The colonial experience of Indonesia was a difficult one to
endure. Four hundred years of suffering, captivity, and struggles. The
explorers of the Portuguese, interesting to the oblivious natives, soon became
a harbinger of doom (12);
economic exploitations brought by the Dutch ensnared the citizens in an endless
loop of poverty; the Japanese treaties led to the torture and agony of millions
of Indonesians, executed and raped by the Japanese military.(13)
Yes,
the colonial experience tolerated by the natives of Indonesia was marked by
anguish, malicious intent, and emotional scarring. Victims of violent injustice
since the Portuguese arrived in 1511 (14),
continuing with the drawing up of the treaties with the Dutch Netherlands, the
Indonesian people finally decided to rise up and claim their independence.
Dutch control over the indigenous led to inhuman and cruel treatment; over
three-thousand villagers were left dead after an expedition to the village of
Aceh. In some places, up to twenty percent of the Indonesian population was
wiped out by the Dutch!(15)
And yet the Dutch control over Indonesia was not all
negative. Other than expanding the lands of Indonesia far greater than a native
could possibly imagine, the Dutch provided a system of education for a small
portion of the natives.(16)
Its ‘Ethical Policy’ crafted bickering Indonesian aristocrats into an educated
elite. The poor natives were economically supported.(17)
With the negatives the Dutch provided, a number of positives were also left
behind.
Contrarily, however, this was near opposite in the case of
the Japanese; no observable benefits lingered when the Japanese departed
Indonesia. Not only were thousands snatched as war laborers and died of
dehydration, starvation, or of the elements, but a huge portion of Indonesian
women were tortured and raped; many men endured the false accusations of war
crimes and were executed.(18)
The harshness of the crimes also differed, depending on a person’s location and
economic status.(19) It
seems, then, that only one country provided Indonesia with the tools they
needed to self-suffice: the Dutch provided Indonesia with a huge influence in
economics and education, which flourished after Indonesia declared its
independence; they provided more land and expansion of territory for the
natives; lastly, and most importantly, they united the nation of Indonesia.
At the end of the day, as humans, you naturally remember gave
you a bandage for a cut and who else poured salt into the wound. The Dutch provided
Indonesia with the proper tools to stand tall and survive on its own; they gave
the Indonesians tools meant to be used when needed. And use them they did.
The highlighted portion represents the extent of VOC influence, as well as the approximate size of Indonesia and the scattered villages in 1782.