Americans landed here 200 years ago

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In 1882, a United States (U.S.) mission in Medan, North Sumatra, gave a tip-off to the Dutch East Indies authorities about a rebellion in what is now known as Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD).

As a result of the tip-off, the Dutch troops managed to crush the rebellion and accomplish the full occupation of what is now known as Indonesia.

The Dutch East Indies returned the favor by offering parts of Sumatra to the American government. However, the token of gratitude was rejected by the then U.S. president, Ulysses S. Grant.

The then U.S. secretary of state, Hamilton Fish, said while pointing at a world map: "This is the island of Sumatra. It was offered to us, but we don't want it. It's too far off," he said.

Such was the U.S. attitude towards Indonesia in the late nineteenth century, regardless of the fact that its relationship with the archipelago already dated back more than one hundred years.

Precisely one century before, the American government had sealed friendly relations with the Netherlands, which had recognized U.S. independence from the British in 1782.

For over two hundred years up until the Aceh affair, merchants from Salem, Massachusetts, had bought spices from the natives of Sumatra. The American merchants were granted a monopoly in the spice trade by the Dutch East Indies administration.

The presence of a U.S. mission in Medan was an indication of how important trade ties were.

In the buildup to World War I, as the nationalist movement in the Dutch East Indies grew stronger, the country became more important to the U.S.

As a new superpower that was hungry for raw materials, the U.S. government dispatched companies to seek much-needed materials around the globe, including what is now Indonesia.

These companies played an active role in tapping this country's oil resources and in the plantation sector. With the capital inflows, large numbers of Americans also came here.

From an unknown and unwanted land, Indonesia had become a U.S. focal point in the far east.

However, the American foray here was sometimes met with resistance, not from the indigenous people, but from the Dutch East Indies administration.

The colonial administration gave preferential treatment when doing trade with its partners, in sharp contrast to the U.S. government, which championed free trade.

It was only after political pressure from the U.S. government that the Dutch East Indies government gave the go-ahead for Standard Oil -- now known as ExxonMobil Corp -- to start drilling for oil here.

Americans managed to enter the plantation business in 1910, as partners of Dutch companies.

A number of other regulations enacted by the colonial government also obstructed American businesses from engaging with native Indonesians.

Despite the popularity of Indonesian commodities in the U.S., little was known about the country and its population at that time.

Even today, most Americans probably know Java as a type of coffee or computer software, rather than the most populated island in the country.

By 1939, the Dutch East Indies supplied more than half of the total U.S. consumption of 15 key raw materials.

Coupled with the arrival of U.S. capital, American movies also found an audience on these shores.

In 1905, the first American feature film, The Life of an American Fireman, arrived in the country's movie theaters and took the country's big cities by storm.

After World War II, the growing importance of the Dutch East Indies convinced the U.S. government that the occupied country would be better off independent.

The new superpower then embarked on a mission to help pave the way for Indonesia's decolonization.

One of the most celebrated acts of assistance was the use of the USS Renville, a warship that had docked at Tanjung Priok port, as a venue for negotiations between Indonesian envoys and Dutch representatives for a cease-fire between the warring sides.

Also when the country was at risk of being overwhelmed by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), the administration of president John F. Kennedy dispatched many Peace Corps volunteers to the country.

Following the fall of president Sukarno and the ascent of president Soeharto -- who was better disposed toward the West -- more Americans arrived here along with increasing foreign investment.