Development of events
1. The Administration of Van der Capellan from 1819 to 1824
a.The 1st governor-general to rule Java after it was returned to Dutch in 1816
b.Main task was to improve welfare of Indonesians Natives and to raise revenue from Java to help restore economy of Holland
c.Law of 1819 states that:
i.Europeans were banned from engaging in any form of commerce in the district of Preanger (the main coffee producing area in Java)
ii.This is to protect Indonesian natives from being exploited by Europeans
iii.He found that too many Europeans took up planting of export crops in Java to the disadvantage of the Indonesians native planters as:
1.Indonesian farmers could not compete successfully with the Europeans in terms of planting of export crops
2.Moreover, the planting of export crops left Indonesian farmers little land and less time to plant their own subsistence crops (padi)
d. Abolition of Land-Lease Contracts in 1823
i.Indonesian village chiefs were paid large sums of $$$ by Europeans for large area of land for given number of years (signed contract with them)
ii.They were also given the rights to control the peasants/farmers who worked within that given area of land
iii.Led to exploitation of the peasants by European planters
iv.Prohibition of the Land-Lease Contracts led to great discontent among the European planters and Indonesian Chiefs as well as the peasants because:
1.European planters wanted refunds from Indonesian Chiefs and also compensate them for any improvements they made to the land
2.Chiefs found themselves in financial difficulties as they were in no position to refund the $$ as they had already spent it
3.Chiefs placed a greater burden on peasants – led to sufferings of peasants and great resentment
e. RESULTS:
i.Failure of Van der Capellan’s Administration
ii.Economy was not doing well because:
1.There was a slump in Javanese Trade
2.Prices of coffee and sugar, the main exports of Java fell drastically.
3.Government revenue also fell
4.Van der Capellan overspent on the building of roads and other public works
5.In 1825, he was recalled on grounds of poor adminstrations and was replaced by Du Bus de Gisignies
2. Du Bus de Gisignies (1826 – 1830)
a.JAVA WAR
i.Reasons were:
1.Abolition of Land-Lease Contracts (see above)
2.High taxes/tolls collected by the Chinese
3.Resentment of Dipo Negoro
a.Was bypassed twice for throne
b.Loss of income from land leases
c.Building of road across his land
ii.Effects of War:
1.The Dutch seized Madiun, Kediri, Banjuma, Bagelan and Surakarta
2.Susuhunan of Surakarta was exiled to Amboina
3.The war costed 25 million guilders, draining the the Dutch Treasury
b.He improved production of export crops, he opened up lands to Europeans
c.He encouraged the sale and leasing of land
d.He reformed the currency system
e.He believed in free enterprise and bought economist into his administrations
f.Results:
i.Bring about reduction in the cost of administration in Java
ii.Much more radial measures were needed to make Java a profit-making colony
3. The Culture System (1830 – 1870)
a. What was the culture system
i.Essentially an economic system to make Java a profitable colony for the Netherlands.
ii.A return to the old system of forced cultivation and forced delivery of crops but in a new form
iii.Introduced by Johannes van den Bosch
1.Believed that this system would benefit both the Dutch and the Indonesians.
2.Exported crops would make Amsterdam an international distribution center of Indonesian produce while the profits from surplus crops produced by the Indonesians would enable them to buy Dutch manufactured goods and raise their standard of living
b.Why was it introduced?
i.Solve financial problems of Java and the Netherlands due to
1.Loss of Trade to Rivals
a.Holland lost her shipping superiority to Britain in overseas trade
b.Since founding of Singapore, Dutch trade, at Batavia or at the Straits of Malacca, had declined considerably
c.Dutch also lost much of their inter-island trade to the Bugis and the Chinese traders
d.In their own country, they had lost dominance as the distributor of European and South East Asian products.
e.Holland’s chief $$$ maker was coffee and there was a drastic fall in coffee prices in 1820s because of an economic slump in Europe
ii.Failure of Liberal Reforms
1.Van der Capellan’s “Law of 1819”
iii.Wars in Java and Europe
1.Java War
2.Belgian Revolt
a.Belgium tried to break free from the Netherlands, causing the financial collapse of the Dutch Treasury
b.Holland on the verge of bankruptcy
c.(Belgium became and independent country)
c.The features of the Culture system
i.Natives to set aside 1/5 of their land for the planting of export crops like sugar and coffee
ii.This 1/5 of the land would be free from rent
iii.Natives were not to work on export crops for more than 66 days a year
iv.There would be division of labour
v.If harvested crops exceeded the value of the land-rent, the surplus would be returned to the natives
vi.Natives were to work under Wedana officials
vii.Natives need not pay rent if crops failed due to natural disasters
viii.Export of government crops to be handled only by Dutch merchants using Dutch ships
d.Abuses of the System
i.More than 1/5 of the land was used for cultivating export crops
ii.Natives spent more than 66days a year planting export crops
iii.Natives travelled long distances to deliver their harvest
iv.Surplus harvested were not returned to the natives
v.Land-rent was paid on the 1/5 of land
vi.Wedanas exploited the natives to get higher commissions
vii.Natives had to pay rent even if crops failure was not their fault
e.Effects:
i.Java’s economy expanded and became more diversified
ii.More land for agriculture (new crops like pepper, tobacco introduced)
iii.Population of Java increased from 6mil to 9.5mil
iv.Good roads was built to connect warehouses to cultivated lands
v.Unfortunately, people in Java did not benefit
1.Exploited and oppressed unjustly by the Dutch (peasants suffered hardships and poverty)
2.Abuses of the Culture System
4.The Liberal Policy
a.Reforms:
i.Removal of unimportant cultures
ii.Removal of abuses of Culture system
iii.Financial legislation
iv.Direct taxation
v.Paid Labour
vi.Abolition of forced cultivation of sugar under the Sugar Law
vii.Foreigners prohibited from buying land in Indonesia under Agrarian Law
b.Effects
i.Better Living conditions for Indonesians
ii.Rapid expansion of Java’s economy
iii.Increased imports
iv.Improved communications
v.Birth of a Middle-Class
vi.Social Development of Javanese
c.Defects
i.Indonesian labourers exploited and poorly paid
ii.Loss of native-owned plantations to European capitalist
iii.Indonesian too poor to pay taxes
iv.Growing Deficit in treasury
5.The Ethical Policy
a.Aims:
i.To promote trade with the West
ii.To improve the living standard of natives
b.Economic Reforms
i.Improvements in irrigation and drainage system to padi fields
ii.Use of chemical fertilizers
iii.Department of Agriculture was set up in Jakarta
iv.New cash crops such as rubber were introduced
v.Co-operatives and financial institutions were set up to provide credit facilities
vi.Improved mining of tin, coal and oil production
vii.Roads an railways were improved
viii.Factory Art to protect local industries
c.Social Reforms
i.Education improved
ii.Health facilities
iii.Labour Laws
d.Political Reforms
i.Decentralization
1.People’s Council, also known as the Volksraad (1918)
2.Town Councils (1905)– the 1st in Jakarta
3.District Councils (1909) – the 1st in East Sumatra
4.Village Councils (1906)
e.Effects
i.Economic growth was offset by fast growing population
ii.Little Response to education
iii.Health centres and services were little appreciated by natives
iv.Labour Laws ineffective as village chiefs were still powerful and peasants continued to be exploited
v.Decentralization attempts were a failure because of half-hearted implementation of the Dutch
vi.Nationalism was aroused