(Image: e-book cover)
Good day Hivers and Book Clubbers,
As most of you might know, the Dutch used to have a pretty large colonial empire. The jewel of this empire was the Dutch East Indies, a vast island archipelago that proved to be very profitable for the Dutch East India company (VOC for short) from the 17th century onwards. The Dutch colonial connection wouldn't last, and a man that played a large role in this story is Sukarno.
I remember seeing old black-and-white TV footage of Sukarno more than 10 years ago. He spoke Dutch quite well, with a slight but understandable accent. He came off as a very confident figure, and a man with a mission. In this book, John D. Legge wrote a biography of Sukarno's life. The first edition was released in 1972, shortly after Sukarno's death.
I got my hands on a third edition e-book, written in English and re-published in 2001. By its own admission, it does not differ much from earlier versions, though I haven't checked myself. Clocking in at about 500 pages, it's quite a lengthy read, which was somewhat long-winded and repetitive in certain parts. Good thing I can drastically slim down the gist of it in this review.
Dutch Rule and Sukarno's political beginnings
Sukarno was born in 1901 on the island of Java in what could be considered a middle-class family. His family had ambitions for him, and made it possible for him to acquire what was a very good education for an Indonesian at the time (in his 20s he graduated as 'engineer' in the architectural profession). However, his time from middle-school onward meant he came in contact with Dutch children, who looked down on him and his Indonesian class-mates. According to Legge, this negative contact was sowing the seeds of anti-colonial feeling in Sukarno from a young age onwards.
The way the Dutch East Indies were ruled by the Netherlands had changed from about 1870 onwards. Before this time, the Dutch did not have a strong central presence in many islands in the archipelago, and traded with many Indonesian-held farming and plantations for their profit. After 1870, private investment found its way to the East Indies on a large scale, for the extraction of valuable resources like rubber and oil. To produce rubber and the like, one needed plantations on an industrial scale (which had to be worked quite hard by natives). To protect these burgeoning private interests, central authority was enforced (some during long-time wars like in the Aceh-region). To enforce central authority, one needed both Dutch and Indonesian governance.
This last point is in part why some of the upper class of Indonesian children were allowed to go to the Dutch schools, with better/longer education, so that they could serve the colony's administration at some point. Sukarno, however, found his calling in politics, and particularly the anti-colonial kind. He dabbled in politics from age 15 onwards, attending meetings and being a member of some of the (at the time) small-sized organisations in this sphere.
Sukarno's nationalist synthesis
Sukarno would get into his political stride in the late 1920s, when he became leader of the PNI (Nationalist Party of Indonesia). This party would see several different iterations, and to keep up with the names of all the different groups is quite a task. What is more of interest for the story of this review, is the political synthesis that goes on in Sukarno's thinking and doing.
Indonesia is a varied archipelago, and the same goes for Java as the most populated/economically prosperous island. The idea of an 'Indonesian nationalism' could be considered a stretch at the time: several hundred islands, composing of many ethnic groups, multiple religions and several languages. Not the easiest blueprint for a nation state. Sukarno's main goal has been to keep all islands composing the Dutch East Indies in the same, united nationalism.
Apart from nationalism, there were two other main forms of anti-colonial thought and action to be found in the Dutch East Indies at the time. One of them was Marxism, with additions from Leninism. Lenin's works, both written and spoken, contain much about how colonial nations should rise up against their capitalist oppressors for their own good. This message was readily received by many in Indonesia, who started the Indonesian Communist Party. This party was soon banned by the Dutch authorities, however.
Another force that should be mentioned is Islam. The vast majority of Indonesians are muslims. In the political sphere, this was an avenue of opposition against the Christian Dutch. Sukarno, a muslim himself, did not hold Islamic beliefs in a direct political sense (i.e. the need/wish for Sharia law, for example). His main mission was to keep all this groups together in a common, nationalist movement versus the Dutch. And retrospectively, he succeeded quite well.
Before success, however, came a large temporary setback. A change of the political guard in the Netherlands led to a harsher view on any nationalist and independence-minded movements in the East Indies. Thus, all main leaders of nationalist groups, with Sukarno being one of the main prizes, were made prisoners and banished. He was banished to Flores in 1934, and later moved to western Sumatra. I find it quite remarkable how 'banishment' still kept Sukarno within Indonesia, but it shows that not being on the island of Java is the most important issue. He did not see Java again for eight years.
Japanese occupation and Freedom
Sukarno made a remarkable prediction in the early 1930s: he was convinced that a large Pacific war would be an event where Indonesia would gain its freedom. This came true, in a sense, when Japan became involved in World War II. Japan would invade Indonesia in march of 1942. Dutch power had been broken before that: when Germany occupied in may of 1940, the Dutch government went in exile. So the Dutch were out of the picture as an entity resembling any power, and Sukarno thought at the time that the Japanese occupation would be temporary. He came to the conclusion that it would be most advantageous for his people and himself to work together with the Japanese.
It was a gamble that got criticized a lot, both at the time and retrospectively, but it turned out to be the correct decision. Japan's occupation was indeed temporary, and it became increasingly clear from 1944 onwars that the United States would beat Japan in the Pacific. This cleared the way for the independence of Indonesia after Japan's surrender to the allies in august of 1945. Sukarno himself, back in Java since 1942, read the declaration of independence himself on the 17th of august 1945.
Conclusion
Declaring the independence of Indonesia was a definitive high-point in Sukarno's political career: he was the clear leader of a movement that had achieved something monumental. This is not the end of the story, however. How did Indonesia fare as a fledgling independent nation? What was Sukarno's role in this development, either positive or negative? I'm only halfway through talking about the book, so this moment in history seems like a good one to introduce a halfway point. You can expect a 'part 2' of this biography in the near future. If you have questions or comments, do let me know. Until the next one,
-Pieternijmeijer