SPOTLIGHT ON DUTCH-INDONESIAN HISTORY (XIX)
At the end of the 19th Cen
tury the first murmurs for
more political independency in
the Dutch East Indies could be
heard in the wake of national
ist movements in Europe. Gari
baldi fought for the freedom
and unity of the Italians,
Pilsudski liberated Poland and
Czechoslovakia by Masaryk.
Finland and the Baltic states
became independent and the
Irish Sinn Fein started a
stubborn battle against the
British Kingdom for indepen
dency.
Already in 1860 the book,
"Max Havelaar" had created
much agitation in the Dutch
Kingdom. Its author, Multatu-
li, pen name for a former ci-
dealer wel "rijk worden van
onze centen". Of vroeger in
Indie de veel gehate Chinees
of Hollander rijk werden van
onze centen. Maar zodra een
Indo probeert zelfstandig te
bestaan, regent het critiek.
Het is een afschuwelijke kiem
van verderf in de Indo-groep:
het zijn "adik" een bestaan te
misgunnen. Elke andere groep
steunt zijn broeders en helpt
daardoor zichzelf. Door de
geest van misgunning aan te
wakkeren ontnemen wij zelfs
onze kinderen in de toekomst
de kans om samen met hun groep
te bestaan. En blijven wij
kleine, laffe meelopers met
andere groepen, die dus wel
rijk worden van onze centen.
T.R.
vil servant E. Douwes Dekker,
asked world wide attention for
the plights of the Javanese
peasant. The book, often com
pared with "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
only touched the social prob
lem of the lower Indonesian
classes, but it stimulated
critical thinking in the Dutch
Indies to a high degree.
Slowly the time ripened f^r
free political thinking, buw
the first movements were not
revolutionary at all. There
fore the Dutch Government was
in fact too good and general
wellfare was of a high degree
in comparison with other col
onial countries.
Still the higher educated
civilians in the Dutch East
Indies wanted a little more
say in matters of governing
and economy, all within the
bounds and powers of the
powers of the Kingdom.
The Hague was very cau
tious though and probably
suspicious. So every thought
of more self-determination
was forbidden and thwarted.W
And like everywhere else
in the world this standpoint
made more or less a martyr
and champion of every stub
born opponent. In Indonesia
the biggest and stubbornest
opponent was an Indo and dis
tant relative of the author
Douwes Dekker: E.F.E. Douwes
Dekker, from a racial point
of view a born international
ist: his father was a son of
a Dutch father and a French
