British has unobtrusive influence on culture

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Either in jest or seriousness, many Indonesians have wondered out loud whether it would have been better if we had been colonized by the English, rather than the Dutch, Japanese or Portuguese.

If that was the case, "Our English would be as good as Malaysians or Singaporeans," sighed Iksan, a marine researcher at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Iksan, who once participated in joint research with experts from these two neighboring countries, believed that the progress of Singapore and Malaysia was, more or less, influenced by the British colonial experience.

Not many Indonesians remember the short rule of the British here, while only a few Britons from the past are remembered, most notably Thomas Stamford Raffles and Brig. Gen. A.W. Mallaby.

But among the first Britons to arrive on our shores was Francis Drake. According to Richard Mann in his book titled The British in Indonesia, Drake was the first British navigator to sail to Maluku in 1579, arriving before the Dutch.

In 1577, Drake was dispatched by his monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, with a squadron of five ships led by the Golden Hind on a trade mission -- like other European powers -- to find the origins of spices: Nutmeg, mace and cloves.

In 1600, the British established the East Indies Companies (EIC) and, one year later, James Lancaster was dispatched with five vessels in his flagship Red Dragon. Lancaster was welcomed by the Aceh sultan who faced a threat from the Portuguese in Malacca.

Lancaster also sailed to Banten and opened a warehouse and stationed merchants. His mission was continued by Henry Middleton and his brother David Middleton who arrived in Banten in Java and Ternate, Tidore and Ambon in Maluku.

By 1657, Mann writes that EIC was close to bankruptcy due to England shifting its attention to Manhattan, in America, and also due to harsh competition from the Dutch in the Maluku islands.

EIC's leader Stamford Raffles was the one who stressed the importance of the East Indies to his government. The French conquest over the Netherlands paved the way for Britain to try and make its mark in the East Indies.

With little resistance from the Dutch, the British managed to occupy Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi and Maluku between 1775 and 1829.

A number of British troops were killed in fighting in Batavia (the old name of Jakarta), especially in the Mester area, Jatinegara, East Jakarta. Their tombstones can be found at the All Saints Church in the Tugu Tani area, near the Aryaduta Hotel, in Central Jakarta.

The church has been known as an English church since the time of Raffles. It was built from a bamboo shed in 1821. Raffles' first wife, Olivia, died in Bogor and her tomb is in Taman Prasasti in Jakarta. He built a monument for her inside the Botanical Garden in Bogor.

Raffles was also known as a man of conscience and kindness. He hated slavery, opium peddling, and all kinds of gratuitous human degradation, such as torture. He became a founding patron of the Java Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He's also famed for his book, The History of Java.

Well-known poet Abdullah bin Abdulkadir Munsyi (1796-1854) wrote in his autobiography titled Hikayat Abdullah (Abdullah's Story) that Raffles was a humble man who loved animals, plants and insects.

According to Abdullah, Raffles' discoveries and collections of books sank in the Indian Ocean along with a ship in a journey from Singapore to England, although all the passengers survived.

With the French defeated, the British started returning the East Indies to the Dutch, while it maintained its power in Malacca and Singapore.

In 1942, Japanese troops occupied Indonesia and many countries in Asia. On Aug. 17, 1945, Indonesian leaders proclaimed independence, three days after Japan surrendered.

The Dutch, helped by British troops, arrived with the aim of claiming back the East Indies. Fighting broke out in Bandung, Surakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.

In an incident in October, 1945, in Surabaya, Indonesian fighters attacked British troops and killed its commander Brig. Gen. Mallaby.

The death of Mallaby triggered a conflagration. Thousands more troops, ships and planes were deployed to Surabaya. First President Sukarno urged the British, Dutch, Americans and Russians to recognize the republic.

After the conflict in Surabaya, the British got a grasp of local resistance and pressured the Dutch to start negotiating with the republicans.

Since those early years, the British have continued to play an important role in many fields in Indonesia.

As for their English abilities, trips to the mall suggest that quite a number of Indonesian families now speak in English with their children. In schools, many apply English in their every day language. Although we're still far behind Malaysians and Singaporeans, the ability of Indonesians to speak English is slowly getting better, if only it's because they realize it's about the only way to a better future.