The Time Has Come: The Push for Independence

              For nearly four hundred years the native people of Indonesia have endured hardship, suffering, and torment. However, united because of the Dutch Ethical Policy, Indonesia finally realized that the time to declare their self-sufficiency was at hand. Due to the leadership of Sukarno (Soekarno), born under the name of Kusno Sosrodihardjo, Indonesia was able to successfully proclaim its independence. Sukarno eventually became the nation’s first president because he was well-known for leading the country’s struggles for independence against the Dutch and Japanese.(1)

Essentially, the Indonesian Revolution was successful for one major reason: World War II. As terribly insensitive and warped as that sounds, the logical reason for Indonesia’s success stands valid and supported; the reaper that was World War II had finally taken its toll. In 1942, the Japanese assumed full control of Indonesia and snatched the power throne from the Dutch.(2) Indonesia later declared independence in August of 1945. Within those three years, World War II consumed the lives of many Japanese soldiers and significantly thinned the herd. In 1945, due to the constant utilization of Japanese troops in Indonesia to support the war effort that there were barely any soldiers left, the Japanese were forced to surrender.(3) Constant rioting from several Indonesian villages also didn’t help the Japanese cause; in the end, they were desperate for independence.

Not counting the Portuguese exploration voyages, Indonesia took almost 343 years to unite as a nation and proclaim independence, from the initial rule of the Dutch VOC in 1602, to the Japanese surrender in 1945.(4) After thousands of lives were taken, homes were burned, villages were pillaged, and the quality of life was mutilated and disfigured, the nation of Indonesia finally realized the bleak and important truth. 


Seventeen thousand islands. Four hundred years. Three conquests. One nation led by one man with one solution: independence.

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