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