Colonialism in Indonesia

Colonialism in Indonesia

The wonderfully expressive letters of Mrs. Sumarsono contrast greatly with Mr. de Jong's rather desultory one complete with red herrings (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 22, 1994).

Every empire, Mr. de Jong, quite literally, has skeletons in its cupboard. Although there are many facets of my country of which I am proud, I have no desire to be drawn into becoming an apologist for the British Empire, particularly since it has no relevance to a non-comparative account of Dutch conduct in Indonesia.

I simply wish to help set the record straight, for even today the true account of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia is suppressed in Holland. However, to those who review the evidence, it is abundantly clear that the Dutch, during their time here, were primarily concerned with exploitation through the blatant and often cruel maintenance of privilege in a whole variety of areas.

On the other hand, undoubtedly, there were many courageous individuals who proved to be exceptions to the rule. It is curious, is it not, that those races and nations which lay claim to being superior are also the very ones which, out of insecurity, erect barriers of privilege, prejudice and discrimination to protect themselves? One would have thought that being superior, in itself, would bestow sufficient confidence and advantages to obviate the need for such contrived impediments designed to thwart lesser beings. Apparently it does not, thus, giving the lie to claims of intrinsic racial pre-eminence. The same applies to castes, classes, etc.

Even in this supposedly enlightened age a few Dutch nationals are still capable of going into the most tortuous of mental spins, twists and somersaults before landing in their own comfortable safety-net which reassures them as to their benevolence and the quality of their education because, they claim, those who ultimately freed Indonesia were educated in their `top-notch' HBS institutes.

One could, however, look at it differently and reflect that a high level of innate ability was demonstrated, in that it required only very restricted access to a reasonably high standard of education for just one generation of Indonesians to topple the centuries-old, well-entrenched colonial system of undue privilege. The privilege-preserving practices of other colonial empires also ultimately failed for, as I have tried to show, such practices are fatally flawed through being based on false premises. Trouble yourself not Mr. de Jong, for it may be that those who you say frown upon mixed-race marriages, still have that difficult lesson to learn.

FRANK RICHARDSON

Jakarta