Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia \u2014 A high salary does not necessarily\nguarantee that an official will perform well. One official was executed\nbecause of his poor performance. This happened in 1810, during the\nadministration of Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels in the Dutch\nEast Indies.<\/p>\n
The official was J.F.P. Filz, a colonel tasked with defending Ambon,\nMaluku. He was sentenced to death after failing to protect the important\nspice-producing territory from a British attack.<\/p>\n
During his rule of the Dutch East Indies from 1808 to 1811, Daendels,\nwho was born 264 years ago today, introduced a number of changes to the\ngovernment bureaucracy. One was to raise officials\u2019 salaries so they\nwould not seek additional income through corrupt practices.<\/p>\n
Historian Djoko Marihandono wrote in his research, Sentralisme\nKekuasaan Pemerintahan Herman Willem Daendels di Jawa 1808\u20131811<\/em>\n(2005), that Daendels hoped higher salaries would reduce corruption and\nimprove officials\u2019 performance.<\/p>\n The policy went hand in hand with the enforcement of strict\ndiscipline. Daendels did not hesitate to impose severe punishments on\nofficials deemed to have broken the rules or failed to carry out their\nduties.<\/p>\n But high salaries and the threat of punishment did not ensure that\nall his subordinates performed their duties well. One case with fatal\nconsequences involved J.F.P. Filz.<\/p>\n In De teruggave der Oost-Indische koloni\u00ebn, 1814\u20131816<\/em>\n(1910), Filz is described as a colonel who had served in Ambon. He was\ntasked with defending the Maluku region, which was important to the\nglobal spice trade.<\/p>\n Ambon was more than an ordinary colonial territory. Control of the\nisland was also linked to economic interests and competition among\nEuropean powers in the Indonesian archipelago.<\/p>\n The defence of Ambon did not go as planned. In early 1810, British\nforces attacked the territory and succeeded in defeating the troops led\nby Filz.<\/p>\n The British then took control of Ambon, including territory that was\nan important part of the spice-trading network. The defeat dealt a blow\nto the colonial administration, which had lost a strategic territory to\na rival power. The research Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch Indi\u00eb<\/em>\n(1940) described news of Ambon\u2019s fall as a blow to Daendels\u2019\nadministration.<\/p>\n \u201cUnexpectedly, in May, the sad news arrived that Ambon, together with\nits islands and all its outposts, had fallen into British hands,\u201d the\n1940 research stated.<\/p>\n The news forced Daendels to confront the loss of an important\nterritory entrusted to his subordinate. Filz was subsequently held to\naccount for his failure. He was taken to court and charged with causing\nthe state a loss of 3,000 ringgit because he had been unable to save the\nterritory from British control.<\/p>\n The court ultimately sentenced Filz to death. On 10 June 1810, the\nofficer was executed by firing squad. Filz\u2019s story illustrates the\nsevere consequences officials and officers could face under Daendels.\nHigher salaries did not exempt officials from being held accountable\nwhen they failed to carry out their duties.<\/p>",
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