British has unobtrusive influence on culture<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Either in jest or seriousness, many Indonesians have wondered out
\nloud whether it would have been better if we had been colonized
\nby the English, rather than the Dutch, Japanese or Portuguese.<\/p>\n
If that was the case, \"Our English would be as good as
\nMalaysians or Singaporeans,\" sighed Iksan, a marine researcher at
\nthe Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.<\/p>\n
Iksan, who once participated in joint research with experts
\nfrom these two neighboring countries, believed that the progress
\nof Singapore and Malaysia was, more or less, influenced by the
\nBritish colonial experience.<\/p>\n
Not many Indonesians remember the short rule of the British
\nhere, while only a few Britons from the past are remembered, most
\nnotably Thomas Stamford Raffles and Brig. Gen. A.W. Mallaby.<\/p>\n
But among the first Britons to arrive on our shores was
\nFrancis Drake. According to Richard Mann in his book titled The
\nBritish in Indonesia, Drake was the first British navigator to
\nsail to Maluku in 1579, arriving before the Dutch.<\/p>\n
In 1577, Drake was dispatched by his monarch, Queen Elizabeth
\nI, with a squadron of five ships led by the Golden Hind on a
\ntrade mission -- like other European powers -- to find the
\norigins of spices: Nutmeg, mace and cloves.<\/p>\n
In 1600, the British established the East Indies Companies
\n(EIC) and, one year later, James Lancaster was dispatched with
\nfive vessels in his flagship Red Dragon. Lancaster was welcomed
\nby the Aceh sultan who faced a threat from the Portuguese in
\nMalacca.<\/p>\n
Lancaster also sailed to Banten and opened a warehouse and
\nstationed merchants. His mission was continued by Henry Middleton
\nand his brother David Middleton who arrived in Banten in Java and
\nTernate, Tidore and Ambon in Maluku.<\/p>\n
By 1657, Mann writes that EIC was close to bankruptcy due to
\nEngland shifting its attention to Manhattan, in America, and also
\ndue to harsh competition from the Dutch in the Maluku islands.<\/p>\n
EIC's leader Stamford Raffles was the one who stressed the
\nimportance of the East Indies to his government. The French
\nconquest over the Netherlands paved the way for Britain to try
\nand make its mark in the East Indies.<\/p>\n
With little resistance from the Dutch, the British managed to
\noccupy Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi and Maluku between 1775
\nand 1829.<\/p>\n
A number of British troops were killed in fighting in Batavia
\n(the old name of Jakarta), especially in the Mester area,
\nJatinegara, East Jakarta. Their tombstones can be found at the
\nAll Saints Church in the Tugu Tani area, near the Aryaduta Hotel,
\nin Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The church has been known as an English church since the time
\nof Raffles. It was built from a bamboo shed in 1821. Raffles'
\nfirst wife, Olivia, died in Bogor and her tomb is in Taman
\nPrasasti in Jakarta. He built a monument for her inside the
\nBotanical Garden in Bogor.<\/p>\n
Raffles was also known as a man of conscience and kindness. He
\nhated slavery, opium peddling, and all kinds of gratuitous human
\ndegradation, such as torture. He became a founding patron of the
\nJava Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He's
\nalso famed for his book, The History of Java.<\/p>\n
Well-known poet Abdullah bin Abdulkadir Munsyi (1796-1854)
\nwrote in his autobiography titled Hikayat Abdullah (Abdullah's
\nStory) that Raffles was a humble man who loved animals, plants
\nand insects.<\/p>\n
According to Abdullah, Raffles' discoveries and collections
\nof books sank in the Indian Ocean along with a ship in a journey
\nfrom Singapore to England, although all the passengers survived.<\/p>\n
With the French defeated, the British started returning the
\nEast Indies to the Dutch, while it maintained its power in
\nMalacca and Singapore.<\/p>\n
In 1942, Japanese troops occupied Indonesia and many countries
\nin Asia. On Aug. 17, 1945, Indonesian leaders proclaimed
\nindependence, three days after Japan surrendered.<\/p>\n
The Dutch, helped by British troops, arrived with the aim of
\nclaiming back the East Indies. Fighting broke out in Bandung,
\nSurakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.<\/p>\n
In an incident in October, 1945, in Surabaya, Indonesian
\nfighters attacked British troops and killed its commander Brig.
\nGen. Mallaby.<\/p>\n
The death of Mallaby triggered a conflagration. Thousands more
\ntroops, ships and planes were deployed to Surabaya. First
\nPresident Sukarno urged the British, Dutch, Americans and
\nRussians to recognize the republic.<\/p>\n
After the conflict in Surabaya, the British got a grasp of
\nlocal resistance and pressured the Dutch to start negotiating
\nwith the republicans.<\/p>\n
Since those early years, the British have continued to play an
\nimportant role in many fields in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As for their English abilities, trips to the mall suggest that
\nquite a number of Indonesian families now speak in English with
\ntheir children. In schools, many apply English in their every day
\nlanguage. Although we're still far behind Malaysians and
\nSingaporeans, the ability of Indonesians to speak English is
\nslowly getting better, if only it's because they realize it's
\nabout the only way to a better future.<\/p>",
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