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HISTORY |
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Until the Dutch subsumed most of the islands under the title the "Dutch
East Indies" towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Indonesian
archipelago was little more than a series of unrelated kingdoms,
sultanates and private fiefdoms with distinct histories
Beginnings
Hominids first arrived in Indonesia about eight hundred thousand years
ago. Excavations uncovered parts of the skull of Pithecanthropus erectus,
since renamed Homo erectus erectus - or Java Man - in Sangiran near
Solo.
Homo sapiens first made an appearance in about 40,000 BC, having crossed
over to the Indonesian archipelago from the Philippines, Thailand and
Burma, using land bridges exposed during the Ice Ages. Later migrants
brought knowledge of rice irrigation and animal husbandry, sea
navigation and weaving techniques, and from the seventh or eighth
centuries BC, the Bronze Age began to spread south from Southern China.
Early traders and kingdoms
One of the methods of rice growing brought by the early migrants was wet-field
cultivation, which required substantial inter-village co-operation and
so gave rise to the first kingdoms in the archipelago.
Merchants from India brought Hinduism to the archipelago, which spread
quickly. By the fifth century, a myriad of small Hindu kingdoms peppered
the archipelago, the most successful being the Srivijaya kingdom, based
in Palembang in South Sumatra. For approximately four hundred years,
beginning in around the seventh century AD, Srivijaya controlled the
Melaka Straits - and the accompanying lucrative trade in spices, wood,
camphor, tortoise shell and precious stones - and extended its empire as
far north as Thailand and as far east as West Borneo. Srivijaya was also
a seat of learning and religion, with over a thousand Buddhist monks
living and studying within the city.
Whilst the Srivijayans enjoyed supremacy around the coasts of Indonesia,
small kingdoms began to flourish inland. In particular, the rival
Saliendra and Sanjaya (the latter sometimes known as Mataram) kingdoms
began to wield considerable influence on the volcanic plains of Central
Java, constructing spectacular monuments such as the magnificent temple
at Borobodur , built by the Buddhist Saliendras, and the manifold
temples of Prambanan , built by the Hindu Sanjayas. But by the twelfth
century things had begun to change: the Cholas of southern India
destroyed the Srivijayan empire, and the influence of the Saliendras and
Sanjayas was declining in the face of new empires emerging in the east
of Java.
The Majapahit Empire and the arrival of Islam
The Majapahit Empire, a Hindu kingdom based in East Java, enjoyed
unrivalled success from 1292 to 1389, boasting at least partial control
over a vast area covering Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Lombok
and Timor. This was the first time the major islands of the Indonesian
archipelago had been united under one command. As well as economic
prosperity, the Majapahit empire also saw the first flowering of
Indonesian culture, in particular certain courtly traditions still
extant. However, the arrival of Islam on Java and a massive revolt in
the north of the island eventually left the empire weak and in disarray,
although it managed to survive for over a hundred years longer on its
new home in Bali.
Islam first gained a toehold in the archipelago as early as the fifth
century AD, during the rule of the Buddhist Srivijaya Empire. Merchants
from Gujarat in India who called in at Aceh in northern Sumatra were the
first to bring the message of Mohammed, followed soon after by traders
from Arabia. From Sumatra, Islam spread eastwards, first along the coast
and then into the interior of Java and the rest of Indonesia (Bali,
Flores and Irian Jaya excepted), where it syncretized with the Hindu,
Buddhist and animist faiths that were already practised throughout the
archipelago. The first Islamic kingdoms in the archipelago emerged on
Java, where small coastal sultanates grew in the vacuum left by the
Majapahit.
The spice trade and the Dutch conquest of Indonesia
Portuguese ships began appearing in the region in the early sixteenth
century and soon established a virtual monopoly over the archipelago's
lucrative spice trade. They took control of the Moluccas (Maluku), which
became known as the Spice Islands , because of their wealth of pepper,
nutmeg, cloves, mace, ginger and cinnamon.
Dutch forays into the Indonesian archipelago began at the very end of
the 16th century, and by 1600 they had become the supreme European
trading power in the region. In 1602, they founded the United Dutch East
India Company (VOC) , with monopoly control over trade with the Moluccas.
They then invaded and occupied the Banda Islands, part of the Moluccas,
in 1603 - the first overtly aggressive act by the Dutch against their
Indonesian hosts. Two years later, the VOC successfully chased the
Portuguese from their remaining strongholds on Tidore and Ambon, and the
Dutch annexation of Indonesia began in earnest. Trading vessels were now
being replaced by warships, and the battle for the archipelago commenced.
By the end of the first decade of the seventeenth century, the VOC had
begun to build a loose but lucrative empire , becoming the Dutch
government's official representatives in the archipelago. At the helm of
the VOC was the ruthless Jan Pieterzoon Coen, who set about raising the
prices of nutmeg and clove artificially high by destroying vast
plantations on the island, thus devastating the livelihood of Banda's
already decimated population.
Coen then turned his attention to Java, and in particular Jayakarta (now
Jakarta), which he wanted to become the capital of the ever-expanding
VOC territories. When he built a fortress there, the local population
responded angrily, upon which the Dutch retaliated by razing the city
and renaming it Batavia . Further strategically important territories
were acquired soon after, including Melaka (in modern-day Malaysia) and
Makassar.
The plains of Central Java and the northern shores were by this time in
the grip of the influential Islamic Mataram Empire (different from the
Mataram, or Sanjaya, empire, which was Hindu), whose rulers were treated
almost as deities by their subjects. However, the royal house was often
riven with squabbles and during the early years of the eighteenth
century the region was paralyzed by Three Wars of Succession . The last
of these (1746-57) brought about the division of the empire into three
separate sultanates, two at Solo and one at Yogyakarta, aided and
abetted by the politically astute Dutch who then subjugated the entire
territory.
Though they were now the first rulers of a united Java, the VOC began to
see their fortunes dwindle in the face of huge competition from the
British and French. In 1795 the Dutch government, investigating the
affairs of the company that for 99 years had represented their interests
in the Far East, found mismanagement and corruption on a grand scale.
The VOC company was bankrupt, and eventually expired in 1799. The
Netherlands government took possession of all VOC territories, and thus
all of the islands we regard as Indonesia today formally became part of
the Dutch colonial empire .
The arrival of the British
In 1795, the French, under Napoleon, invaded and occupied Holland, and
Herman Willem Daendels was made governor-general of the East Indies. He
ruled for just three years, but was unable to fend off attacks by the
British who, under the leadership of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, picked
off the islands one by one, eventually landing at Batavia in 1811.
Raffles' tenure lasted for just five years before he was forced to hand
back the territories to the Dutch. But he left a lasting impact, having
ordered surveys of every historical building, and conducted extensive
research into the country's flora and fauna
The return of the Dutch
The Dutch returned to Indonesia in 1816 and were soon embroiled in a
couple of bloody disputes against opponents of their rule. But, having
finally regained control over their old colonies, the rest of the
nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth saw the Dutch
attempting to expand into previously independent territories. Their
early efforts met with limited success: the Balinese only surrendered in
1906, a full sixty years after the Dutch had first invaded, whilst the
war in Aceh, which the Dutch had first tried to annex in 1873, dragged
on until 1908, costing thousands of lives on both sides. By 1910,
however, following the fall of Banjarmasin in 1864, Lombok in 1894 and
Sulawesi in 1905, the Dutch had conquered nearly all of what we today
call Indonesia; the only major exception, Irian Jaya , finally accepted
colonial rule in 1920.
Following the debilitating battles in Java and Sumatra, the Dutch in
Indonesia were facing bankruptcy, so they devised the Cultural System in
1830, under which Javanese farmers had to give up a significant portion
of their land to grow lucrative cash crops that could be sold in Europe
for a huge profit. Java became one giant plantation and Indonesia
evolved into a major world exporter of indigo, coffee and sugar. But
indigenous farmers suffered hugely, some of them starving to death.
The Liberal System (1870-1900) aimed to rectify the injustices of the
Cultural System and end the exploitation of the local population, but
unfortunately coincided with some devastating natural and economic
disasters, including widespread coffee-leaf disease and a sugar blight.
A vocal, altruistic minority in the Dutch parliament began pressing for
more drastic policies to end the injustices in Indonesia, giving rise to
what is now called the Ethical Period . During this time, radical
irrigation, health care, education, drainage and flood control
programmes were started, and transmigration policies, from Java to the
outlying islands, were introduced. But transmigration, as is still seen
today, while temporarily alleviating over-population on Java, brought
its own set of problems, with the displaced often ending up as the
victims of ethnic violence in their new homelands.
The Independence movement
Though education amongst Indonesians was still the preserve of a rich
minority, it was from this minority that the leaders of the Independence
movement would emerge. The Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI), founded in
1927 by Achmed Sukarno, grew to become the biggest of the independence
organizations. It aimed to achieve independence through non-co-operation
and mass action, and quickly became a major threat to Dutch domination,
so much so that the Dutch outlawed the party four years after its
foundation, throwing its leaders, Sukarno included, in prison, and later
exiling them. But when Hitler invaded Holland on May 10, 1940, the Dutch
government fled to London, and the issue of Indonesia's independence was
put on ice.
The Japanese made no secret of their intention to "liberate" Indonesia
and when they did finally invade, in January 1942, most Indonesians saw
them as liberators, rather than just another occupying force. On March
8, 1942, the Dutch on Java surrendered, and a three-and-a-half-year
Japanese occupation began. Though every bit as ruthless as the Dutch,
the Japanese did at least encourage the nationalist movement, and by
1945 were negotiating with Sukarno and others. Sukarno came up with his
constitutional doctrine of Pancasila , the "five principles" by which an
Independent Indonesia would be governed: belief in God, nationalism,
democracy, social justice and humanitarianism.
On August 17, 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender to the Allied
forces, Sukarno read a simple, unemotional Declaration of Independence
to a small group of people outside his house in Menteng. The Republic of
Indonesia was born, with Achmed Sukarno as its first president.
The Revolution
However, under the terms of the surrender agreed with the Allies, the
Japanese actually had no right to hand over Indonesia to the Indonesian
people. Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived in mid-1945 with several thousand
British troops to accept the surrender of the Japanese occupying force.
The Japanese tried to retake towns that they'd previously handed over to
the local people and some intense, short-lived battles occurred. The
British tried to remain neutral, withdrawing only when the Dutch were in
a position to resume control in november 1946.
The war with the Dutch continued for the next three years. But the world
was turning against the Dutch campaign, finding their colonial
activities anachronistic in the twentieth century. The Dutch finally
withdrew in December 1949, and sovereignty was handed over to the new
Republic of Indonesia .
The Sukarno years
Sukarno introduced the concept of guided democracy , an attempt to
create a wholly Indonesian political system based on the traditional,
hierarchical organization of Indonesian villages. Decisions were to be
made with the consent of everyone, and not simply the majority; the
various political factions would all have their say, though Sukarno
would now play the part of village chief, with all the power that
entailed.
In reality, guided democracy was the first step on the road to
authoritarian rule , removing power from the elected cabinet and
investing it instead with the presidency and a non-elected cabinet.
Unsurprisingly, many people, both within and outside government, were
suspicious of Sukarno's real motives, and lengthy protests in Sulawesi
and Sumatra marred the early years of guided democracy.
Meanwhile, Sukarno began to forge strong ties with the Soviet Union ,
who appreciated his Marxist leanings and anti-Western foreign policy.
They began financing the Konfrontasi ("Confrontation"), Sukarno's bid to
wrest the northern Borneo states of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei from
neo-colonial Malaysia, which he saw as a puppet of the British. However,
Sukarno was unwilling to commit too many troops to the jungles of
Kalimantan and his ambition to bring Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei into the
Indonesian republic failed.
Sukarno's ties with the Soviet Union made him more sympathetic towards
the views of Indonesia's communist party , the PKI, and openly sided
with them against the increasingly powerful Indonesian army . This led
to the polarization of the entire parliament, with Sukarno and the
communists on one side, and the army and its unlikely allies - including
the Islamic NU and nationalist PNI - on the other. The political
fighting in parliament was mirrored by pitched battles between the
various factions on the streets of the capital, and law and order began
to break down.
The Communist coup, 1965
In 1965, Sukarno's demise was accelerated by the still not completely
explained events of September 30, 1965, when a number of leading
generals were taken from their homes at gunpoint to Halim airport; their
bodies were later discovered down a nearby well. Their abductors were a
group of communist and other leftist sympathizers, who later claimed
that they were only preventing an army-led coup. Of more significance,
however, was the presence of president Sukarno at Halim. Although the
rebels claimed he was only taken there for his own safety, it was hard
not to see Sukarno as being in cahoots with them, fabricating the idea
of an army coup as an excuse for getting rid of senior army personnel.
The communist rebels managed to occupy Medan Merdeka in the middle of
Jakarta, and thus controlled the telecommunications centre and the
presidential palace situated nearby. Their success was shortlived,
however. General Suharto, a senior member of the Indonesian army,
rounded up those generals who weren't kidnapped and eventually took
control of Medan Merdeka.
Suharto takes control, 1965-67
Though he lived until 1970, Sukarno's grip on power had almost
completely slipped by the end of 1965, and for the remaining year of his
presidency he ruled in name only, as General Suharto manoeuvred himself
to the top of the political ladder. Communists throughout the
archipelago became the victims of a massive Suharto-led purge, with the
slaughter of communist sympathizers continuing until the early months of
1966. It was the bloodiest episode in Indonesia's history: most experts
today reckon that at least 500,000 people lost their lives, although the
official figure was a more modest 160,000. The army was now the dominant
force in Indonesian politics.
On returning to power, Sukarno tried desperately to weaken the power of
the armed forces but Suharto's response was to encourage a renewed
outbreak of violence. On March 11, 1966, Sukarno was informed that
unidentified troops were surrounding his palace, and in panic he fled to
Bogor. Once there, Sukarno was persuaded to give Suharto full authority
to restore order and protect the president by whatever means necessary.
The following year, pro-Suharto Adam Malik was made minister for foreign
affairs, and quickly set about restoring relations with the West and
loosening existing ties with communist China. Soon aid began pouring
back into Indonesia, rescuing the ailing economy and providing essential
relief to thousands of the poorest in Indonesian society. Suharto now
had popular support to go with his burgeoning political power and, in
the new bourgeoisie, he found a powerful and secure foundation for his
regime. On March 12, 1967, Sukarno was stripped of all his powers and
Suharto was named acting president .
The New Order
Suharto dubbed his new regime the New Order . His first few years in
power were seen as a brave new dawn, as the economy improved beyond all
recognition and he managed to create a pluralistic society where
religious intolerance had no place; providing people belonged to one of
the five main faiths, their religious beliefs were respected.
But this was not matched by political tolerance, and people were forced
to live under a suffocating dictatorial regime , taking part in the
charade of the so-called "festivals of democracy", the "elections" that
took place every five years. Where beforehand there had been a multitude
of political parties , Suharto reduced them to just three: the PPP (United
Development Party) made up of the old Islamic parties; the PDI (Indonesian
Democratic Party) made up largely of the old nationalist party, the PNI;
and the government's own political vehicle, Golkar. The re-election of
Suharto was a foregone conclusion, and critics were jailed and tortured.
A huge underclass developed in rural areas and in slum districts on the
outskirts of large cities. There was also widespread corruption
throughout society, from the president down.
East Timor , independent since a revolution in Portugal had emancipated
the tiny former colony in 1974, collapsed into civil war the following
year as various factions failed to agree on whether the territory should
become part of Indonesia. In the event, the decision was taken out of
their hands by the Indonesians themselves, who invaded on Suharto's
orders in December 1975. Despite strong condemnation from the United
Nations, and regular Amnesty International reports of human rights
abuses in East Timor, the US and Europe were unwilling to upset their
new Southeast Asian ally. East Timor was incorporated into the republic
of Indonesia the following year.
The oil crisis of the 1970s raised the price of oil, then Indonesia's
most lucrative export, significantly. This windfall lasted until 1983,
allowing the government to use the oil revenue to create a sound
industrial base founded on steel and natural gas production, oil
refining and aluminium industries. Welfare measures were introduced,
with 100,000 new schools built, and the 1980s also saw an increase of
fifty percent in agricultural production. Yet the beneficiaries of
Suharto's economic miracle were a small minority who lived in air-conditioned
luxury in the big cities, while the majority continued to eke out a
meagre existence in the rural areas of the country.
Suharto's downfall
Resentment against Suharto's regime grew throughout the 1990s, but he
would probably have survived for a few more years if it hadn't been for
the currency crisis that hit the region in the latter part of 1997, a
crisis triggered by a run on the Thai baht. In a few dramatic months,
the Rupiah slipped in value from Rp2500 to the US dollar to nearly
Rp9000. Prices of even the most basic of goods such as fuel and food
rose five hundred percent.
The IMF promised to help Indonesia out of the crisis only after certain
conditions had been met, including the removal of Suharto's family and
friends from a number of senior and lucrative posts. Foreign investors
lost all confidence in Suharto, and the rupiah went into freefall.
Pressure on Suharto was also growing from his own people, as many took
to the streets to protest against his incompetence and demand greater
political freedom. These demonstrations , initially fairly peaceful,
grew more violent as the people's frustration increased, until a state
of lawlessness ensued. For over a week, riots took place in all the main
cities, buildings were set on fire and shops looted. The Chinese
community , long resented in Indonesia for their domination of the
economy and success in business, were targeted by the rioters for
special persecution. Over 1200 people died in the mayhem that followed
the May elections, until, on May 21, 1998, Suharto stepped down and his
vice-president, BJ Habibie, took over.
The future
Despite promises to introduce sweeping reforms, many believed Habibie
was dragging his feet over a number of issues, and, in early November
1998, more rioting occurred. The cry for " Reformasi ", first heard in
May, grew more voluble by the day as the rioters - largely students -
demanded the removal of the army from parliament, an end to corruption
within government, the bringing to trial of Suharto on charges of
mismanagement and corruption, and a return to democracy. Ordinary people
began to openly express their support for reform and, just as
importantly, their dissatisfaction with the government. Even the press
is enjoying a freedom of expression it has never enjoyed before.
Nobody expected Indonesia's transition to democracy to be an easy one
and the country is currently in the grip of a mixture of fear, intrigue
and hope. Occasionally this manifests itself in the form of religious
intolerance : a number of Christians have been killed in a series of
attacks, prompting revenge killings by Christian gangs, and almost two
hundred Muslim clerics have also been murdered, though nobody knows by
whom.
Despite the widespread mistrust of Habibie, he did lay the ground for
the first free and democratic elections ever to be held in Indonesia,
keeping a promise that he made during his first few days in power. In
the elections, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by
Megawati Sukarnoputri , the daughter of the country's first president,
Sukarno, scored an easy victory. However, Indonesia's parliament, the
People's Consultative Assembly, decided she couldn't be trusted to lead,
a decision that led to widespread rioting on the streets of Jakarta. In
the vote that followed, parliament chose Abdurrahman Wahid , the leader
of the Islamic National Awakening Party, which came third in the
elections, to be the country's first democratically elected president.
To placate the rioters, Megawati was installed as vice-president.
Though almost totally blind and physically very frail following two
strokes, Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman is affectionately known, has been very
busy since taking office. In his bid to reduce the influence of the army
in Indonesian politics, many top generals were sacked, including General
Wiranto , the man who directed operations in East Timor in 1999 when
that territory finally won independence from Indonesia after 24 years
under occupation. Many believe Wiranto was behind the atrocities and
violations of human rights that occurred on the island at that time, an
accusation the UN is currently investigating. The army , though shorn of
much of its power, still remains a credible threat to Abdurrahman's
leadership, and whispers of an imminent coup circulate constantly.
The president also has his hands full trying to restore the faith of the
international community in the Indonesian economy . His frequent
overseas trips aimed at achieving his goal have drawn criticism too,
particularly from those who feel he should be spending more time sorting
out affairs closer to home: in Maluku and Ambon , over two thousand
people have died recently in Muslim-Christian fighting, and in Aceh,
north Sumatra, pro-independence rebels are waging a bloody campaign
against the authorities. Abdurrahman's efforts to curb the cancer of
corruption and resolve the current banking crisis have also met with
limited success.
Indonesia's first experience of democracy has been a difficult and often
bloody time. But if the ambitions of Abdurrahman for his country bear
fruit, the future of the new democratic republic of Indonesia may not be
so bleak as many had originally feared
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