Everything about The Indonesian National Revolution totally explained
The
Indonesian National Revolution or
Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between
Indonesia and the
Netherlands, and an internal
revolution. It took place between the time of
Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the Netherlands' recognition of Indonesia's independence in 1949.
One of the largest revolutions of the twentieth century, the struggle lasted for over four years and involved sporadic but bloody armed conflict, internal Indonesian political and communal upheavals, and two major international diplomatic interventions. Dutch forces were too weak to prevail over the inexperienced but determined Indonesians, but strong enough to resist being expelled. Thus, the
Republic of Indonesia ultimately prevailed as much through international diplomacy as it did through Indonesian determination in the armed conflicts on
Java and other islands.
The Revolution destroyed
a colonial administration ruled from the other side of the world. It also significantly changed racial castes, as well as reducing the power of many of the local rulers (
raja). It didn't significantly improve the economic or political fortune of the majority of the population, though a few Indonesians were able to gain a larger role in commerce. Hopes for democracy and freedom were thwarted by the autocratic tendencies of the subsequent rulers.
Background
Indonesian nationalism and movements supporting independence from Dutch colonialism, such as
Budi Utomo, the
Indonesian National Party (PNI),
Sarekat Islam, and the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), grew rapidly in the first half of the twentieth century. Budi Utomo, Sarekat Islam and others pursued strategies of co-operation by joining the Dutch initiated
Volksraad ("People's Council") in the hope that Indonesia would be granted self-rule. Others chose a non-cooperative strategy demanding the freedom of self-government from the
Dutch East Indies colony. The most notable of these leaders were
Sukarno and
Mohammad Hatta, two students and nationalist leaders who had benefited from the educational reforms of the
Dutch Ethical Policy.
Japan's three and a half year World War II
occupation of Indonesia was to be a crucial factor in the coming Revolution. Under German occupation itself, the Netherlands had little ability to defend its colony against the
Japanese army, and within only three months of their initial attacks, the Japanese had occupied the Dutch East Indies. In Java, and to a lesser extent in
Sumatra (Indonesia's two dominant islands), the Japanese spread and encouraged nationalist sentiment. Although it was for Japanese political advantage rather than altruistic support of Indonesian independence, they created new Indonesian institutions (including local neighbourhood organisations) and elevated political leaders like Sukarno. Just as significantly for the coming Revolution, the Japanese destroyed and replaced much of the Dutch-created economic, administrative, and political infrastructure.
With the Japanese on the brink of losing the war, the Dutch sought to re-establish their authority in Indonesia, and requested the Japanese army "preserve law and order" in Indonesia. This announcement was seen as immense vindication for Sukarno's apparent collaboration with the Japanese.
Independence declared
Under pressure from radical and politicised
pemuda ('youth') groups, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed
Indonesian independence, on
17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese Emperor’s
surrender in the Pacific. The following day, the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) declared Sukarno
President, and Hatta
Vice President.
Euphoria of revolution
PROCLAMATION
We, the Indonesian people, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia.
Matters concerning the transfer of power, etc., will be carried out in a conscientious manner and as speedily as possible.
Jakarta, 17 August 1945
In the name of the nation of Indonesia,
[signed] Sukarno Hatta
It was mid-September before news of the declaration of independence spread to the outer islands, and many Indonesians far from the capital
Jakarta didn't believe it. As the news spread, ordinary Indonesians felt a sense of freedom that led most to regard themselves as pro-Republican, and the elation of revolution swept across the country. External power had shifted; it would be weeks before
Allied Forces entered Indonesia, and the Dutch were too weakened by World War Two. The Japanese, on the other hand, were required by the terms of the surrender to both lay down their arms and maintain order; a contradiction that some resolved by handing weapons to Japanese-trained Indonesians. The resulting power vacuums in the weeks following the Japanese surrender, created an atmosphere of uncertainty, but also one of opportunity.
Many
pemuda joined pro-Republic struggle groups (
badan perjuangan). The most disciplined were soldiers from the Japanese-formed but disbanded Giyugun (PETA) and Heiho groups. Many groups were undisciplined, due to both the circumstances of their formation and what they perceived as revolutionary spirit. In the first weeks, Japanese troops often withdrew from urban areas to avoid confrontations. To spread the Revolution message,
pemuda set up their own radio stations and newspapers, and graffiti proclaimed the nationalist sentiment. On most islands, struggle committees and
militia were set up. Republican newspapers and journals were common in Jakarta,
Yogyakarta, and
Surakarta, which fostered a generation of writers known as
angkatan 45 ('generation of 45') many of whom believed their work could be part of the Revolution. As the level of violence increased across the country, the Sukarno- and Hatta-led Republican government in Jakarta urged calm. However,
pemuda in favour of armed struggle saw the older leadership as dithering and betraying the Revolution, which often led to conflict amongst Indonesians.
Formation of the Republican government
By the end of August, a central Republican government had been established in Jakarta. It adopted
a constitution drafted during the Japanese occupation by the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence. With general elections yet to be held, a Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) was appointed to assist the President. Similar committees were established at provincial and regency levels.
Questions of allegiance immediately arose amongst indigenous rulers;
Central Javanese principalities, for example, immediately declared themselves Republican, while many
raja ('rulers') of the outer islands, who had been enriched from their support of the Dutch, were less enthusiastic. Such reluctance among many outer islands was sharpened by the radical, non-aristocratic, and sometimes Islamic nature of the Java-centric Republican leadership. Support did, however, come from
South Sulawesi (including the King of
Bone, who still recalled battles against the Dutch from early in the century), and from
Makassarese and
Bugis raja, who supported the Republican Governor of Jakarta, a
Menadonese Christian. Many
Balinese
raja accepted Republican authority.
Fearing the Dutch would attempt to re-establish their authority over Indonesia, the new Republican Government and its leaders moved quickly to strengthen the fledgling administration. Within Indonesia, the newly formed government, although enthusiastic, was fragile and focused in Java (where focused at all). It was rarely and loosely in contact with the outer islands, which had more Japanese troops (particularly in
Japanese navy areas), less sympathetic Japanese commanders, and fewer Republican leaders and activists. In November 1945, a
parliamentary form of government was established and
Sjahrir was appointed Prime Minister.
In the week following the Japanese surrender, the Giyugun (PETA) and Heiho groups were disbanded by the Japanese. Command structures and membership vital for a national army were consequently dismantled. Thus, rather than being formed from a trained, armed, and organised army, the Republican armed forces began to grow in September from usually younger, less trained groups built around charismatic leaders. In the self-created Indonesian army, Japanese-trained Indonesian officers prevailed over those trained by the Dutch. A thirty year-old former school teacher,
Sudirman, was elected 'commander-in-chief' at the first meeting of Division Commanders in Yogyakarta on 12 November 1945.
Allied counter revolution
Dutch opposition to independence
The Dutch accused Sukarno and Hatta of collaborating with the Japanese, and denounced the Republic as a creation of Japanese
fascism.
Allied occupation
The Netherlands, however, was critically weakened from World War II in Europe and didn't return as a significant military force until early 1946. The Japanese and members of the Allied forces reluctantly agreed to act as caretakers.
The British were charged with restoring order and civilian government in Java. The Dutch took this to mean pre-war colonial administration and continued to claim sovereignty over Indonesia.
The British subsequently decided to evacuate the 10,000 Indo-Europeans and European internees in the volatile Central Java interior. British detachments sent to the towns of
Ambarawa and
Magelang encountered strong Republican resistance and used air attacks against the Indonesians. Sukarno arranged a ceasefire on
November 2, but by late November fighting had resumed and the British withdrew to the coast. Republican attacks against Allied and alleged pro-Dutch civilians reached a peak in November and December, with 1,200 killed in Bandung as the
pemuda returned to the offensive. In March 1946, departing Republicans responded to a British ultimatum for them to leave the city of Bandung by deliberately burning down much of the southern half of the city in what is popularly known in Indonesia as the "
Bandung Sea of Fire". The last British troops left Indonesia in November 1946, but by this time 55,000 Dutch troops had landed in Java.
Battle of Surabaya
The
Battle of Surabaya was the heaviest single battle of the Revolution and became a national symbol of Indonesian resistance.
Pemuda groups in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, seized
arms and
ammunition from the Japanese and set up two new organisations; the Indonesia National Committee (KNI) and the People's Security Council (BKR). By the time the
Allied forces arrived at the end of October 1945, the
pemuda foothold in Surabaya city was described as "a strong unified fortress".
The city itself was in pandemonium. There was bloody hand-to-hand fighting on every street corner. Bodies were strewn everywhere. Decapitated, dismembered trunks lay piled one on top of the other...Indonesians were shooting and stabbing and murdering wildly —Sukarno
In September and October 1945 the ugly side of revolution surfaced with a series of incidents involving pro-Dutch Eurasians, and atrocities committed by Indonesian mobs against European internees. Ferocious fighting erupted when 6,000 British
Indian troops landed in the city.
Sukarno and
Hatta negotiated a ceasefire between the Republicans and the
British forces led by
General Mallaby. Following the killing of Mallaby on 30 October, The Republican leadership thus established themselves in the city of
Yogyakarta with the crucial support of the new sultan,
Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX. Yogyakarta went on to play a leading role in the Revolution, which would result in the city being granted its own Special Territory status. In
Bogor, near Jakarta, and in
Balikpapan in Kalimantan, Republican officials were imprisoned. In preparation for Dutch occupation of Sumatra, its largest cities, Palembang and Medan, were bombed. In December 1946,
Dutch Special Troops (KST), led by commando and
counter-insurgency expert
Captain Raymond 'Turk' Westerling, were accused of trying to pacify the southern
Sulawesi region using arbitrary terror techniques, which were copied by other anti-Republicans. As many as 3,000 Republican militia and their supporters were killed in a few weeks.
On Java and Sumatra, Dutch military success was limited to major cities and towns, but they were unable to subdue the villages and countryside. On the outer islands (including Bali), Republican sentiment wasn't as strong, at least among the elite. They were consequently occupied by the Dutch with comparative ease, and autonomous states were set up by the Dutch. The largest, the
State of East Indonesia (NIT), encompassed most of eastern Indonesia, and was established in December 1946, with its administrative capital in
Makassar.
Diplomacy and military offensives
Linggarjati Agreement
The
Linggarjati Agreement, brokered by the British and concluded in November 1946, saw the Netherlands recognise the Republic as the
de-facto authority over Java,
Madura, and Sumatra. Both parties agreed to the formation of the '
United States of Indonesia' by
1 January 1949, a semi-autonomous
federal state with the
Queen of the Netherlands as its head. The Republican-controlled Java and Sumatra would be one of its states, alongside areas that were generally under stronger Dutch influence: southern Kalimantan; and the 'Great East' consisting of Sulawesi, Maluku, the
Lesser Sunda Islands, and
Western New Guinea. The KNIP didn't ratify the agreement until February 1947, and neither the Republic nor the Dutch were happy with it. On
March 25, 1947 the
Lower House of the Dutch parliament ratified a 'stripped down' version of the treaty, which wasn't accepted by the Republic. Both sides soon accused each other of violating the agreement.
...[theRepublic] became increasingly disorganised internally; party leaders fought with party leaders; governments were over thrown and replaced by others; armed groups acted on their own in local conflicts; certain parts of the Republic never had contact with the centre-they just drifted along in their own way.
The whole situation deteriorated to such an extent that the Dutch Government was obliged to decide that no progress could be made before law and order were restored sufficiently to make intercourse between the different parts of Indonesia possible, and to guarantee the safety of people of different political opinions.—former East Indies Governor H. J. van Mook's justification for the first Dutch "police action".
Operation Product
The Dutch launched a major military offensive it called
Operatie Product at midnight on
20 July 1947 with the intent of conquering the Republic. Claiming violations of the Linggajati Agreement the Dutch described the campaign as
Politionele acties ('police actions') to restore law and order. This used to be the task of the KNIL. However, at the time the majority of the Dutch troops in Indonesia belonged to the
Royal Netherlands Army. Soon after the end of WWII, 25,000 volunteers (among them 5,000 marines) had been sent overseas. They were later followed by larger numbers of conscripts from the Netherlands. In the offensive, Dutch forces drove Republican troops out of parts of Sumatra, and East and West Java. The Republicans were confined to the Yogyakarta region of Java. To maintain their force in Java, now numbering 100,000 troops, the Dutch gained control of lucrative Sumatran plantations, and oil and coal installations, and in Java, control of all deep water ports.
International reaction to the Dutch actions was negative. Newly-independent
India and neighbouring Australia were particularly active in supporting the Republic's cause in the UN, as was the
Soviet Union and, most significantly, the United States. Dutch ships continued to be boycotted from loading and unloading by Australian waterside workers; a blockade that began in September 1945. The
United Nations Security Council became directly involved in the conflict, establishing a
Good Offices Committee to sponsor further negotiations, making the Dutch diplomatic position particularly difficult. A
ceasefire, called for by
UN resolution, was ordered by the Dutch and Sukarno on
4 August 1947.
Renville Agreement
The United Nations Security Council brokered the
Renville Agreement in attempt to rectify the collapsed Linggarjati Agreement. The agreement was ratified in January 1948 and recognised a cease-fire along the so-called 'van Mook line'; an artificial line which connected up the most advanced Dutch positions. Many Republican positions, however, were still held behind the Dutch lines. The agreement also required
referenda to be held on the political future of the Dutch held areas. The apparent reasonableness of Republicans garnered much important American goodwill.
Diplomatic efforts between the Netherlands and the Republic continued throughout 1948 and 1949. Political pressures, both domestic and international, hindered Dutch attempts at goal formulation; similarly Republican leaders faced great difficulty in persuading their people to accept diplomatic concessions. By July 1948 negotiations were in deadlock and the Netherlands pushed unilaterally towards Van Mook’s federal Indonesia concept. The new federal states of South Sumatra and East Java were created,although neither had a viable support base. The Netherlands set up the
Bijeenkomst voor Federaal Overleg (BFO) (or 'Federal Consultative Assembly'), a body comprising the leadership of the federal states, and charged with the formation of a
United States of Indonesia and an interim government by the end of 1948. The Dutch plans, however, had no place for the Republic unless it accepted a minor role already defined for it. Later plans included Java and Sumatra but dropped all mention of the Republic. The main sticking point in the negotiations was the balance of force between the Netherlands High Representative and the Republican forces.
Mutual distrust between the Netherlands and the Republic plagued negotiations; the Republic feared a second major Dutch offensive, while the Dutch objected to continued Republican activity on the Dutch side of the Renville line. In February 1948 the Siliwangi Battalion of the Republican Army, led by
Nasution, marched from West Java to Central Java; which was intended to ease internal Republican tensions involving the Battalion in the Surakarta area. The Battalion, however, clashed with Dutch troops while crossing
Mount Slamet, and the Dutch naturally believed it was part of a systematic troop movement across the Renville Line. The fear of such incursions actually succeeding, along with apparent Republican undermining of the Dutch-established Pasudan state and negative reports, lead to the Dutch leadership increasingly seeing themselves as losing control.
Operation Crow and Serangan Umum
We have been attacked....The Dutch government have cancelled the cease-fire agreement. All the Armed Forces will carry out the plans which have been decided on to confront the Dutch attack—General Sudirman, broadcast from his sickbed.
Frustrated at negotiations with the Republic and believeing it weakened by both the
Darul Islam and
Madiun insurgencies (see below), the Dutch launched a military offensive on
19 December 1948 which it termed '
Operatie Kraai' (Operation Crow). By the following day it had conquered Yogyakarta, the location of the temporary Republican capital. By the end of December, all major Republican held cities in Java and Sumatra were in Dutch hands. The Republican President, Vice President, and all but six Republic of Indonesia ministers were captured by Dutch troops and exiled on
Bangka Island off the east coast of Sumatra. In areas surrounding Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Republican forces refused to surrender and continued to wage a
guerrilla war under the leadership of Republican military chief of staff General Sudirman who had escaped the Dutch offensives. An emergency Republican government, the
Pemerintahan Darurat Republik Indonesia (PDRI), was established in West Sumatra.
Although Dutch forces conquered the towns and cities in Republican heartlands on Java and Sumatra, they couldn't control villages and the countryside. Republican troops and militia led by
Lt. Colonel (later President)
Suharto attacked Dutch positions in Yogyakarta at dawn on
1 March 1949. The Dutch were expelled from the city for six hours but reinforcements were brought in from the nearby cities of Ambarawa and Semarang that afternoon. Indonesian fighters retreated at 12:00 pm and the Dutch re-entered the city. The Indonesian attack, later known in Indonesia as
Serangan Umum ('1 March Public Attack'), is commemorated by a large monument in Yogyakarta. A similar attack against Dutch troops in
Surakarta was led by Lt. Col. Slamet Riyadi on
7 August the same year.
Once again, international opinion of the Dutch military campaigns was one of outrage, significantly in both the United Nations and the United States. In January 1949, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding the reinstatement of the Republican government. The Netherlands Government had spent an amount equivalent to almost half of this funding their campaigns in Indonesia. That United States aid could be used to fund "a senile and ineffectual imperialism" encouraged many key voices in the United States - including those amongst the
Republican Party - and from within American churches and NGOs to speak out in support of Indonesian independence.
Internal turmoil
Social revolutions
The so-called 'social revolutions' following the independence proclamation were challenges to the Dutch-established Indonesian social order, and to some extent a result of the resentment against Japanese-imposed policies. Across the country, people rose up against traditional aristocrats and village heads and attempted to exert popular ownership of land and other resources.
A culture of violence rooted in the deep conflicts that split the countryside under Dutch rule would repeatedly erupt throughout the whole second half of the twentieth century.
Communist and Islamist insurgencies
On
18 September 1948 an 'Indonesian
Soviet Republic' was declared in
Madiun, east of Yogyakarta, by members of the PKI and the
Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI). Judging the times as right for a
proletarian uprising, they intended it to be a rallying centre for revolt against "Sukarno-Hatta, the slaves of the Japanese and America".
Members of the Republican Army who had come from Indonesian Hizbullah felt betrayed by Indonesian Government. In May 1948, they declared a break-away regime, the
Negara Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic State), better known as
Darul Islam. Led by an Islamic mystic, S M Kartosuwirjo,
Darul Islam sought to establish Indonesia as an
Islamic theocracy. At the time, the Republican Government didn't respond as they were focused on the threat from the Dutch. Some leaders of
Masjumi even sympathised with the rebellion. After the Republic regained all territories in 1950, the government took the
Darul Islam threat seriously, especially after some provinces declared their joining of
Darul Islam. The rebellion was put down in 1962.
Transfer of sovereignty
Millions upon millions flooded the sidewalks, the roads. They were crying, cheering, screaming "...Long live Bung Karno..." They clung to the sides of the car, the hood, the running boards. They grabbed at me to kiss my fingers.
Soldiers beat a path for me to the topmost step of the big white palace. There I raised both hands high. A stillness swept over the millions.
"Alhamdulillah - Thank God," I cried. "We are free"
—Sukarno's recollections of independence achieved.
The resilience of Indonesian Republican resistance and active international diplomacy set world opinion against the Dutch efforts to re-establish their colony. The second 'police action' was a diplomatic disaster for the Dutch cause. The newly appointed
United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson pushed the Netherlands government into negotiations earlier recommended by the United Nations but until then defied by the Netherlands. A
Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference was held in The Hague from
23 August 1949 to
2 November 1949 between the Republic, the Netherlands, and the Dutch-created federal states. The Netherlands agreed to recognise Indonesian sovereignty over a new
federal state known as the '
United States of Indonesia' (RUSI). It would include all the territory of the former Dutch East Indies with the exception of
Netherlands New Guinea; sovereignty over which it was agreed would be retained by the Netherlands until further negotiations with Indonesia. The other difficult issue to which Indonesia gave concessions was Netherlands East Indies debt. Indonesia agreed to responsibility for this sum of £4.3 billion, much of which was directly attributable to Dutch attempts to crush the Revolution. Sovereignty was formally transferred on
27 December 1949, and the new state was immediately recognised by the United States of America.
Republican-controlled Java and Sumatra together formed a single state in the sixteen-state RUSI federation, but accounted for almost half its population. The other fifteen 'federal' states had been created by the Netherlands since 1945. These states were dissolved into the Republic over the first half of 1950. An abortive anti-Republic coup in Bandung led by the infamous Westerling on
23 January 1950 resulted in the dissolution of the populous Pasudan state in West Java, thus quickening the dissolution of the federal structure. Colonial soldiers, who were largely Ambonese, clashed with Republican troops in
Makassar in April 1950. The predominantly Christian Ambonese were from one of the few regions with pro-Dutch sentiments and they were suspicious of the Javanese Muslim-dominated Republic, whom they unfavourably regarded as leftists. On
25 April 1950, an independent
Republic of South Maluku (RMS) was proclaimed in Ambon but this was suppressed by Republic troops during a campaign from July to November. With the state of East Sumatra now being the only federal state remaining, it too folded and fell in line with the unitary Republic. On
17 August 1950, the fifth anniversary of his declaration of Indonesian independence, Sukarno proclaimed the Republic of Indonesia as a
unitary state.
Impacts
Although there's no accurate account of how many Indonesians died, they died in far greater numbers than their enemies, and many died at the hands of other Indonesians. Estimates of Indonesian deaths in fighting range from 45,000 to 100,000 and civilian casualties exceeded 25,000 and may have been as high as 100,000. A total of 1,200 British soldiers were killed or went missing in Java and Sumatra in 1945 and 1946, most of them Indian soldiers. More than 5000 Dutch soldiers lost their lives in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949. Many more Japanese died; in Bandung alone, 1,057 died, only half of whom died in actual combat, the rest killed in rampages by Indonesians. Tens of thousands of Chinese and Eurasians were killed or left homeless, despite the fact that many Chinese supported the Revolution. 7 million people were displaced on Java and Sumatra.
Indonesian independence wouldn't have been secured without the successful (albeit often fortuitous) blend of both diplomacy and force. Without
pemuda courage confronting colonial forces (both foreign and Indonesian) (and their ill-discipline raising the spectre of anarchy), Republican diplomatic efforts would have been futile. In comparison with the
Vietnamese experiences, where the courage of their combatants was comparable with Indonesia's yet independence achieved much later, Indonesia's superior diplomacy is evident.
Most significantly, however, the Revolution is the turning point of modern
Indonesian history, and it has provided the reference point and validation for the country’s major political trends that continue to the present day. It gave impetus to
communism in the country, to militant nationalism, to Sukarno's '
guided democracy', to political Islam, the origins of the Indonesian army and its role in Indonesian power, the country's constitutional arrangements, and the centralism (as distinct to regionalism) of power in Indonesia.
The revolution destroyed a colonial administration ruled from the other side of the world, and dismantled with it the obsolete and powerless
raja, and rigid racial and social categorisations of colonial Indonesia. Tremendous energies and aspirations were created amongst Indonesians; a new creative surge was seen in writing and art, as was a great demand for education and modernisation. It did not, however, significantly improve the economic or political fortune of the population’s poverty-stricken peasant majority; only a few Indonesians were able to gain a larger role in commerce, and hopes for democracy were dashed within a decade.
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