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

Abstract

The trend of the Ethical Policy of the Dutch colonial rule since the beginning of the twentieth century emphasized the decentralization of administrative power to local areas. More than thirty local councils established at the levels of both the municipality and district, however, failed to function because of their overemphasis on their ex officio members and upon the European component of the society. In spite of these failures the Dutch government tried to satisfy to some extent the demand for the right of say on the part of the enlightened Indonesians.This effort resulted in the foundation of the Volksraad or the People's Council in May 1918. The Indonesian nationalists, however, were soon disappointed by its nature as mere an advisory body for the Dutch governor-general, and of the process of its election which was to be carried out only through the abovementioned local councils. Repeated reforms in its structure never succeeded in getting the trust and support of the Indonesian nationalists who never ceased to dismiss the council as a discussion club until its closure in 1942 on the eve of the Japanese invasion.In the first of the two-part article the author explains the procedure of the establishment of the People's Council and of the election of its members. He also points out that the interest in the council on the part of the Chinese immigrants in Indonesia quickly subsided despite the effort of some Chinese chiefs who were cooperative with the government. The final result of the election and appointment of the native members of the council indicates that four out of the ten elected native members were the members of the Budi Utomo which was a moderately progressive organization of the educated Javanese. The effort of the Dutch governor-general at this time, J. P. van Limburg Stirum, of making the newly etablished council as representative as possible of all the inhabitants of the Dutch East Indies will be further discussed in the following part.This is an expanded form of a portion of the writer's thesis presented to Cornell University, The Origin and the Earlier Years of the Budi Utomo: 1908-1918.