOMO was the first political society formed on 20th May 1908 in the DUTCH EAST INDIES . This political society is considered instrumental to the beginning of the INDONESIAN NATIONAL AWAKENING . The founder of BUDI UTOMO was a pensioned government doctor who for the first time felt that native intellectuals should improve education and culture among the people . The first congress of the society was held in May 1908 under the leadership of Dr. WAHIDIN SOEDIROHOESODO . The congress was mostly a gathering of students in BATAVIA . But the organization’s first major gathering was held in October 1908 in YOGYAKARTA . However , its membership was limited to an upper class elite of natives , government officials and intellectuals only . It was largely confined in JAVA and among JAVANESE . A few branches , however , expanded the activities of the society in native commerce and industry . The main aim of the society was to further popular education among the masses . TIPTO MANGOENCOESOEMO , a prominent INDONESIAN independence leader , a JAVANESE physician , and SUKARNO’S political mentor, along with ERNEST DOUWES DEKKER , a JAPANESE journalist and SOEWARDI SOERJANINGRAT who later on founded a political party called INDISCHE PARTY in 1912 with a goal to achieve a self-government of the DUTCH EAST INDIES . It expanded the scope of the society to include more working class and people from outside JAVA . It grew in 1910 with 10,000 members enrolled in 40 branches . At the same time , it received official recognition from the colonial government . BUDI UTOMO’S primary aim was not political , but later shifted toward political aims as it sent representatives in the conservative VOLKSRAAD ( THE PEOPLE’S COUNCIL ) . It also sent its members in the provincial council of JAVA . Though BUDI UTOMO was officially dissolved in 1935 , yet it was marked as the first nationalist movement in the early 20th century in INDONESIA .

SAREKAT ISLAM AND INDONESIA

SAREKAT ISLAM was an INDONESIAN socio-political organization founded in 1911 . It served as a cooperative of MUSLIM JAVANESE BATIK traders with an aim to compete with CHINESE-INDONESIAN big traders . However , it rapidly evolved into a nationalist political organization . It demanded self-government against the DUTCH led colonial regime . It got popular support during 1910s and 1920s . And in 1916 , it had altogether 80 branches and total 350,000 membership as such . Its leader from 1911 to 1912 was SAMANHUDI ; from 1912 to 1934 was OMAR SAID TJOKROAMINOTO ; and from 1934 to 1940 was ABHIKUSNO TJOKROSUJOSO . And its headquarters was at SURABAYA . However , eventually there emerged a dissent within SAREKAT ISLAM . The conflict between the ISLAMIC MODERATES and RADICAL COMMUNISTS led to split in the organization in 1921 . And the Communist members founded a separate entity known as the SAREKAT ISLAM MERAH ( RED ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION ) which was later absorbed into the COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDONESIA . The original SAREKAT ISLAM was later turned into a political party known as the INDONESIAN ISLAMIC UNION PARTY (PSII) which in 1973 fused into the UNITED DEVELOPMENT PARTY (PPP) as such .