Activities of Indonesian Political Parties During the Early Years of the People's Council Part II

Abstract

This article forms the second part of the author's research on years of the Volksraad or the People's Council which was inaugurated in May 1918 as an advisory organ for the Dutch governor-general of Indonesia, then known as the Dutch Indies. Here the author deals with the views and activities of the colonial authorities well as those of the Indonesian political parties both inside and outside the council during the period from April to the end of 1918. The most controversial issue of that year was the November Crisis which threatened both the Netherlands and its colony, and the subsequent far-reaching concessions made by the governor-general of the time, J. P. van Limburg Stirum, contained in what is generally known as the November Declaration.By way of background, the present article investigates the communications and discussions held between top colonial officials, notably the governor-general and the minister of colonies, Th. B. Pleijte, relating to the future of the colonial administration. The minister, though a member of the Radical Democratic Party, assumed a cautious attitude when it came to granting political freedom to the native population. He asserted that the native population should be entitled to a real parliament with legislative power, but only after training for council management, to be gained through experience at the lower local districts levels, In this respect, therefore, Pleijte hardly different from conservative colonial theorists like. H. Colijn and. A. W. F Idenburg. The latter of whom was to succeed him as minister. The governor-general, on the other hand, was keenly aware of the growing demand for political freedom on the part of the Indonesian organizations, and repeatedly stressed the need for immediate radical organizations, and repeatedly stressed the need for immediate radical reforms. A liberal-minded diplomat by profession, the governor-general was without personal interests in the colonies. Despite the differences of opinion between him and the minister, their friendship for many years had managed to fill the communication and opinion gaps charactaristic of the first months after the inauguration of the Council.The opposition members of the Council, however, were soon vociferously protesting the unimportant status accorded to the Council in the colonial administration. They succeeded in submitting a motion calling for the enlargement of the competence of the Council, and for the use of Malay as the second official language in the Council. The approval of the last-mentioned motion, accomplished through the legal procedure of voting, considerably annoyed conservative colonial theorists as well as functionary officials in both the homeland and the colony. The governor-general, though remaining unchanged in his resolution to uphold his tolerant policy, was greatly discouraged when Pleijte was replaced by Idenburg as the minister of colonies in the wake of the 1918 general Dutch election in which a coalition government of rightist and moderate parties resulted in Pleijte's party being relegated to the opposition. Idendurg was one of the colocial experts of the Anti-revolutionary Party. Although he showed some sympathy toward promoting the enlightenment of the native population of Indonesia, he was even more sceptical than Pleijte about giving them too much political freedom prematurely. The loss of personal ties between the two highest colonial officials led the governor-general increasingly into state of isolation in which he became more determined than ever to carry out his reforms in his own way.These communication troubles at the end of World War I drove the colonial society into a temporary state of panic. The revolution which occurred in Germany on the eve of its unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers on November 11, 1918, directly affected the Netherlands. The Dutch Social Democratic Laborers' Party led by P. J. Troelstra demanded that the government yield power.