High-Paid Official Executed for Failing in His Duties
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — A high salary does not necessarily guarantee that an official will perform well. One official was executed because of his poor performance. This happened in 1810, during the administration of Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels in the Dutch East Indies.
The official was J.F.P. Filz, a colonel tasked with defending Ambon, Maluku. He was sentenced to death after failing to protect the important spice-producing territory from a British attack.
During his rule of the Dutch East Indies from 1808 to 1811, Daendels, who was born 264 years ago today, introduced a number of changes to the government bureaucracy. One was to raise officials’ salaries so they would not seek additional income through corrupt practices.
Historian Djoko Marihandono wrote in his research, Sentralisme Kekuasaan Pemerintahan Herman Willem Daendels di Jawa 1808–1811 (2005), that Daendels hoped higher salaries would reduce corruption and improve officials’ performance.
The policy went hand in hand with the enforcement of strict discipline. Daendels did not hesitate to impose severe punishments on officials deemed to have broken the rules or failed to carry out their duties.
But high salaries and the threat of punishment did not ensure that all his subordinates performed their duties well. One case with fatal consequences involved J.F.P. Filz.
In De teruggave der Oost-Indische koloniën, 1814–1816 (1910), Filz is described as a colonel who had served in Ambon. He was tasked with defending the Maluku region, which was important to the global spice trade.
Ambon was more than an ordinary colonial territory. Control of the island was also linked to economic interests and competition among European powers in the Indonesian archipelago.
The defence of Ambon did not go as planned. In early 1810, British forces attacked the territory and succeeded in defeating the troops led by Filz.
The British then took control of Ambon, including territory that was an important part of the spice-trading network. The defeat dealt a blow to the colonial administration, which had lost a strategic territory to a rival power. The research Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch Indië (1940) described news of Ambon’s fall as a blow to Daendels’ administration.
“Unexpectedly, in May, the sad news arrived that Ambon, together with its islands and all its outposts, had fallen into British hands,” the 1940 research stated.
The news forced Daendels to confront the loss of an important territory entrusted to his subordinate. Filz was subsequently held to account for his failure. He was taken to court and charged with causing the state a loss of 3,000 ringgit because he had been unable to save the territory from British control.
The court ultimately sentenced Filz to death. On 10 June 1810, the officer was executed by firing squad. Filz’s story illustrates the severe consequences officials and officers could face under Daendels. Higher salaries did not exempt officials from being held accountable when they failed to carry out their duties.