‘Colonial’ enterprise and the indigenization of management in independent Indonesia and Malaysia

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one specific aspect of the relationship between 'colonial' firms and the decolonized countries that is recruitment, training and advancement of indigenous personnel to management and expert positions within 'colonial' enterprise. This so-called indigenization was a declared aim of virtually all newly independent nations in their efforts to create a national economy. Analysis of the indigenization process within 'colonial' enterprise in independent Indonesia and Malaysia casts doubt on the often expressed supposition that Dutch firms in Indonesia were the agents of their own demise due to a lack of responsiveness to the new state's economic aspirations. Comparison of the economic indigenization process in Indonesia and Malaysia reveals important similarities, which suggest that the posture of Dutch enterprise in Indonesia was not as exceptional as is often alleged. Both Dutch enterprise in Indonesia and British business in Malaysia outwardly responded constructively to calls for indigenization. Keywords: colonial enterprise; Dutch enterprise; Indonesia; Malaysia