The Independence Day of Indonesia and The Story Behind It

The Independence Day of Indonesia and The Story Behind It

          Indonesia was colinialized by teh Dutch fir over 300 years. So many strategies has been designed by Indonesian nationalists including Ir. Soekarno to be independent from the colonialization. All the efforts finally reached their climax when Ir. Soekarno read the proclamation text which was recorded and finally heard by public, including Japan, who was on the brink of losing the war. So many events had happened before this moments event of 17th August 1945.

          1595 is the first coming of Dutch Empire to Indonesia. Four ships led by Pieter Keyzer and Cornelis de Houtman came to the port of Banten after travelling for a years. Unfortunately, their arrival was not welcomed because of the nature of arrogance shown by Cornelis de Houtman. Two years later, 1597 the Dutch came back to Indonesia led by Jacob Van Neck and they succesfully entered Indonesia and welcomed.

          Finally, the Dutch was allowed to trade in Banten port. The first purpose Dutch came to Indonesia was to trade spices and herbs, but once they had discovered the abundant benefits and found local source of spices, they began to monopolize the trade. Since then, Dutch colonialism started in Indonesia.

       

          On 20th March 1601, the Dutch set up Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) in Batavia. Their purpose to set up VOC was to try to control the important ports and kingdoms in Indonesia,  conducting trade monopoly and overcoming the existing competition between Dutch treaders with European traders. There had been several succession of the Dutch governor general, from Daendels who caused a lot of losses, to Van den Bosch who set up the forced cultivation system, called "cultuurstelsel".

          When the system of forced cultivation was abolished the political door started to open when foreign investment was allowed. Although the system of forced cultivation had been abolished, the open political door in fact still caused suferring for the Indonesian. This triggered the resistance from Indonesian people in different areas such as Diponegoro war, Bali war, Padri war, Banjar war, Aceh war, and the other wars in Indonesia. When more and more people were against the Dutch, the Dutch colonialism in Indonesia started to shake.

          The Dutch colonialism in Indonesia reached its end when the Japanese started their assault. On 27th February 1942, the Japanese army successfully beat the combined fleet of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Dutch, and Australia. Then under the command of Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, Japanese army began to set foot on the island of Java. There, Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura threatened to assault the Dutch if it does not immediately gave up. Then, after the Dutch were defeated constantly by the Japanese, Tjarda van Stankenborgh Stachouwer as lieutenant general of Dutch East Indies gave up and was arrested. This incident marked the beginning of Japan occupation in Indonesia and the end of the Dutch long period of colonialism.